The Reason Behind the Centre’s 22,000 Book Initiative: What You Need to Know

The Reason Behind the Centre’s 22,000 Book Initiative: What You Need to Know

Last Updated Jul - 17 - 2024, 08:12 PM | Source : HT | Visitors : 65

UGC and the Union Ministry of Education unveil the ASMITA project, aiming to publish 22,000 books in Indian languages over five years, supporting NEP 2020's foc

On Tuesday, the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Union Ministry of Education announced a scheme to publish 22,000 books in Indian languages over the course of the following five years.

Higher Education Secretary Sanjay Murthy introduced the ASMITA (Augmenting Study Materials in Indian Languages via Translation and Academic Writing) project.

In keeping with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, it is one of the many steps the government has done to support Indian languages in the educational system. To promote Indian languages in education, the UGC would work in tandem with Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti, a powerful council under the government.

“This project aims to create a robust ecosystem for translation and original book writing in Indian languages across various disciplines within higher education. The goal is to produce 1,000 books in 22 languages within five years, resulting in 22,000 books in Bharatiya Bhasha,” the UGC said in a statement.

UGC chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar said that under the initiative, the commission aims to produce 1,800 textbooks covering Arts, Science and Commerce streams by June 2025.

“As many as 13 nodal universities have been identified to lead this project along with member universities from various regions. The UGC has also created a standard Operating Process (SOP) for the book writing process in each assigned language. This SOP includes identification of Nodal Officers, Authors, allocation of title, subject and programme, writing and editing, submission of the manuscript, review and plagiarism check, finalisation, designing, proof-reading and e-publication,” he said.

Besides, the ministry on Tuesday also launched Bahubhasha Shabdakosh, a multi-language dictionary of Indian languages. “This initiative will be developed by the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) in collaboration with the Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti. This Shabdakosh will help in using Bharatiya words, phrases and sentences for various new age domains like IT, Industry, Research, Education,” the UGC said in the statement.

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