Criteria for declaring a language as ‘Classical’ in India

• The guidelines for declaring a language as ‘Classical’ are:
  • High antiquity of its early texts/recorded history over a period of 1500-2000 years;
  • A body of ancient literature/texts, which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers;
  • The literary tradition be original and not borrowed from another speech community; 
  • The classical language and literature being distinct from modern, there may also be a discontinuity between the classical language and its later forms or its offshoots.

How are the Classical languages promoted?

• Two major annual international awards for scholars of eminence in classical Indian languages
• A Centre of Excellence for studies in Classical Languages 
• The University Grants Commission is requested to create a certain number of Professional Chairs for the Classical Languages so declared.

Current status

• At present, six languages enjoy the ‘Classical’ status: 
  • Tamil (declared in 2004), 
  • Sanskrit (2005), 
  • Kannada (2008), 
  • Telugu (2008), 
  • Malayalam (2013), and 
  • Odia (2014).

Why in News?

• Amid a clamour for classical status for many languages, the Central government has decided to tweak the criteria for giving this special tag.
• The Linguistics Expert Committee of the Union Culture Ministry has submitted a report, suggesting some tweaks and changes in the criteria for according classical status to any language.
• The new set of criteria will be officially notified by a gazette notification after it is approved by the Union Cabinet.
• It was in 2014 that the government last granted the special tag. 
• Over the years, there have been demands from some States and literary circles for classical status to languages such as Marathi, Bengali, Assamese and Maithili. Of these, the case of Marathi has been pending for more than a decade.