Sanskrit Commission’s Report Rejected by HRD Ministry

The recommendations of the Sanskrit Commission that was set up by the UPA government have been rejected by the HRD ministry on the grounds that the report was submitted much after the panel’s term expired.

As the report is not accepted therefore the government is not at all bound to table it in parliament as was intended earlier.

The 450 plus page report was submitted by the 13 member commission headed by Satya Vrat Shastri in August last year after its request for one year extension was denied by the NDA government.

The HRD ministry, at the time of the submission of the report had stated that it would study the report before giving any comments. However the ministry constituted its own 13 member committee headed by former chief election commissioner N Gopalaswamy last November. The agenda of the committee was to find out how best the interest in Sanskrit can be rekindled among students and ordinary citizens. The committee was given three months’ time to submit its report.

A four language formula and making Sanskrit a compulsory subject till class X was recommended by the second Sanskrit commission. It also recommended that the language should be made the vehicle of communication of the ancient Indian knowledge system.

“The present government does not want to be seen endorsing the report by a commission set up by the previous government. The commission worked very hard and prepared a comprehensive report. It is pure politics,” said a member of the second Sanskrit commission.

The commission made another suggestion of introducing the language in the higher institutes of learning and also to introduce the study of old texts Arthasastra, Rasasarasmuccaya, Krsiparasara along with others. It had said that it should be made compulsory for the institutes of science and technology to hire Sanskrit teachers. Another recommendation was that Sanskrit teachers should be part of faculty exchange program.