Decisions to make Sanksrit compulsory taken by UPA: HRD Ministry
Last Updated: Thursday, December 4, 2014 - 00:17
New Delhi: The HRD
Ministry today said the decisions to ask those central universities to
explore the possibilities of opening of Sanskrit department where it
doesn't exist and to ask CBSE to make the language compulsory upto class
X were taken during the previous UPA government's tenure.
Officials of the Ministry referred to the circulars
issued shortly after a national conference in Lucknow in September last
year where it resolved to make Sanskrit compulsory in all secondary
schools.
The Circular was sent to both the CBSE chairman as well as the NCERT director.
The communication to all central universities to explore the possibilities of opening of Sanskrit department?where department of Sanskrit does not exist was also issued on January 7 this year based on the resolution passed in the conference and not ?by the Ministry under the present dispensation, the officials said.
The late night clarification by the Ministry officials came after HRD Minister Smriti Irani earlier today said in a written reply in Lok Sabha that, "In order to promote Sanskrit language, the Central Government has requested all central universities, where department of Sanskrit does not exist, to explore the possibilities of opening of Sanskrit departments."
The reply had, however, not specified as to when the circular was sent to the central universities.
Irani's recent decision to replace German with Sanskrit as the third language in Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) has courted controversy, though she has insisted that German was being taught in violation of the National Policy of Education and the Three Language Formula.
The Circular was sent to both the CBSE chairman as well as the NCERT director.
The communication to all central universities to explore the possibilities of opening of Sanskrit department?where department of Sanskrit does not exist was also issued on January 7 this year based on the resolution passed in the conference and not ?by the Ministry under the present dispensation, the officials said.
The late night clarification by the Ministry officials came after HRD Minister Smriti Irani earlier today said in a written reply in Lok Sabha that, "In order to promote Sanskrit language, the Central Government has requested all central universities, where department of Sanskrit does not exist, to explore the possibilities of opening of Sanskrit departments."
The reply had, however, not specified as to when the circular was sent to the central universities.
Irani's recent decision to replace German with Sanskrit as the third language in Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) has courted controversy, though she has insisted that German was being taught in violation of the National Policy of Education and the Three Language Formula.
First Published: Thursday, December 4, 2014 - 00:03
R. Singh • 2 hours ago Sanskrit is a national language.
Apart from being our heritage , it has significant merits of its own.
It a well developed structured language.
Learning it teaches a student to develop higher order thinking. This is useful in all field, from Science and Math to philosophy.
A well developed brain, is the greatest asset an educational system can give to a child.
SiDevilIam R. Singh • a few seconds ago Modern Asian Studies
Modern Asian Studies /
Volume 39 / Issue 03 / July 2005, pp 683-723
Copyright © 2005 Cambridge University Press
SiDevilIam R. Singh • a minute ago Journal of Indian Philosophy
August 1996, Volume 24, Issue 4, pp 321-337
Sanskrit scholars and
pandits of the old school: The Benares Sanskrit College and the
constitution of authority in the late nineteenth century
Vasudha Dalmia
SiDevilIam R. Singh • a minute ago SCHOLARSHIP: Mark Pattison
ANTHONY GRAFTONThe American Scholar
Vol. 52, No. 2 (Spring 1983), pp. 229-236
Published by: The Phi Beta Kappa Society
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SiDevilIam R. Singh • 2 minutes ago Hold on, this is waiting to be approved by Zee News. The American Journal of Philology
Publication Info
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Article DOI: 10.2307/287224
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/28...
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The Study of Hindu Grammar and the Study of Sanskrit
W. D. Whitney
Page [279] of 279-297
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SiDevilIam R. Singh • 4 minutes ago Hold on, this is waiting to be approved by Zee News. Conclusions
The
history of leprosy in India offers insights into one of the world's
most misunderstood diseases. Furthermore, leprosy control and
elimination in India still faces many challenges. Although many of the
theoretical and practical approaches of the past have been discarded,
their careful examination provides insights for the future. Sustaining
the gains made so far and further reducing the disease burden in India
require an innovative, holistic approach that includes ongoing
education, efforts to identify interventions to dispel stigma, and the
inclusion of nonallopathic practitioners in disease control programs.
References
1.
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2.
Bhishagratna KK [trans] (1963) The Sushruta Samhita. Varanasi: Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office. pp. 36–40. Volume II.
