LS: HRD Min hails passage of bill to upgrade 3 deemed Sanskrit varsities into Central ones

Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on Thursday said that universities will help students pursue higher studies in the Sanskrit language. The remark came soon after the Lok Sabha passed a bill to upgrade three deemed Sanskrit universities into Central universities. "Under this Bill three deemed Sanskrit universities (Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, New Delhi and Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, Tirupati) have been made central universities," said Nishank. "These universities will help students pursue higher studies in the Sanskrit language," he added. 

Replying to the debate on Central Sanskrit Universities Bill, 2019, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said India's ancient texts had guided India to become a world leader and it was "painful" to see dispute being created about a language. In a veiled reference to DMK MPs, who had asked how he was describing Sanskrit as the greatest language, Nishank said, "We cannot indulge small talk... We are committed to strengthening all Indian languages," he said.

READ | Bill To Set Up Central Sanskrit Universities Introduced In Lok Sabha

Nishank said it was written in the Constitution that the government should encourage the use of Hindi. The Bill seeks to upgrade three deemed to be universities in Sanskrit – Sri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, and Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth Tirupati – into Central universities. Members praised the richness of Sanskrit as a language with Union Minister Pratap Singh Sarangi delivering his speech in the ancient language. TMC MP Saugata Roy demanded that one of the three universities should be named after Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.

READ | Lok Sabha Discusses Upgradation Of Three Sanskrit Universities

'Ek Bharat, Shreshth Bharat'

Minister Nishank pointed out that foreign countries learn and gain from India's ancient texts but India fails to do so. He said the purpose of turning the three universities into Central universities was that the knowledge inherent in ancient texts is explored in a new perspective. The minister said the government was working to the slogan of 'Ek Bharat, Shreshth Bharat' and the aim of 'Shreshth Bharat' can be realised under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

READ | Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla Inaugurates ‘Blanket Bank’ Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital

'Sanskrit: Soul of India'

Earlier moving the Bill for passage, Nishank said Sanskrit was the "soul of the country" and had contributed to India becoming 'Vishwa Guru" (world leader) in the past. He said the language is taught in 250 universities across 100 countries including 14 universities in Germany. The minister cited scholars and said Sanskrit was a scientific language. The Bill states that that enhancing the status of the three universities will give a boost to postgraduate, doctoral and post-doctoral education and research "in Sanskrit and Shastraic education".

(With ANI inputs)

READ | BHU Teachers Write To Prez Kovind To Revoke Feroze Khan's Appointment In Sanskrit Faculty