Lok Sabha Question No. 2012 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-31
Subject: Protection of Tribal Languages
Ministry: TRIBAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: Adv Gowaal Kagada Padavi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF TRIBAL AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2012

TO BE ANSWERED ON 31.07.2025

## PROTECTION OF TRIBAL LANGUAGES

2012. Adv Gowaal Kagada Padavi:

Will the Minister of TRIBAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has taken steps to protect tribal languages and oral traditions facing extinction and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the details of the regions or tribes identified as priorities for language preservation;
- (c) whether any community radio or digital archive initiatives have been started for this purpose and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) the steps taken to involve local youth in documenting oral literature and songs;
- (e)  the details of financial support given to tribal scholars and researchers working on language and cultural preservation; and
- (f) whether the Government plans to publish bilingual dictionaries or  teaching materials for endangered tribal languages and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR TRIBAL AFFAIRS (SHRI DURGADAS UIKEY)

(a) to (f): Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India under the Centrally Sponsored scheme 'Support to Tribal Research Institutes (TRIs)' extends financial support to 29 Tribal Research Institutes  (TRIs)  in  States/Union  Territories  (UTs)  on  the  basis  of  the  Annual  Action  Plan submitted  by  the  States/UTs  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Apex  Committee  chaired  by  the Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs. Under the scheme, proposals relating to, inter-alia research & documentation activities and training & capacity building programmes, organization of tribal festivals,  yatras  for  promotion  of  unique  cultural  heritage  and  tourism  and  organisation  of exchange visits by tribals are organised so that their cultural practices, languages and ritual are preserved and disseminated. TRIs are primarily institutions under the administrative control of the State Government/UT Administration. Under the scheme, funds are also provided for/to:

- i. Publishing Varnamala, local rhymes, and stories in tribal languages.
- ii. Publishing books, journals on different tribal languages to promote tribal literature.
- iii. Translation  and  publication  of  Training  module  about  Sickle  cell  Anaemia  disease Awareness  and  Counselling  Modules  and  Diagnosis  &  Treatment  Module and  other Information, Education and Communication (IEC) material in relevant Tribal languages/Dialects.

Further,  as  informed,  Ministry  of  Education,  Government  of  India  initiated  the  'Scheme  for Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages (SPPEL)' under the Central Institute of Indian  Languages  (CIIL),  Mysuru  in  2013.  The  Institute  with  the  help  of  Core  Committee identified 117 languages including tribal languages in its first phase to work upon in step wise manner. SPPEL aims to document the language & culture of the mother tongues/languages of India spoken by less than 10,000 speakers by developing primers, bi/trilingual dictionaries (electronic and print formats), grammatical sketches, pictorial glossaries and ethno-linguistic profile of the community. List of the 117 languages is at Annexure-I. Local community people are integral part of  SPPEL  language  documentation  process.  Community  people  are  involved  as  language consultant during the fieldwork. Even community people are involved and invited in workshop, seminar & conferences related to language documentation.

Moreover,  Bhasha Sanchika,  the  digital  language  repository  of  the  Central  Institute  of  Indian Languages (CIIL), where language preservation, dissemination, and technological advancement converge in a pioneering initiative. The primary objectives of the archive portal are to provide Indian linguistic resources in diverse formats - text, image, audio, and video; Aiding in creating language technology resources, language pedagogy materials, and other language-related products and services. The details available in the following link:

https://sanchika.ciil.org/home

CIIL has developed dictionaries under SPPEL and the list is at Annexure-II . In respect of teaching materials, CIIL has developed Primers on 117 languages (scheduled, non-scheduled & tribal) in collaboration with NCERT,  New  Delhi. The details available in the following link: https://ciil.org/primers\_book.

## Annexure referred to in reply to part (a) to (f) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2012 for answer on 31.07.2025

Scheme for Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages (SPPEL)

## List of Endangered Languages Zone-wise

|   Sl. No. | Languages / MTs       | Zone              |
|-----------|-----------------------|-------------------|
|         1 | LAMONGSE              | Andaman &Nicobar  |
|         2 | LURO                  | Andaman &Nicobar  |
|         3 | MOUT                  | Andaman &Nicobar  |
|         4 | ONGE                  | Andaman &Nicobar  |
|         5 | PU                    | Andaman &Nicobar  |
|         6 | SANENYO               | Andaman &Nicobar  |
|         7 | SENTILESE             | Andaman &Nicobar  |
|         8 | SHOMPEN               | Andaman &Nicobar  |
|         9 | TAKAHANYILANG         | Andaman& Nicobar  |
|        10 | BHUNJIA               | East Central Zone |
|        11 | BINJHIA/BIRJIA/BRIJIA | East Central Zone |
|        12 | BIRHOR                | East Central Zone |
|        13 | BODO GADABA/ GUTOB    | East Central Zone |
|        14 | BONDO                 | East Central Zone |
|        15 | DHIMAL                | East Central Zone |
|        16 | DIDAYI / GATA         | East Central Zone |
|        17 | GORUM                 | East Central Zone |
|        18 | HOLIYA                | East Central Zone |
|        19 | MANDA                 | East Central Zone |
|        20 | MRU                   | East Central Zone |
|        21 | PARENGA               | East Central Zone |
|        22 | THARUA                | East Central Zone |
|        23 | THOTI                 | East Central Zone |
|        24 | TOTO                  | East Central Zone |
|        25 | AIMOL                 | North East Zone   |
|        26 | ATONG                 | North East Zone   |
|        27 | BAGI                  | North East Zone   |
|        28 | BAITE/ BIATE          | North East Zone   |
|        29 | BANGRO                | North East Zone   |

