Language promotion funds allocated based on need, not language: Education Minister tells Parliament

Under the Grants for Promotion of Indian Language (GPIL), Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan clarified that allocation of funds is not done on the basis of language, rather these are provided as per requirement and utilisation.

In 2024-25, the Centre has allotted Rs 308.44 crore to promote Hindi, Veda, Classical Tamil, Sindhi and Urdu languages.

In a written response to AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi, Pradhan on Monday said, “Allocation of funds is not done on language basis, rather these are provided as per the requirement and utilisation. Under GPIL, the Government of India provides grants to Kendriya Hindi Sansthan (KHS), Maharishi Sandipani Rashtriya Ved Vidya Pratishthan (MSRVVP), Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT), National Council for Promotion of Sindhi Language (NCPSL) and National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) for the promotion of Hindi, Veda, Classical Tamil, Sindhi and Urdu, respectively.”

Owaisi had asked if Sanskrit had received higher allocation under GPIL.

Pradhan also informed that under the National Education Policy (NEP), the government has laid emphasis on promoting multilingualism.

“The government in the NEP has provided that wherever possible, the medium of instruction up to at least Class V and preferably up to Class VIII will be in the home language/mother tongue/local language/regional language,” the minister said.

Responding to BJP MP Sambit Patra, Minister of State in the Education Ministry Jayant Chaudhary said that NCERT textbooks in science, mathematics, social science, art education, environmental education, health and wellbeing were translated into 22 Indian languages and in English.

Chaudhary informed that NCERT undertakes training and professional development programmes for teachers, teacher educators and other educational personnel on a regular basis.

“NCERT conducts a special training programme for teachers from national level school systems and teachers in the states known as NISHTHA (National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement) and this programme covers teachers from states as well,” he said.

Chaudhary also informed that the University Grants Commission (UGC), in collaboration with Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti (BBS), has conceptualised a project, ‘ASMITA’, to promote a culture of academic writing and translation of textbooks in higher education.

“Under this project, 23 nodal universities were identified with their nominated member universities from their respective states for identifying authors for writing/preparing original textbooks in 22 Bharatiya Bhasha for undergraduate (UG) level courses. Till date, 759 books have been proposed by the nodal universities and over 1,089 potential authors have been identified for writing/translation of these textbooks. The projected plan is to produce 1,000 textbooks each in 22 languages, altogether 22,000 books,” he said.