CIIL celebrates 55th Foundation Day
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Mysuru: The Central Institute of Indian Languages, (CIIL) celebrated its 55th Foundation Day here on Monday.
Speaking on the occasion, CIIL director, Prof. Shailendra Mohan said that the premiere institute on languages was set up in July 17, 1969. It is an apex body on language matters in India as it works for the promotion of all languages of India including scheduled languages, non-scheduled languages and mother tongues, classical languages, irrespective of their socio-cultural and political status.
Recalling its growth over the years, Prof Mohan said that the primary functions of the CIIL are to act as the nodal agency of the country for language policy and language planning; to teach and conduct research, to coordinate programmes and activities that complement and supplement the work of Languages Institutes. He further said that CIIL is also involved in publication of research and pedagogical materials for Indian languages, development and distribution of resources for language technology, book promotion in 121 Indian languages.
He told the gathering that the CIIL has trained well over 15000 in-service and prospective teachers from all States and Union Territories of India through its 7 regional centres spread across India focusing on developing proficiency in second/ third language.
The institute will soon launch language courses online and also offer 20 Indian languages at our Regional centres, he informed.
Apart from this, it has conducted programmes for IAS/IPS probationers, conducted Certificate courses by Correspondence to teach Tamil, courses in Bengali, and courses in Telugu, apart from courses in Kannada for SBI/SBM Bank Officials.
The institute has successfully implemented several centrally funded schemes including National Translation Mission, (NTM), National Testing Service-India, (NTS), Linguistic Data Consortium for Indian Languages, (LDCIL) among others. He also recalled the work for the promotion of four classical languages, Classical Kannada, Classical Telugu, Classical Odia and Classical Malayalam.
Prof Mohan further said that the institute needs to focus on teaching and training in Indian languages; translation of content in contemporary languages; develop technology for all Indian languages; conduct ‘Minimum Proficiency Test’ (MPT) in all Indian languages and make transition from old ways to new ways in thinking and innovation.
Padma Shri and Chairperson, Bhartiya Bhasha Samiti, Chamu Krishna Shastry was the chief guest. Former CIIL directors Prof. Awadhesh Mishra, Prof. D.G. Rao, internationally renowned scholars Prof. Ajit Mohanty, Prof. Chandra Bhushan Sharma Ji, Prof. G. Rajgopal, Dr. Narayan Choudhary and Dr. Sujoy Sarkar were also present on the occasion.
-Team Mysoorunews
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