In what could be considered as a Ugadi gift to the people in Andhra Pradesh, the state government on Wednesday revived three Akademis after a gap of 28 years. The government issued orders reviving the Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Akademi, AP Sangeeta Nataka Akademi and AP Lalita Kala Akademi.
Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy declared at the World Telugu Conference in Tirupati in December last that he would revive the Akademis to promote the Telugu language, culture, dance and arts. The Akademis had been disbanded by the NT Rama Rao-led Telugu Desam government in 1985.
When the Sangeeta Nataka Akademi was scrapped, the legendry Carnatic vocalist Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna, who was its chairman then, vowed not to perform in the state. The NTR government’s decision drew flak from various quarters.
After 28 years, Kiran Kumar Reddy revived the Academis a day before Ugadi.
Telugu year: The government also declared 2013 as Telugu Bhasha Vikasa Samvatsaram. Orders to this effect were issued by the government on Wednesday. The Kiran Kumar Reddy government took several steps to promote Telugu language.
Some of them are making Telugu a compulsory language from Classes 1 to 10 and compulsory use of Telugu in official communication was also made compulsory.