Assamese, Bengali, Marathi...: Centre adds five more languages to classical status

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday conferred the status of classical language to five more languages including Marathi and Bengali. The classical languages serve as a custodian of Bharat's profound and ancient cultural heritage, embodying the essence of each community's historical and cultural milestone, the Cabinet said in a statement. 

Besides Bengali and Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, and Assamese have been recognised as classical languages. With this move, the number of classical Indian languages has now reached 11 as Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Oriya had already got the tag.

"The inclusion of languages as Classical Language will create significant employment opportunities, particularly in academic and research fields," the Cabinet said, adding that the preservation, documentation, and digitisation of ancient texts of these languages will generate jobs in archiving, translation, publishing, and digital media.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma thanked PM Modi and the Centre for conferring classical language status to Assamese. "ASSAMESE IS NOW A CLASSICAL LANGUAGE On behalf of the people of Assam, I extend my gratitude to Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi Ji and the entire Union Cabinet for the historic decision to accord Assamese the status of Classical Language. Assamese joins a select group of languages to enjoy this status," Sarma posted on X.

"This exemplifies the unique civilisational roots of Assam that have withstood the test of time. With today’s decision, we shall be able to better preserve our beloved mother tongue, which not only unites our society but also forms an unbroken link to the ancient wisdom of Assam’s saints, thinkers, writers and philosophers," he added.