NEW DELHI: Granting of classical language status to Marathi is under "active consideration" of the ministry of culture, the government said today.
According to information uploaded on the Lok Sabha website, Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma has said that his ministry had received the proposal for granting classical status to Marathi language from Marathi Language Department, Maharashtra government.
"The said proposal was placed before the Committee of Linguistic Experts for its consideration. The said Committee recommended the grant of classical status to Marathi language and the said recommendations are under consideration of the Ministry," Sharma said in his reply to the question.
The matter, Sharma said remained on the back burner due to several writ petitions filed in the Madras High Court.
"It was decided to wait for the outcome of the said writ petitions. The High Court of Judicature at Madras has disposed of the writ petitions vide common order dated August 8, 2016 declining to interfere in the matter and disposed off all the petitions.
"Consequently, the proposal for grant of classical status to Marathi language is again under active consideration of this Ministry," the minister said.
As of now, six languages i.e. Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia have been given the status of classical languages.
Criteria adopted by the government to determine the eligibility of a language for of classical language status includes its recorded history over a period of 1500- 2000 years, its body of ancient literature, whether its literary tradition is original and not borrowed from another speech community and other yardsticks.