The Uttarakhand cabinet on Tuesday (April 15) approved the Adarsh Sanskrit village programme, which aims to teach the language to one village in each district of the hill state. The move is aimed at promoting Sanskrit, the second official language of the state, and comes on the heels of other similar schemes, such as financial incentives to girls and SC/ST students who opt for Sanskrit in schools.
How the scheme will be rolled out
On a pilot basis, one village from each district has been selected. Depending on the response, the scheme will be introduced at the block level.
The Secretary for Sanskrit, Deepak Kumar, said the 13 districts were chosen by a committee led by the respective District Magistrate, District Education Officer, and Sanskrit officer. They conducted a survey to gather insights on how receptive the scheme would be.
The thirteen villages are Bhogpur in Dehradun, Mukhem in Tehri, Kotgaon in Uttarkashi, Baiji in Rudraprayag, Dimmar in Chamoli, Goda in Pauri, Urg in Pithoragarh, Pandeykota in Almora, Seri in Bageshwar, Khark Karki in Champawat, Nurpur in Haridwar, Pandeygaon in Nainital, and Nagla Terai in Udham Singh Nagar.
Minister of Sanskrit education, Dr Dham Singh Rawat, said, “Dev vani (language of the Gods) Sanskrit is the second official language of the state, and to preserve and promote it, the government has declared one model Sanskrit village in each district. Sanskrit will be actively promoted in these villages, connecting the younger generation with Indian philosophy and the country’s knowledge traditions through this ancient language.”
Thirteen instructors, at Rs 20,000 per month, will be selected after a written test and an interview. The scheme, being funded by the Central Sanskrit University, Delhi, is expected to be rolled out in May. “We have received around 100 applications and will select those who are proficient in the language,” Kumar said.
Following this, the 13 instructors will get a brief training at the Sanskrit Academy in Haridwar. “We will outline the course and familiarise them with the texts they will use. Daily greetings and conversation topics will be initially taught to the villagers. Then we will introduce the importance of Sanskrit in our civilisation and heritage.” Kumar said the language will be taught to “Muslims, Dalits, and tribals in the villages if they opt in, so they can assimilate with the mainstream.”
The government is also roping in industry associations to provide employment opportunities with this skillset. A committee will be formed with the gram pradhan in attendance to manage the operations.
Syllabus and texts to be used
A syllabus has been set for the scheme, and each learner will be provided with a textbook with requisite but easy material. This will include shlokas, and stories of epics like the Mahabharata’s Gita, Ramayana, and tales of Panchatantra, etc. The four Vedas will be given as nuggets with important shlokas along with Durga Saptashati, another Hindu religious text. Examinations will be conducted, and competitions between the 13 villages will also be held to encourage learning. “We will give lessons on the dangers of smoking and the consumption of tobacco,” Kumar added.
The Secretary said the need for Sanskrit learning comes from the need to conserve and protect the culture of the country. “Our Dharma Shastras and Vedas are written in Sanskrit. Anyone proficient in the language will get one meaning out of it, and those reading the translation get a different understanding. We have to preserve this understanding,” he said. “We wish to change the perception that a language is tied to a particular caste or community. We have decided to add Sanskrit in madrasas as an optional language. Once the Memorandum of Understanding is signed, we will kickstart it,” Kumar added.
The government has been using Hindi and Sanskrit in office plaques at the Secretariat and the Assembly. They have also requested airport authorities, railways, and state bus transport, where the public frequents, for Sanskrit signboards. As many as 350 words will be added to airport signage in Sanskrit, and a request to sanction Rs 50 lakh has been made by the Dehradun airport to the central government.
“We will conduct visits to Mattur in Karnataka’s Shimoga, the only Sanskrit village in the country,” the Secretary said. The state has been promoting Sanskrit by collaborating with the Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology to incorporate Vedic mathematics in their projects. The department has also initiated a collaboration with IIT Roorkee by starting a chair to use Artificial Intelligence in promoting Sanskrit. All texts available in Sanskrit digitally will be fed into a large language model with data of 1 billion characters.
Moreover, a monthly financial incentive of Rs 250 has been launched for girls from 2023-24 and SC/ST children who learn Sanskrit from 2024-25.
Sanskrit is the second official language of Uttarakhand. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons) 
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