BHUBANESWAR: The State Government is contemplating to move a proposal for establishment of a Central Institute of Classical Odia in Bhubaneswar.
Attending the second National Language Conference, that was inaugurated on Monday, Tourism Minister Ashok Panda said the State Government will soon submit the proposal to Ministry of Human Resources Development for the institute. The institute, aimed at promotion and propagation of Odia and other languages spoken in Odisha, would come up on the land behind Jaydev Bhawan.
As per Central Government provisions, once a language is declared classical, financial assistance is provided to the State concerned for setting up a centre of excellence for further study. Besides, two major awards are instituted for scholars of eminence in the language.
Odia had got classical tag last year and became the sixth language in the country to get the status. Currently, the country has Central Institutes of Classical Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada and work is on for Malayalam.
The Central Government has already given nod for establishment of Central Institute of Classical Odia and if everything goes as per plan, it might be opened in the camp office building of Central University of Odisha in Bhubaneswar on a temporary basis this year. In the later stage, it will be shifted to a permanent campus.
Speaking on the occasion, School and Mass Education Minister Debi Prasad Mishra said a museum of languages can also be set up inside the Central Institute of Classical Odia. “Odisha is a land of many languages. There are 62 tribes here and each of them has a language of its own. A museum of languages can be helpful in studying various aspects of these languages and their linguistic divisions,” he said, adding that teachers in different tribal languages will be appointed in schools in rural and tribal pockets for mother tongue-based education.
While eminent linguist Debi Prasanna Pattnaik said any research on language should take into consideration the multi-lingual nature of the State, Director of Centre for Oral and Tribal literature at Central Sahitya Akademi Anvita Abbi said scripting of languages in Odisha is the need of the hour.
The four-day national conference, organised by Institute of Odia Studies and Research, is being attended by 500 delegates including linguists, professors, vice-chancellors and researchers from various universities.