10 Indian Languages To Get Technical-Term Dictionaries

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in News?
• About Commission for Scientific and Technology Terminology (CSTT)
• Functions of CSTT
• Achievements of CSTT
• News Summary
• Significance of Developing Dictionaries in Regional Languages
• Eight Schedule of the Constitution

 

Why in News?

• The Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology (CSTT) is aiming to create technical and scientific terminology in 10 Indian languages underrepresented in the learning landscape.

 

About Commission for Scientific and Technology Terminology (CSTT)

• Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology was established in 1961.
• The Commission was established under clause (4) of Article 344 of the Constitution of India.
• Objective – To evolve and define scientific and technical terms in Hindi and all Indian languages.
• Presently, CSTT is functioning under Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education.
• It is headquartered in New Delhi.

 

Functions of CSTT

• Preparation and Publication of bilingual and trilingual glossaries involving English and Hindi and other Indian Languages.
• Identification of pan Indian terms. Preparation and publication of national terminology.
• Identification and publication of School Level Terminology and Departmental Glossaries. Preparation of Definitional Dictionaries and Encyclopaedias.
• Preparation of University level textbooks, monographs and journals. Grant-in-Aid to grant academies, textbook boards and university cells for University level books in regional languages.
• Propagation, expansion and critical review of terms coined and defined through training and orientation programmes, workshops, seminars etc.
• Providing necessary terminology to National Translation Mission.

 

Achievements of CSTT

• Twenty two State Granth Academies / State Text-Book Boards / Universities Cells, etc. are also associated with this Commission.
  • They produce University Level Text-Books / reference materials in Hindi and other Indian Languages with the use of standard terminology as evolved by the CSTT.
• Till date, CSTT has standardized the terminology of about eight lakhs technical terms in different subjects and in different languages.
• Besides this, CSTT has published large number of Definitional Dictionaries, Glossaries, Text-Books, Reference Materials and Monographs, Quarterly Journals.
  • ‘Vigyan Garima Sindhu’ and ‘Gyan Garima Sindhu’ are two prominent quarterly journals published by the CSTT.
• CSTT regularly organizes workshops, seminars, symposium, conferences, orientation and training programmes to increase the use and popularize the standard terminology of Hindi and other Indian languages.

 

News Summary

• The Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology (CSTT) is aiming to create technical and scientific terminology in 10 Indian languages underrepresented in the learning landscape.
• The CSTT will bring out what it calls fundamental (basic) dictionaries with 5,000 words per language, in three to four months.
  • These will be in digital, searchable format, and free of cost. About 1,000-2,000 copies will be printed in each language.
• The immediate focus is to cover 15 disciplines – journalism, public administration, chemistry, botany, zoology, psychology, physics, economics, etc.
• These will enable textbook formulation at the middle- and senior-school as well as university levels.
• The dictionaries will be distributed to State education boards, universities, engineering institutes, and the National Testing Agency.

 

Significance of Developing Dictionaries in Regional Languages

• The move assumes importance as the National Education Policy 2020 has espoused the use of regional languages as a medium of education in both school and college.
• Following this, the government has taken several initiatives such as introducing engineering and medical courses in regional languages in several States.
• The UGC has also said that it will soon release a road map to introduce undergraduate and postgraduate courses in regional languages in all disciplines.
• In June, the Bar Council of India (BCI) also constituted a panel to formulate recommendations on how to introduce courses in regional languages in law colleges.

     

Eight Schedule of the Constitution

• The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution lists the official languages of India.
• Part XVII of the constitution deals with the official languages in Articles 343 to 351.
• Although there are hundreds of languages spoken across the country, the eighth schedule recognises a total of 22 languages as the official languages.
• These 22 languages are –
  • (1) Assamese, (2) Bengali, (3) Gujarati, (4) Hindi, (5) Kannada, (6) Kashmiri, (7) Konkani, (8) Malayalam, (9) Manipuri, (10) Marathi, (11) Nepali, (12) Oriya, (13) Punjabi, (14) Sanskrit, (15) Sindhi, (16) Tamil, (17) Telugu, (18) Urdu (19) Bodo, (20) Santhali, (21) Maithili and (22) Dogri.
  • Of these languages, 14 were initially included in the Constitution.
  • Sindhi language was added in 1967.
  • Thereafter three more languages viz., Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali were included in 1992.
  • Subsequently Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali were added in 2004.
• At present, there are demands for inclusion of 38 more languages in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution.
• However, there is no fixed criteria for any language to be considered for inclusion in the Eighth Schedule.

 

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Q1) What are the top 5 most spoken language in India?

According to Census 2011 data, Hindi (52.83 crore), Bengali (9.72 crore) and Marathi (8.3 crore) are the three most spoken languages in India.

Q2) What is the criteria for linguistic minority in India?

Linguistic Minorities are group or collectivises of individuals residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language or script of their own. The language of the minority group need not be one of the twenty two languages mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

 

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Source: 10 Indian languages to get technical-term dictionaries | education.gov.in