Chaitanya.Marpakwar
Mungantiwar demanded that a Marathi language centre be set up in Chandrapur
Mumbai: BJP MLA Sudhir Mungantiwar on Wednesday criticised the state govt for not getting any funds from the Centre even after Marathi received classical language status. He said the state finance department also did not allocate money for Marathi, and only Rs 1 crore was given for promoting Marathi as a classical language. He said the state govt only blew its trumpet for getting classical language status for Marathi, but nothing was done after that.Mungantiwar said Marathi was declared the state language through a Govt Resolution in 2024, but none of the promises was kept. He said the state govt must give a report on what was done for the promotion of Marathi whenever the state legislature meets. The Marathi language department is headed by Shiv Sena minister Uday Samant. Mungantiwar raised the issue through a 30-minute discussion.Mungantiwar demanded that a Marathi language centre be set up in Chandrapur. “A report on the work done for the promotion of the Marathi language must be submitted. The GR has been thrown to the winds. An all-party legislators’ Standing Committee must be formed for the Marathi language. We have not been able to bring a bill to change the name of Bombay to Mumbai. It is officially used at 89 places,” Mungantiwar said.Samant said a World Marathi Language Centre would be set up in the new property to be taken over by Maharashtra Mandal London. He said Marathi development centres would be set up at eight locations across the state, and one of them would be in Chandrapur. “We will also develop the Marathi dictionary. We will form all committees mentioned in the 2024 GR in the Marathi language. We will set up a committee of all party legislators for promoting the Marathi language,” Samant said.In Oct 2024, the Union Cabinet gave its approval to grant classical language status to five Indian languages: Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese, and Bengali. The criteria for a classical language include an ancient history and literary tradition spanning 1500-2000 years, with a significant body of ancient texts that are still valued today. The language must have an independent and distinguished literary heritage, not derived from another language. Additionally, there may be a discontinuity between the classical language and its modern forms or offshoots, as the classical language and literature remain distinct from their later evolutions.Marathi language minister Samant told the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday that the Hindi language exam for state govt employees, which was stayed in May, would be permanently scrapped. The state govt had announced that a Hindi language test would be conducted for govt employees and officers on June 28. Officials said gazetted officers and employees were scheduled to take this test. However, after this decision, the Shiv Sena (UBT), MNS, and Marathi language activists had warned of agitation and opposed the test. The test was stopped after that.“I came to know that such an exam will be conducted by the Directorate of Marathi Language. After that, I discussed it with our Principal Secretary, Kiran Kulkarni. It was announced that a Hindi language exam would be conducted. However, now it has been decided to postpone that exam,” Samant had said.