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SiDevilIam R. Singh • 4 minutes ago Hold on, this is waiting to be approved by Zee News. Leprosy in Post-Colonial India
Disease
control marked the Indian government's initial approach, starting in
1955 with the creation of the National Leprosy Control Program for
surveillance. In 1983, with the availability curative multi-drug
therapy, the government changed the name to the National Leprosy
Elimination Program (NLEP), with a focus on treatment. Starting in 1997,
the government conducted several modified leprosy elimination
campaigns; these short, concentrated bursts of statewide case detection
activities included orientation of all village-level workers and
volunteers on leprosy, house-to-house searches in specified areas, and
awareness programs using mass media, school activities, and community
meetings. State governments also began integrating leprosy care into
their general health systems starting in 1997, moving from vertical
control programs to horizontal health services, an intervention shown to
decrease the stigma associated with leprosy due to family counseling
and community outreach [7].
On
January 30, 2005 India celebrated the elimination of leprosy as a public
health problem after achieving the nationwide prevalence of <1
case/10,000 population, though not without criticism regarding the
accuracy and choice of target parameter [8].
This is a remarkable achievement given that in 1981, two years before
NLEP, there were nearly 4,000,000 cases with a prevalence of >50
cases/10,000 population [9].
However, in a population of more than a billion people, up to 100,000
people with leprosy remain, representing approximately half of the
world's disease burden. Some regions, mostly rural, still have up to
five times the national average of cases; these areas have become the
next targets in leprosy control [10].
The
future of leprosy control and elimination offers several challenges with
both structural and cultural dimensions. Efforts to decrease health
inequity due to poverty, especially in rural areas with limited access
to health care, may help with leprosy control. However, if cultural
beliefs are not addressed, increased availability may not translate into
an appropriate increase in utilization. Cultural aspects of leprosy
affecting its control include traditional medicine and stigma.
Only
limited efforts have been made to include the numerous nonallopathic
(traditional) practitioners in India in leprosy control and elimination
efforts, but their inclusion is important to its success [11].
Indians can seek public or private health care from allopathic
(conventional Western) physicians, but often see private practitioners
of homeopathy or the three major Indian systems of medicine (ISM)
including Ayurveda, Siddha, and Unani. The practitioners of ISMs, who
outnumber allopaths in India, continue to use compounded botanicals and
agents such as chaulmoogra oil for primary or adjunctive therapy. If
this therapy fails, patients are referred to government clinics where
free multi-drug allopathic therapy is offered; use of traditional
medicine has been shown to be a risk factor for delay in diagnosis [12].
The popularity of ISM can, as least in part, be attributed to two
factors: the stigma carried by government-run vertical leprosy clinics
and the preference for traditional medicine. Further investigation into
the safety and efficacy of ISM therapies is needed, and the possibility
of integrating aspects of ISM into the general health system should be
evaluated. For example, chalmoogra oil may be effective as adjunctive
therapy in wound healing [13].
The effectiveness of leprosy control in this integrated system should
be periodically assessed not only in measures of leprosy rates, but of
changes in knowledge, attitudes, and practices.
Leprosy
continues to be stigmatized in a society with a deeply ingrained,
though legally abolished, caste system, partly through lack of
knowledge. Socially marginalized groups such as women, “backward
classes” (minority social or ethnic groups defined by the government),
and the urban poor are less likely to seek care; they often view
elimination efforts as problematic because they fail to account for
their individual needs [14].
Further, community education and medical knowledge of the disease does
not immediately dispel stigma. In one community, only 30% of individuals
claiming a high knowledge of leprosy also had a positive attitude
toward patients with leprosy [15]. More studies are needed to better understand the causes of stigma and to assess the effect of interventions to decrease it.
Hansen's disease is still called kusht
in most Indian languages, as it was in Sushrutha's time. The word
itself still evokes fear and aversion, despite Mohandas “Mahatma”
Gandhi's efforts to destigmatize the disease. Parchure Shastri, a
Brahmin and Sanskrit scholar who became an outcast when he acquired
leprosy, came to stay in Gandhi's ashram in 1939. His
contemporaries considered sheltering or touching a person with leprosy
unthinkable, but Gandhi changed Shastri's wound dressings and massaged
his feet daily. This iconic image (http://commons.wikimedia.org/w...
was later depicted on a postage stamp emblazoned with the words
“leprosy is curable.” The cultural shift Gandhi desired is
materializing; in 2005, representatives of the estimated 630 leprosy
colonies in India met in New Delhi. Entitled “Empowerment of People
Affected by Leprosy,” this conference sought to demarginalize those
affected by the disease and reintegrate them into society.
SiDevilIam R. Singh • 5 minutes ago Traditionally, India holds the
unenviable position of the origin of leprosy. The disease is thought to
have then spread, via trade and war, to China, Egypt, and the Middle
East, and later to Europe and the Americas. From antiquity to modernity,
Indian society treated leprosy singularly with respect to custom and
law, a response shaped by both scientific knowledge and cultural
attitudes. India's future challenges in leprosy control include multiple
systems of medicine, stigma, and educational knowledge gaps. By looking
through the historical window of leprosy in India, we propose that
continued success in elimination and control requires a holistic
approach addressing these issues (Image 1).
