Language funds allocated on basis of need, not preference, says Education Minister

Under the Grants for Promotion of Indian Language (GPIL), Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has clarified that funds are not allocated on the basis of language, but according to requirement and utilisation.

In 2024–25, the Centre allocated Rs 308.44 crore to promote Hindi, Veda, Classical Tamil, Sindhi and Urdu.

In a written response to AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi, Pradhan said, “Allocation of funds are not done on language basis rather they are provided as per the requirement and utilisation. Under the Grants for Promotion of Indian Language (GPIL), 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 whether Sanskrit had received higher allocation under GPIL.

Pradhan further said that under the National Education Policy (NEP), the government had 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,” he said.

Responding to BJP MP Sambit Patra, Minister of State for Education Jayant Chaudhary said that NCERT textbooks in Science, Mathematics, Social Science, Art Education, Environmental Education, Health and Well-being had been translated into 22 Indian languages and English.

He also stated that the University Grants Commission (UGC), in collaboration with Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti (BBS), had conceptualised a project, ASMITA, to promote 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 more than 1,089 potential authors have been identified for writing/translation of textbooks in 22 Bharatiya Bhasha for UG courses. The projected plan is to produce 1,000 textbooks each in 22 languages, altogether 22,000 books,” Chaudhary said.