In this episode of Editorial, Mr. Sujit Nair discusses the funds allocated for the Sanskrit language over the past 10 years. The government allocated ₹2,532.59 crore for Sanskrit — 17 times the combined spending on the other five classical languages: Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Odia.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
[00:00:01] Namaskar, welcome to another episode of editorial. My today's editorial is about language. It's about the fact that the government of India has spent close to 2532.59 Crores in the last 10 years to promote Sanskrit.
[00:00:28] And the government has spent around 147.56 Crores, mere 147.56 Crores to promote other classical Indian language which includes Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia.
[00:00:48] 2532.59 Crores for Sanskrit and 147.56 Crores for other classical language. Is that fair? Let's talk about it. Let's get right to the show. You know one of the best logic that I have heard about the language debate is from an old professor.
[00:01:13] This old professor, we met him a month back. He is 86 now. He was a professor of literature. This old professor was telling us that you see, imagine a treasure chest. A huge treasure chest.
[00:01:33] And there are various lockers in this treasure chest. And he says, you know, there is one locker which is the biggest. He says, imagine if you open that biggest locker and show the world that listen, this locker is what represents this huge treasure chest.
[00:01:53] Then we will be cheating the audience. That is unfair to all the other smaller treasure chest that holds so many jewels, so many secrets, so much of knowledge. He says, language is like that. He says, India is like that. India is like that huge treasure chest.
[00:02:15] And the biggest locker possibly in that huge treasure chest could be Hindi. And it is, it is, it is 43.63% of India's population are Hindi speaking. So the huge locker could be Hindi. But the fact remains that India is not complete unless and until we open all the other lockers.
[00:02:37] Because every locker beat Odia, beat Malayalam, beat Marathi, beat Punjabi, beat Tamil, beat Telangu. Every of these lockers beat Gujanati. Every of these small lockers hold their own jewels, hold their own knowledge, hold their own culture, hold their own literature, hold their own creative expressions.
[00:03:04] So unless and until you open the entire locker, you can never say that this particular big locker, because it is big, represents the entire India. That is unfair. I thought it was a beautiful explanation. I thought it was a fantastic explanation. He explained it very easily and he explained it very well.
[00:03:25] The reason I am talking about language debate again is because, you see, the government decided to spend 2532.59 crores on promoting Sanskrit. Chalo, let us forget for a minute as to why are they promoting Sanskrit, what is the point of promoting Sanskrit. Chalo, let us, let us, let us, let us keep that aside for a minute.
[00:03:54] The first question I want to know is, after spending 2500 crores, have they promoted Sanskrit in the last 10 years? Has the usage of Sanskrit, literature of Sanskrit, the popularity of Sanskrit, has it increased either in India or across the globe? Are more students now interested in taking up Sanskrit? To the contrary, there are no Sanskrit lecturers.
[00:04:25] 709 Sanskrit lecturers post lie vacant. This is what the government of India said on 25th of November 2019. You spending 2500 crores on a subject, on a language, where you can't even fulfill the vacancy. You can't even fill the vacancy. 709 post lying vacant. So, where is this money going? So, if you look at where the money is going, then I will go to another one.
[00:04:52] Sanskrit university officials held with 7 crore fraud. This is where the money is going. The economic offence wing of UP police arrested the official of Sampoorna Ananda Sanskrit University for embezzlement of 7 crores. Investigator said the sum of 10 crores was given by the state government for upkeep of books and publications, etc. So, this is where the money is going. This is where the 2500 crores is going.
[00:05:18] So, if I say that you have been giving this 2500 so that it can be embezzled, how am I wrong? Because end of the day, when you are giving money, you have to be accountable. Did the opposition ever bother to ask the government, that it is 2500 crores. Where is the money? What is the accountability? How did Sanskrit grow in this country? How did Sanskrit grow in this country? How many students are taking up Sanskrit?
[00:05:48] How have we revived that language in this country, that beautiful language in this country? Have we revived it? If not, where is the 2500 crores? How do we know it has not been used purely to ensure that some pockets are filled? So, this is the first question I wanted to ask. Where is this money going? If I can just urge you to look at the screen and the figures on the screen.
[00:06:17] This is what we have spent in the last 11 years on languages. Like I told you, Sanskrit 2532.59 crores. Urdu, Urdu 837.97 crores. Hindi 426.99 crores. Tamil 113.48 crores. Telangu 12.65 crores. Kannada 12.28 crores. Odia 4.63 crores. And Malayalam which is the least at 4.52 crores.
[00:06:45] We have spent between Urdu and Hindi. We have almost spent around 1200 crores. Now, let us take this argument forward. You have seen the graph. You have seen the money spent in the last 11 years in various languages. Now, let us understand this concept of classical and non-classical language. In the graph that you just saw, which I will show you again.
