Scheme initiated for preservation of dialects, languages: Government

NEW DELHI: The Centre has initiated a scheme for protection, preservation and documentation of all mother tongues and languages of India which are spoken by less than 10,000 people, the government has said.

Union Minister of State for HRD Mahendra Nath Pandey in Lok Sabha said the scheme -- 'Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages of India' (SPEEL) is being implemented by Mysore-based Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL).

"This scheme aims at protection, preservation and documentation of all mother tongues/languages of India which are spoken by less than 10,000 people."

"Dialects being part of a language are covered under this programme," Union Minister of State for HRD Mahendra Nath Pandey said in reply to a question in Lok Sabha yesterday.

He said the UGC has a scheme for ' Establishment of Centres for Endangered Languages' under which centres were approved in respect of nine Central universities.

In response to another question, he said, the UGC has invited proposals from universities for establishment of Department of Devanagari Lipi (script) in universities with a view to preserve dialects which do not have a written script in Devanagari.