Sanskrit got lion's share of language promotion funds: RTI data
The central government spent ₹ 2532.59 crore on the promotion of Sanskrit between 2014-15 and 2024-25, 17 times the combined spending of ₹ 147.56 crore on the other five classical Indian languages –– Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia, according to the data obtained by Hindustan Times through a Right to Information (RTI) application and from public records. Government spent ₹ 2532.59 crore on the promotion of Sanskrit between 2014-15 and 2024-25 (HT Photo)
That works out to ₹ 230.24 crore every year (on average) for Sanskrit and ₹ 13.41 crore every year for the other five.
Tamil, the highest-funded among the five classical Indian languages, received less than 5% of Sanskrit's total funding, Kannada and Telugu each received less than 0.5%, and Odia and Malayalam each received under 0.2% of Sanskrit's total allocation.
Tamil, the first language to be designated as 'a 'classical' language in 2004 received ₹ 113.48 crore under Grants for Promotion of Indian Languages (GPIL) scheme, 22 times less than the amount spent on promotion of Sanskrit which was given the same status in 2005. The combined funding of the remaining four Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, and Odia which received classical language status between 2008 and 2014, was ₹ 34.08 crore.
To be sure, the spending on Sanskrit exceeded that on Urdu, Hindi, and Sindhi too (although none of these is recognised as a classical language). The combined funding for Hindi, Urdu and Sindhi between 2014-15 and 2024-25 was ₹ 1,317.96 crore, roughly 52.04% of the amount spent on Sanskrit. In this period, Urdu individually received ₹ 837.94 crore, Hindi, ₹ 426.99 crore, and Sindhi, ₹ 53.03 crore.
According to the 2011 census, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Odia, and Kannada speakers together accounted for 21.99% of India's total population of 1.2 billion. The proportion of Sanskrit speakers was negligible. Hindi speakers (those who listed the language as their mother tongue) accounted for 43.63%, and Urdu speakers, 4.19%.
In March, Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin condemned the promotion of Sanskrit and Hindi in the state while calling for practical measures to support Tamil culture. '...Rather than installing Sengol in Parliament, uninstall Hindi from Union Government offices in Tamil Nadu. Instead of hollow praise, make Tamil an official language on par with Hindi and allot more funds for Tamil than a dead language like Sanskrit,' he said.
In October 2024 five more languages , Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese, and Bengali were recognized as classical languages through a Gazette notification, taking the total number of such languages to 11. The details of the funds used to promote these languages were not immediately available.
'Classical languages are regarded as the custodians of India's ancient and profound cultural legacy, preserving the rich history, literature, and traditions of their respective communities. By conferring this status, the government seeks to honour and protect the linguistic milestones of Bharat's diverse cultural landscape, ensuring that future generations can access and appreciate the deep historical roots of these languages,' the central government said in a statement in October 2024.
While the ministry of home affairs (MHA) initially granted classical status to Tamil and Sanskrit in 2004 and 2005 respectively, the ministry of culture took over the responsibility for further implementations and future recognition of classical languages. The ministry of education (MoE) is responsible for promotion of these languages through different councils, institutes and universities.
MoE also supports promotion of scheduled languages such as Hindi, Urdu and Sindhi. In the union budget 2025-26, the government has announced Bharatiya Bhasha Pustak Scheme (BBPS) to provide textbooks being taught at every level of school and higher education in 22 Indian languages in digital form. There are 22 scheduled languages in India including 9 classical languages. Pali and Prakrit are the only two classical languages which are not there in the list of scheduled languages.
HT reached out to The Ministry of Education but did not receive a response till Monday evening.
Professor Syed Imtiaz Hasnain, retired professor of sociolinguistics, department of linguistics at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) said 'Sanskrit is largely used for religious purposes but it occupies a sanctified place in the larger imagination of common masses,' adding that this could be one reason for the 'disproportionate funding.'
The government promotes Sanskrit Language through three Central Sanskrit Universities (CSU) established by Central Sanskrit Universities Act, 2020 and located in New Delhi and Tirupati by providing funds to them for teaching and research in Sanskrit Language leading to award of degree, diploma, certificate to students. The Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysuru works for the promotion of all Indian languages including four classical languages – Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Odia. CIIL with its seven regional language centres across the country also helps in implementation of the Union government's language policy and conducts training programmes for school teachers of different languages.
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