18 Candidates with Maithili Optional clears UPSC 2015 Exam

With 18 UPSC candidates cracking the civil services examination, all of whom had opted for Maithili as a main subject, wide opportunities have been created for thousands of aspiring youth looking for livelihood while the scope for enrichment of regional languages has increased. Experts strongly feel that now Maithili speaking people may know their identity by developing their mother tongue.

Associate professor in Sanskrit at Delhi's St Stephens' college Pankaj Mishra said, "Yes. It's a new attraction for the civil service aspirants. Syllabus of Maithili is attracting non-Maithils also. It is showing path to those who find it difficult to get into the central services".

Talking to TOI over phone, Mishra said: "I am happy that our mother tongue and a major source of Indian History is doing well and once again it is establishing and proving its great intellectual traditions." This is highly appreciable. Now Maithili speaking people may know their identity, Mishra added.

"This is highly appreciable," feels Deo Shankar Navin, professor, Centre of Indian Languages, School of Language, Literature & Culture Studies Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Navin, a native of Saharsa district in Bihar, said that it will motivate students as well as UPSC aspirants to develop their interest for their mother tongues.

Twenty two languages have already been accorded official language status as per the Eight Schedule of the Constitution of India. The inclusion of four new languages - Maithili, Santhali, Dogri and Bodo - took place on January 8, 2004. Three languages - Manipuri, Konkani and Nepali - were included in 8th schedule in 1992.

With the revival of regional languages like Santhali, Dogri, Manipuri, Nepali and Konkani and Bodo, more employment could be generated and more study centres will be set up in respective regions which will again develop love for mother tongue, said another expert.

But the former dean, faculty of Humanities and former HoD, Maithili, Patna university, Veena Karn advocated for the study of Maithili at the entry level in schools. "Maithili should be taught at the primary level so that children can easily adopt their learning process in their mother tongue. Unless the language is linked with their livelihood, it would not develop properly," Karn told TOI.

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Courtesy: The Times of India