Bangalore: The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has decided to set up a second Sanskrit Commission nearly 58 years after the first was established in 1956 and also proposed to introduce Urdu in all centrally funded schools across the country including the Navodya Schools, and Kendriya Vidyalayas to promote the language.
The MHRD issued a notification on January 10 to form the second Sanskrit Commission to survey existing facilities for Sanskrit education in schools, colleges, universities and other institutions and suggest remedial measures for promoting the study of Sanskrit at all levels.
The commission is also expected to suggest measures to integrate Sanskrit studies with other disciplines like Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Medicinal Science, Law, Architecture and languages to make it more relevant to modern times and has been given a year to submit its report. Dr. P. Ramanujan, associate director, Indian Heritage and Language Computing, C-DAC, Bengaluru is one of the commission members.
The ministry has also proposed introducing Urdu in all the Centrally funded schools in the country based on the report of the National Monitoring Committee for Minorities' Education on the promotion of the language.
Directions have also been issued to all states to improve the admission of Muslim girls to the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya, according to MHRD sources. “The national monitoring committee has recommended introduction of Urdu as a subject in the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas as well as Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas.
It has also suggested that provision be made to teach Urdu as a subject in institutions run by the Union government like the Kendriya Vidyalay Sangathan and Navodya Schools. Efforts are being made to implement this across the nation,” said an official of the ministry.
Coming as it does in the run up to the coming Lok Sabha elections, the move is being seen as politically motivated by the government’s detractors who feel it is trying to mop up minority votes in the process.
