Popularising Sanskrit

After becoming the first state to accord the status of second official language to Sanskrit, Uttarakhand has now finalised a proposal to have signboards of names of places, departments and officials in the language, a move aimed at making it popular among common people.

Chief minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank said he has directed all the 13 district magistrates in the state to take steps to popularise Sanskrit among the people. Uttarakhand is the only state in the country which has accorded Sanskrit the status of second official language after Hindi. The chief minister has directed the DMs to display names of places, government departments and officials along with their designations in Sanskrit, besides in Hindi. Now the media centre would also be known as 'Pracharprasar Kendram', while a board of 'Nyunmulyannabhandaram' would be displayed on the fair price shops. Similarly, inter state bus terminus and computer centre would be known as 'antarrajiya bus sthanam' and 'sangarak kendram' respectively.

To display the names of places and various departments in easy and simple Sanskrit, the state government is also taking help from Sanskrit Academy, said Sudharani Pande, Vice Chancellor of Uttarakhand Sanskrit University. "Sanskrit is not at all a difficult language and can be understood and even used by common man with little effort," she said.