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Language Atlas of India

Language Atlas of India

Source: The Hindu
GS II: Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times


Overview

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  1. News in Brief
  2. About Language Atlas of India
  3. What are the challenges?
  4. Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA)

Why in the News?

Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA), an autonomous body under the Union Culture Ministry, has proposed conducting a linguistic survey nationwide to create a ‘Language Atlas’ of India, a pan-India Language Mapping Project.

News in Brief

  • As India makes efforts towards imparting education in the mother tongue, especially at the primary level, a crucial question remains on the number of languages that can be considered active in the country.
  • In a country as vast and varied as India, where language changes every few miles, the question of how many languages truly thrive within its borders has remained a matter of some intrigue.
About Language Atlas of India

  • The proposed ‘Language Atlas’ of India aims to chart the languages spoken across the nation and preserve the rich tapestry of local wisdom, knowledge, and culture they represent.
  • The proposed linguistic survey would focus on the number of languages and dialects in India.
  • Also have the number of languages and dialects which are extinct or on the verge of extinction.
  • The first and most exhaustive Linguistic Survey of India (LSI) was carried out by Sir George Abraham Grierson and published in 1928.
  • The DPR proposes that firstly, there should be State-wise data collection, and then region-wise.
Need for Language Atlas
  • India officially recognizes 22 languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, purportedly covering 97% of the population according to the latest Census data.
  • The last comprehensive survey conducted in 1961 enumerated 1,554 languages, including those with a solitary speaker.
  • Languages spoken by fewer than 10,000 people have been omitted from the Census.
  • The effort of IGNCA aims to close this gap by enhancing and modernizing the data that was gathered more than 50 years ago.
What are the challenges?
  • Planning ahead and allocating substantial resources is necessary for documenting languages, particularly those spoken in isolated regions or by small populations.
  • The dynamic character of language, with dialects changing and new ones appearing, makes the process more difficult.

Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA)

  • An autonomous institution under the Indian Ministry of Culture.
  • It was established in 1987 in memory of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
  • Headquartered in New Delhi.
  • IGNCA’s vision focuses on nurturing, preserving and promoting India’s cultural resources including heritage across arts, humanities, and science disciplines.

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