Marathi, Bengali, Pali, Prakrit and Assamese recognised as classical languages, what are the criteria to get status?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday lauded the Cabinet’s decision to approve Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali additions to classical languages. The demand for classical status for these five languages has been pending since 2013. India has now in total eleven classical languages including  Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Sanskrit, and Odia.

Taking to X (formerly known as Twitter), Modi congratulated speakers of the newly designated classical languages. “Our Government cherishes and celebrates India's rich history and culture. We have also been unwavering in our commitment to popularising regional languages. I am extremely glad the Cabinet has decided that Assamese, Bengali, Marathi, Pali and Prakrit will be conferred the status of Classical Languages! Each of them are beautiful languages, highlighting our vibrant diversity. Congratulations to everyone,” he tweeted. 

Our Government cherishes and celebrates India's rich history and culture. We have also been unwavering in our commitment to popularising regional languages.

I am extremely glad the Cabinet has decided that Assamese, Bengali, Marathi, Pali and Prakrit will be conferred the…

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 3, 2024

The Ministry of Culture employed yardsticks before approving the languages as Shashtriya Bhasha, also called 'classical language'. The ministry defined the criteria in 2014 where it mentioned that the ancient languages that have recorded history spanning 1500-200 years are considered for the status. The language must not be derived from another language and has a unique literary heritage. The language is required to own a wide collection of ancient scripts, text and literature to be regarded as ‘classical language’. 

In July this year, the criteria for bestowing classical status was revised by the Linguistics Experts committee. The expert committee chaired by the President of the Sahitya Akademi has representatives of the Union Ministries of Home, Culture, and four or five linguistic experts. For those unaware, the inclusion of status provides the languages with significant employment opportunities in both academic and research fields. Additionally, the documentation, preservation and digitisation of the classical language opens room for jobs in archiving, translation and various other publishing fields. 

Meanwhile, Tamil was the first to be given classical status in 2004 followed by Sanskrit in 2005. These 11 classical languages have significantly contributed to the cultural and intellectual development of the region, They also mark important historical and cultural milestones for their communities.