Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to direct the Archaeological Survey of India to include Masters degree in Tamil in the list prescribed as the mimimum qualification for admission to a PG diploma course in archaeology. A recent advertisement by the ASI, under the Union Culture Ministry, for admission to the two-year Post- Graduate Diploma programme in Archaeology at Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Institute of Archaeology has mentioned Master's degree in several languages, including Sanskrit, as the mimimum qualification but omitted Tamil, Mr Palaniswami said in a letter to PM Modi.
The institute, under ASI, was inaugurated by the Prime Minister at Greater Noida in Uttar last year. The advertisement has prescribed the minimum qualification criteria as a Masters degree in Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, Arabic or Persian among others, the Chief Minister said.
Citing the advertisement listing Pali, Prakrit, Arabic or Persian too under the classical language category alongside Sanskrit, Palaniswami pointed out that among thelisted languages, only Sanskrit was declared a classical language in 2005 by the Centre.
"Tamil, which was the first language in India officially recognised as a classical language in 2004, has been completely ignored (in the admission process)," he alleged. Such exclusion worked as a barrier for aspirants across the country especially for those from Tamil Nadu, Mr K Palaniswami said.
There were about 48,000 inscriptions in all thelanguages that have been published so far by various agencies in India, including the ASI, of which more than 28,000 inscriptions are in Tamil alone, the Chief Minister noted.
Considering such facts and to make the admissionprocess more inclusive, Palaniswami urged Modi to direct the ASI to suitably amend its guidelines andadvertisement as well to also include a Mastersdegree in Tamil language as one of the minimum qualificationsfor admission to the PG Diploma in Archaeology at the institute.