[00:07:12] Sanskrit, Tamil, Telangu, Kannada, Malayalam, Odia are classical languages. These were classical languages. These are classical languages. In 2024, there were another set of classical languages that was approved by the Prime Minister of India. And those classical languages which were incorporated on the 3rd of October 2024 were Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamish and Bengali.
[00:07:39] So, another 5 languages were included in classical languages making into 11. But for the time being, we will discuss the 6 classical languages for the simple reason that in the last 10 years, these were the classical language or these were the language that was defined as classical language. Let's go.
[00:08:09] The classical language is intended to recognize its historical significance and its role as guardian of India's rich culture and intellectual heritage. These languages have been essential in preserving and transmitting India's ancient knowledge and system, philosophies and values across generations for thousands of years.
[00:08:31] By recognizing these languages as classical, the government acknowledges their deep-rooted antiquity, vast literary traditions and their invaluable contribution to the cultural fabric of this country. This is the definition of a classical language. Tell me, tell me, if that is the case, then are we saying that we value the deep-rooted antiquity, the culture, the tradition of Sanskrit,
[00:09:01] Sanskrit more than Tamil or Tamil more than Telungu? I mean, then in that case, how are you giving priorities to different languages? You are, like I told you in the beginning of my editorial, your spend on the other classical language is 17 times lesser than what you spend in Sanskrit. You spend 17 times more in Sanskrit than other classical language. How do you justify that?
[00:09:29] You are saying that Sanskrit has more antiquity, Sanskrit has more culture than the other languages? Chalo, that is one question that one needs to answer. Chalo, now let's talk about Hindi and other classical languages. The money spent on Hindi and other classical language. A lot of you may say, are you 43% of India, in fact, let's go with actual figures. 43.63% of India talks Hindi.
[00:09:58] So, you are putting more money for Hindi. And only 5.7% speaks Tamil. And only 6.7% speaks Telungu. So, you are putting more money in Hindi. And regardless whether it is classical language or no classical language and all. Language is language. So, we are putting more money in Hindi. First of all, if there is no difference between classical language and language, then why are you calling classical language? Why are you giving all these names, designations and all that, classical language, antiquity and all that? Why do you even have this garb?
[00:10:29] Then language is language. It is okay with me. Every language is important. Then why have this garb? Chalo. Again, let's come to the pro rata point. If you are giving money pro rata, which is 43%, you are giving the maximum. You are giving Hindi around 426 crores. Urdu 837 crores. And Tamil only 113 crores. Pray tell me and that is because of pro rata.
[00:10:55] Then pray tell me, why give Sanskrit 2532 crores? What logic is that? There are no Sanskrit speakers in India. So, on what basis are you giving 2532 crores? So, you can't say it is pro rata. Because it is not. You have funded Sanskrit much more than what the Sanskrit speaking people there in India. So, it can't be pro rata. Secondly, you can't say that you are funding classical language. Because it is not classical language. Hindi is not classical language.
[00:11:24] Urdu is not classical language. On what basis are you funding these languages then? And so much of the funds. So, you can't say that either. The point that I am trying to make through this short editorial of mine is that the only way we can integrate our entire nation into one is by ensuring we promote each other's language.
[00:11:50] Spend money on Tamil so that maybe a student sitting in Uttar Pradesh would be interested, would like to learn Tamil. Like a lot of people learn German in India, don't we? Maybe there is a student interested in learning Tamil in Uttar Pradesh. Give him that opportunity.
[00:12:13] Let the government spend the money so that Tamil language can be available to everybody in the country. And likewise, let Hindi language be brought to South. Let everybody get an opportunity to learn Hindi language. Let everybody get an opportunity to learn Avadi. Let everybody get an opportunity to learn Bhojpuri. Let everybody get an opportunity to learn Mahathali. And let everybody get an opportunity to learn Marathi.
[00:12:41] When let a student sitting in Kerala learn Marathi. It's a beautiful language. It only widens his cultural growth. It only widens his or her cultural growth. That is why you spend money for a language. That is why you classify as classical language, non-classical language and all that. You classify it as a classical language so that more and more people get interested in that language.
[00:13:08] And more and more people go and try to understand, study that language. That's your intention, isn't it? But then how can you fulfill that intention when you don't spend money on that language? There is no logic in which you spend money. You spend money on one particular language which is not spoken. There are no teachers. There are no universities. There is no growth. You spend 2000 crores on that language. You spend on another language just because it's Hindi and you want to promote Hindi. You spend another language. You spend 800 crores on Urdu.
[00:13:36] Just because it is Urdu, you want to spend money on that particular language. You spend on that particular language. What is the logic? It is neither pro rata nor is it classical language driven. There is no basis in which you doled out funds. That is the problem that I want to get in front of you tonight. Till I see you next time. That's tomorrow at 10. Namaskar.