VIJAYAWADA: The State government on Saturday issued an order renaming the Telugu Akademi as Telugu and Sanskrit Akademi to promote Sanskrit on par with Telugu. The Akademi will come up in Tirupati. A decision to rename the Telugu Akademi was taken in the State cabinet meeting held in June. The government nominated D Bhaskar Reddy, retired professor, Department of Chemistry, Sri Venkateswara University, Rajakumar Nerella, Astro counsellor and teacher in Astrology, M Vijayasree, associate professor (retd) in Telugu, JKC College, and Kappaganthu Ramakrishna, lecturer in Telugu, SRSV BEd College, to the Board of Governors of Akademi.
V Muralidhara Sharma, Vice- Chancellor, National Sanskrit University, Tirupati, has been appointed nominee of the University Grants Commission in the Board of Governors. The Special Chief Secretary/ Principal Secretary/Secretary to Government, School Education Department, is ex-officio member of the governing body. Experts in the field of Telugu literature opined that the decision would revitalise the Akademi, which has been largely dysfunctional since the bifurcation of the State.
Telugu Akademi’s assets division yet to be completed
“As it is in Schedule X of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, the division of Akademi assets are yet to be taken up,’’ an expert said. Once Telugu and Sanskrit Akademi starts functioning, there may be some progress in the division of assets, he felt. At present, the Telugu Akademi headquartered in Hyderabad, has its regional centres at Tirupati, Anantapur, Guntur, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam in the State.
TDP senior leader and former chairman of Official Language Commission Mandali Buddha Prasad said the Telugu Akademi was formed in 1968 with the then Education Minister PV Narasimha Rao as chairman. Even after becoming the Chief Minister, he held the post. It was mandated with preparing textbooks for all subjects of Intermediate to postgraduate courses in Telugu medium. Buddha Prasad added that over the years, Akademi’s assets increased to nearly Rs 300 cr and sharing of its assets between the two States is yet to be completed. Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan found fault with the government’s decision. He questioned the government’s commitment in protecting Telugu language.