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doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000113.g001
Leprosy in Ancient India
Early texts, including the Atharava Veda (circa 2000 BC) and the Laws of Manu
(1500 BC), mention various skin diseases translated as leprosy. The
Laws prohibited contact with those affected by leprosy and punished
those who married into their families, effectively ostracizing those
with the disease for their past sins [1]. The Sushruta Samhita (600 BC) recommended treating leprosy—or kushtha,
meaning “eating away” in Sanskrit—with oil derived from the chaulmoogra
tree; this remained a mainstay of treatment until the introduction of
sulfones [2].
In a
legend explaining chalmoogra oil's therapeutic origins, a king banished
for his leprosy was instructed to eat the curative seeds of this tree,
illustrating the cultural response to leprosy in antiquity: loss of
social position and expulsion, even of kings, from the community [3].
Ancient Indian society marginalized those with leprosy because of
several factors: its chronic, potentially disfiguring nature;
inconsistently effective therapy; association with sin; and the fear of
contagion. This combination endowed leprosy with a unique stigma that
persists today and resulted in its treatment with both seclusion and
medical therapy.
Leprosy in Colonial India
Soon
after their arrival, Europeans described the uncommon practice of
ritual suicide by those affected by leprosy, who were often assisted by
their families. Though Hinduism generally considers suicide a sin, for
leprosy it was not [4].
Christians too associated leprosy with sin. Struck by the scale of this
Biblical disease, Europeans, especially missionaries, singled it out
from a myriad of tropical infections. They often described the most
dramatic forms of disfiguring leprosy, evoking fear of an “imperial
danger”: leprosy reaching the British Isles. The public pressured the
colonial government for the segregation of people with leprosy.
Three
events over a 30-year period strengthened the argument for confinement.
First, the first leprosy census in 1872 quantified the problem: over
108,000 cases, for a prevalence of 54 cases/10,000 population.
Approximately 1% received organizational support, renewing the cries for
segregation to facilitate delivery of care [5]. Next, Hansen identified Mycobacterium leprae
in 1873 and postulated it as the etiologic, transmissible agent of
leprosy. Third, Father Damien, the Belgian missionary priest in Hawaii,
contracted leprosy and died in 1889, proving its contagiousness. These
events led to the popular consideration of leprosy as a widespread
contagious disease requiring containment.
In
response, the British government sent its Leprosy Commission (comprising
both physicians and administrators) to India to investigate. The
commission's report in 1891 concluded that “the amount of contagion
which exists is so small that it may be disregarded” [6].
Initially, the colonial government accepted these findings but, under
increasing popular pressure from England and within India, enacted the
Leprosy Act of 1898. This law institutionalized people with leprosy,
using segregation by gender to prevent reproduction. For the
self-sufficient individual with leprosy, segregation and medical
treatment were voluntary, but vagrants and fugitives from
government-designated leprosaria were subject to punitive action.
Charities and local governments in British India constructed many new
institutions for people with leprosy, providing combined social,
religious, and medical services. However, as predicted by the Leprosy
Commission, the lack of infrastructure prevented the Leprosy Act from
being strictly enforced. It was repealed in 1983 after the advent of
effective multi-drug therapy for leprosy.
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SiDevilIam R. Singh • 6 minutes ago Open Access
Historical Profiles and Perspectives
The Stigmatization of Leprosy in India and Its Impact on Future Approaches to Elimination and Control
Jesse T. Jacob
Carlos Franco-Paredes
Citation: Jacob JT,
Franco-Paredes C (2008) The Stigmatization of Leprosy in India and Its
Impact on Future Approaches to Elimination and Control. PLoS Negl Trop
Dis 2(1):
e113.
doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000113
Academic Editor: Charles King, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, United States of America
Published: January 30, 2008
Copyright:
© 2008 Jacob, Franco-Paredes. This is an open-access article
distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: This
work was supported by a grant from the Global Health Institute of Emory
University. The funders had no role in the study design, data
collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the
manuscript.
Competing interests: Dr. Franco-Paredes serves as an associate editor (Clinical Symposia) for PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseaes.
SiDevilIam R. Singh • 7 minutes ago The Future of Electronic Journals.
Varian, Hal R.
