The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Classification of languages: move for change opposed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 14, 2006

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Classification of languages: move for change opposed

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: The AP Official Language Commission has in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh registered "a strong protest" against Union Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran's plea for a change in the criteria for the classification of a language as classical.

A.B.K.Prasad, chairman of the commission, said Mr. Maran had made a plea to revise the "period of antiquity" from 1,000 years to 2,000 years and to declare both Tamil and Sanskrit classical languages. He released a copy of the letter Mr. Maran had written to the Prime Minister on this issue on March 22 last year.

As a result of his action, Telugu and Kannada stood no chance of being recognised as classical languages. The Minister's stand, he said, militated against the spirit of the Constitution which recognised 22 languages under the Eighth Schedule.

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