LS okays bill to set up central Sanskrit varsities

The government on Thursday, amid a Sanskrit versus Tamil spat between the ruling BJP and opposition DMK and Left members in Lok Sabha, sought to assure the House that it will strengthen all Indian languages.

Responding to the debate on the Sanskrit Central Universities Bill, 2019, HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal "Nishank" said the government wants to strengthen all Indian languages, be it Tamil, Hindi, Kannada or Bengali.

He said holy scriptures written in Sanskrit are a treasure of knowledge and the government wants the next generation to study these books.

He said everything from science to economics was available in these scriptures.

The House later passed the bill which seeks to set up central Sanskrit universities.

The Sanskrit Central Universities will be set up by converting three deemed Sanskrit universities, presently functioning in the country.

The three deemed universities are: Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan and Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth in New Delhi, and the Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth in Tirupati.