It
is widely expected that a great deal of scholarly communication will
move to an electronic format. This paper speculates about the impact
this movement will have on the form of scholarly communication. In order
to understand how journals might evolve, the paper begins with a look
at the demand and supply for scholarly commutation today, as well as the
first-copy costs of academic journals. Two other costs are then
mentioned: archiving and yearly costs-per-article read. A discussion on
re-engineering journal production and the impact of re-engineering on
costs savings follows. Further savings of electronic distribution on
shelf-space, monitoring, information searches, and supporting materials
are then outlined. The paper concludes that when all academic
publication is electronic: (1) publications will have much more general
forms; (2) new filtering and refereeing mechanisms will be used; and
(3) archiving and standardization will remain a problem. A model for
electronic publishing is also presented. (Contains 12 references.) (AEF)
Descriptors: Cost Effectiveness, Costs, Electronic Journals, Electronic Publishing, Faculty Publishing, Higher Education, Information Dissemination, Information Storage, Information Technology, Nonprint Media, Printed Materials, Publications, Publishing Industry, Scholarly Communication, Scholarly Journals, Standards
SiDevilIam R. Singh • 8 minutes ago Journal of Indian Philosophy
October 2002, Volume 30, Issue 5, pp 431-439
Introduction: Working Papers on Sanskrit Knowledge-Systems on the Eve of Colonialism
Sheldon Pollock
SiDevilIam R. Singh • 9 minutes ago The Thirteen Principal Upanishads: Translated from the Sanskrit with an ...
SiDevilIam R. Singh • 10 minutes ago A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged ... By Sir Monier Monier-Williams
SiDevilIam R. Singh • 10 minutes ago The Other Tongue: English Across Cultures edited by Braj B. Kachru
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SiDevilIam R. Singh • 11 minutes ago From Current Studies in Linguistics
A Reader on the Sanskrit Grammarians
By J F. Staal
Overview
The achievements of Pānini and the
Indian grammarians, beginning nearly 2500 years ago, have never been
fully appreciated by Western scholars—partly because of the great
technical difficulties presented by such an inquiry, and partly because
relevant tutorial articles have been confined to obscure and
inaccessible publications.
This book makes available to linguists and Sanskritists a collection
of the most important articles on the Sanskrit grammarians, and provides
a connected historical outline of their activities. It covers studies
and fragments ranging from early 7th-century accounts of the
grammarians—recorded by Buddhist pilgrims from China and Tibet, by
Muslim travelers from the Near East, and by Christian missionaries—to
some of the best articles that have appeared during the last century and
a half.
Chapters in the book cover the foundation of Sanskrit studies in the
West laid by British scholars working in India and including the
detailed and accurate information provided by Henry Thomas Colebrooke;
the linguistic evaluations of Pānini by von Schlegel and von
Humboldt; the work of Bhandarkar and of Kielhorn; William Dwight
Whitney's low evaluation of the "native" grammarians; and the
philological work of modern Western, Indian, and Japanese scholars.
The editor observes that materials in the Reader reveal
problems tackled by the Sanskrit grammarians which closely parallel
developments in contemporary linguistics. He has provided historical and
linguistic commentary and bibliographic data in the introductions and
notes that accompany each selection. Articles are in their original
English, German, and French. Texts or passages in Chinese, Tibetan,
Arabic, Sanskrit, Latin, and Greek have, for the most part, been
translated into English, and all Sanskrit passages have been translated
into the Latin alphabet.
SiDevilIam R. Singh • 17 minutes ago If you are so smart, translate my following Sanskrit passage:
काश्मिरराज्यराजपुरुषाः भ्रष्ठाः। काश्मिरराज्ये अभिवृध्दीकार्याणि स्थगितानि। अत्रस्थाः सर्वपक्शनेतारः दुक्वन्तः। जनान् विस्मरंतः अभिवृध्दीकार्याणि नेव चक्रुः। भ्रष्टाचारनिरताःएते स्वकार्याणि साधवंतः जनान् नेव परिगणितवंतः।
Bunch of Idiots. Sanskrit language died when it was reconstructed from native group of languages, usually called 'Prakrit. Prakrit also died due to various reasons, not related to the death of Sanskrit. The most common language, created artificially is Urdu. It could be written in any known Indian scripts, say Devnagari, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalan but not Bengali, as Bengali language, due to their crazy pronunciation cannot make Urdu understandable in the market place.
Learn Sanskrit before farting about it. Idiot!
...and I am Sid Harth
crazy american R. Singh • 2 hours ago Is that the reason why you rarely use your brain!!!
sanskrit is awesome... this and that....
but where can it be used? call center? programming? medicine? job? communicate? fly kites?
the main reason why students were learning German was because they could go to Germany and learn professional courses like medicine and engineering for free. Yes you read it correct it is FREE.
Source: Zee News
...and I am Sid Harth
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