UGC To Develop 22,000 books in Indian languages

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Education and the University Grants Commission (UGC) announced a scheme to create 22,000 books in Indian languages over the next five years.

Sanjay Murthy, Secretary, Higher Education, launched the project, titled ASMITA (Augmenting Study Materials in Indian Languages through Translation and Academic Writing). This is a collaborative effort between the UGC and the Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti, a high-powered committee under the ministry, and it invites everyone to join in the promotion of Indian languages in education.

Sanjay Murthy, Secretary, Higher Education, launched the project, titled ASMITA (Augmenting Study Materials in Indian Languages through Translation and Academic Writing). This is a collaborative effort between the UGC and the Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti, a high-powered committee under the ministry, and it invites everyone to join in the promotion of Indian languages in education. 
 

"This project aims to create a robust ecosystem for translation and original book writing in Indian languages across various disciplines within higher education. The goal is to produce 1,000 books in 22 languages within five years, resulting in 22,000 books in Bharatiya bhasha," UGC Chairman Jagadesh Kumar said.

Kumar added, “The UGC has also created a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the book-writing process in each assigned language. This SOP includes identifying nodal officers and authors, allocating title, subject, and programme, writing and editing, submission of the manuscript, review and plagiarism check, finalisation, designing, proofreading, and e-publication.”
 

13 nodal institutions and member universities will lead this initiative from diverse locations. In addition, the ministry established the "Bahubhasha Shabdkosh," a single-point reference for all terms in all Indian languages and their meanings.
 

"This initiative will be developed by the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) in collaboration with the Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti. This Shabdakosh will help in using Bharatiya words, phrases and sentences for various new-age domains like IT, industry, research, education," the UGC said in a statement.