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Bharatiya Janata Party · 2019
Claim
Lacks context
Delivery
Partly delivered
Institutional work on classical languages continued and the specific commitments in the promise are not evidenced. The Ministry of Education's answer of 16 March 2026 details funding for five classical languages — Tamil at ₹12 crore to ₹16.97 crore a year, and Kannada, Odia, Malayalam and Telugu at ₹0.86 crore to ₹1.87 crore each — and reports that the Central Institute of Classical Tamil holds 96,215 palm-leaf and 39,061 paper manuscripts, of which 2,800 have been digitised. What the answer does not mention is any National Task Force on the status of India's languages and dialects, any programme for reviving vulnerable or extinct languages, or the 100 Panini fellowships.
“We will constitute a National Task Force to study the status of all written and spoken languages and dialects in India. We will also work towards revival and promotion of vulnerable or extinct dialects and languages. With a focussed effort on promotion of Sanskrit, we will ensure that the teaching of Sanskrit is expanded and popularised at the school level. We will also provide 100 Panini fellowships to researchers and scholars across India.”No CAG performance audit published
No CAG performance audit covering this scheme has been published. The absence of an audit is not evidence that the claim is either accurate or inaccurate.
No CAG audit of classical language promotion has been tabled in a report we hold. The figures here are the Ministry of Education's own.
No audit period to plot — no CAG performance audit covering this scheme has been published.
₹16.97 crore allocated for Classical Tamil and ₹1.065 crore each for Kannada, Odia, Malayalam and Telugu in 2025-26
The allocation for Tamil is roughly sixteen times that for each of the other four classical languages the answer covers. Five more languages — Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali — were given classical status in October 2024 and do not appear in this table.
Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 3883, Promotion of Tamil as a Classical Language — answer by the Ministry of Education
The 2019 manifesto's language commitments, under "Conserving Bharatiya Linguistic Culture", are four and each is specific: a National Task Force "to study the status of all written and spoken languages and dialects in India"; work "towards revival and promotion of vulnerable or extinct dialects and languages"; expanded Sanskrit teaching at school level; and "100 Panini fellowships to researchers and scholars across India".
The Ministry of Education's answer of 16 March 2026 describes real institutional work, none of which is those four things.
On classical languages the funding is set out precisely. For Tamil: ₹12 crore in 2021-22 and 2022-23, ₹15.25 crore in 2023-24, ₹14.30 crore in 2024-25 and ₹16.97 crore in 2025-26. For Kannada, Odia, Malayalam and Telugu: between ₹0.58 crore and ₹1.87 crore each per year. The disparity is worth noting plainly — Tamil receives roughly sixteen times what each of the others gets, a consequence of the Central Institute of Classical Tamil having its own institution while the rest are handled through the Central Institute of Indian Languages.
The conservation record is substantial. The Tamil institute "possesses over 47,500 collections of Classical Tamil texts, 96,215 palm-leaf manuscripts and 39,061 paper manuscripts. 2,800 manuscripts have already been digitised, including palm-leaf manuscript collections of Tolkappiyam, which dates back to around the third century BCE." Forty-one classical Tamil texts have been translated into Hindi and released at Kashi Tamil Sangamam 3.0, and collaborations exist with the University of Malaya, Eastern University of Sri Lanka and the Frankfurt Tamil Sangam.
Set 2,800 digitised against the 1,35,276 manuscripts the institute holds — 96,215 palm-leaf and 39,061 paper — and the scale of what remains is clear: about two per cent. Palm-leaf manuscripts degrade.
On the promise's own four commitments, the answer is silent on all of them. No National Task Force on the status of India's languages is mentioned. No programme for vulnerable or extinct languages appears — India has hundreds of languages classified as endangered, and the Scheme for Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages runs through CIIL, but this answer does not report it. Sanskrit at school level and the 100 Panini fellowships are not mentioned at all.
One development the answer does not cover but which belongs in the record: five more languages — Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali — were accorded classical status in October 2024, taking the total to eleven, and they do not appear in the funding table.
Our verdict is lacks context.
BJP Sankalp Patra 2019 — Lok Sabha election manifesto
“Through this Sankalp Patra, you would get a glimpse of the challenges of the yesteryears, the indomitable efforts made by 130 crore Indians to overcome those challenges and our collective vision for the future… There are two commitments that I am extremely passionate about — doubling of farmer income and housing for all, by the year 2022.”
Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 3883, Promotion of Tamil as a Classical Language — answer by the Ministry of Education
“The year-wise details of funds allocated for Tamil, Kannada, Odia, Malayalam and Telugu are as under (Rs. in lakhs) — 2021-22: Tamil 1200.00, Kannada 106.50, Odia 58.38, Malayalam 63.97, Telugu 103.15; 2022-23: 1200.00, 171.75, 176.75, 186.75, 171.75; 2023-24: 1525.00, 154.50, 138.50, 112.50, 154.50; 2024-25: 1430.00, 86.00, 86.00, 86.00, 86.00; 2025-26: 1697.00, 106.50, 106.50, 106.50, 106.50… The Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT) has developed a rich repository of rare classical resources and possesses over 47,500 collections of Classical Tamil texts, 96,215 palm-leaf manuscripts and 39,061 paper manuscripts. 2,800 manuscripts have already been digitised… Further, 41 ancient Classical Tamil texts have been translated into Hindi and released during the Kashi Tamil Sangamam 3.0… To review the outcomes of initiatives undertaken for the promotion of Classical Tamil, an assessment mechanism has been devised. The Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT) has developed a rich repository of rare classical resources and possesses over 47,500 collections of Classical Tamil texts, 96,215 palm-leaf manuscripts and 39,061 paper manuscripts. 2,800 manuscripts have already been digitised, including palm-leaf manuscript collections of Tolkappiyam, which dates back to around the third century BCE. Further, 41 ancient Classical Tamil texts have been translated into Hindi and released during the Kashi Tamil Sangamam 3.0.”