|   30 | BAWM                | North East Zone   |
|------|---------------------|-------------------|
|   31 | CHINZ / ZYPHE       | North East Zone   |
|   32 | CHIRU               | North East Zone   |
|   33 | CHOTHE              | North East Zone   |
|   34 | DARLONG             | North East Zone   |
|   35 | DIRANG MONPA        | North East Zone   |
|   36 | GURUNG              | North East Zone   |
|   37 | KAGATE              | North East Zone   |
|   38 | KAMI / KHAMI        | North East Zone   |
|   39 | KHAMBA              | North East Zone   |
|   40 | KHAMIYANG           | North East Zone   |
|   41 | KHAMPTI             | North East Zone   |
|   42 | KOIRENG             | North East Zone   |
|   43 | KOMKAR              | North East Zone   |
|   44 | KONGBO              | North East Zone   |
|   45 | LAMGANG             | North East Zone   |
|   46 | LIJU                | North East Zone   |
|   47 | MARA                | North East Zone   |
|   48 | MEYOR /ZAKHRING     | North East Zone   |
|   49 | MOYON               | North East Zone   |
|   50 | MUKHIYA/ SUNUWAR    | North East Zone   |
|   51 | NAA                 | North East Zone   |
|   52 | NEWAR / PRADHAN     | North East Zone   |
|   53 | NEWARI              | North East Zone   |
|   54 | PHAKIAL / TAI PHAKE | North East Zone   |
|   55 | PUROIK / SULUNG     | North East Zone   |
|   56 | PURUM               | North East Zone   |
|   57 | RALTE               | North East Zone   |
|   58 | RANGLONG            | North East Zone   |
|   59 | SHERDUKPEN          | North East Zone   |
|   60 | SIMONG              | North East Zone   |
|   61 | SINGPHO             | North East Zone   |
|   62 | TANGAM              | North East Zone   |
|   63 | TARAO               | North East Zone   |
|   64 | THAPA               | North East Zone   |
|   65 | UCHAI               | North East Zone   |
|   66 | YOBIN/YOBIN LIJU    | North East Zone   |
|   67 | ZAKHRING            | North East Zone   |

|   68 | CHINALI          | Northern Zone   |
|------|------------------|-----------------|
|   69 | DARMIYA          | Northern Zone   |
|   70 | GAHRI            | Northern Zone   |
|   71 | JAD              | Northern Zone   |
|   72 | JANGALI          | Northern Zone   |
|   73 | JANGSHUNG        | Northern Zone   |
|   74 | KANASHI / MALANI | Northern Zone   |
|   75 | RONGPO           | Northern Zone   |
|   76 | SPITI            | Northern Zone   |
|   77 | BALASTIN         | Northern Zone   |
|   78 | BATERI           | Northern Zone   |
|   79 | BEDA             | Northern Zone   |
|   80 | BHADRALIAM       | Northern Zone   |
|   81 | DARGARI          | Northern Zone   |
|   82 | GOJAPURI         | Northern Zone   |
|   83 | HASSADI          | Northern Zone   |
|   84 | KHANA            | Northern Zone   |
|   85 | KHASHA/KHASH     | Northern Zone   |
|   86 | KUSHWAHI         | Northern Zone   |
|   87 | MASIDI           | Northern Zone   |
|   88 | MESHABI          | Northern Zone   |
|   89 | PADDARI          | Northern Zone   |
|   90 | SIAN             | Northern Zone   |
|   91 | SIRAM            | Northern Zone   |
|   92 | TEHGUL           | Northern Zone   |
|   93 | ARANDAN          | Southern Zone   |
|   94 | ERAVALLAN        | Southern Zone   |
|   95 | HAKKIPIKKI       | Southern Zone   |
|   96 | JENU KURUMBA     | Southern Zone   |
|   97 | KADAR            | Southern Zone   |
|   98 | KANIKER GOTTI    | Southern Zone   |
|   99 | KUTIYA           | Southern Zone   |
|  100 | MALAIMALASAR     | Southern Zone   |
|  101 | MALASAR          | Southern Zone   |
|  102 | MALAYAN          | Southern Zone   |
|  103 | MANNAN           | Southern Zone   |
|  104 | MOOPAN           | Southern Zone   |
|  105 | MUDUGA           | Southern Zone   |

|   106 | MUDUVAN          | Southern Zone     |
|-------|------------------|-------------------|
|   107 | PALIYA           | Southern Zone     |
|   108 | PULIYA           | Southern Zone     |
|   109 | SIDDI            | Southern Zone     |
|   110 | SOLIGA           | Southern Zone     |
|   111 | TODA             | Southern Zone     |
|   112 | URALI            | Southern Zone     |
|   113 | BARADI           | West Central Zone |
|   114 | BHALA            | West Central Zone |
|   115 | BHARWAD/BHARWADI | West Central Zone |
|   116 | DIWEHI           | West Central Zone |
|   117 | NIHALI           | West Central Zone |

## Annexure referred to in reply to part (a) to (f) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2012 for answer on 31.07.2025

Publications:

| Sl.No.   | Title                                        | ISBN              |
|----------|----------------------------------------------|-------------------|
|          | Published:                                   |                   |
| 1.       | Hakkipikki-Kannada-English Dictionary        | 978-93-94835-05-4 |
| 2.       | Malayan-Malayalam-English Dictionary         | 978-93-94835-06-1 |
| 3.       | Manda-Odia-English Dictionary                | 978-93-94835-25-2 |
| 4.       | Lamkang-English Dictionary                   | 978-93-94835-27-6 |
| 5.       | Soliga-English-Kannada Trilingual Dictionary | 978-93-94835-28-3 |
| 6.       | A Dictionary of Soliga-English               | 978-93-94835-30-6 |
| 7.       | Luro Dictionary                              | 978-81-19411-54-2 |
| 8.       | Sanenyo Dictionary                           | 978-81-19411-88-7 |

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