TN Chief Minister urges Prime Minister to direct ASI to include Masters degree in Tamil

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami urged Modi to direct the ASI to suitably amend its guidelines and advertisement as well to also include a Masters's degree in the Tamil language. 

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to direct the Archaeological Survey of India to add a Masters's degree in Tamil in the list prescribed as the minimum qualification for those seeking 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 a Master's degree in several languages, including Sanskrit, as the minimum qualification but omitted Tamil, the Chief Minister stated in a letter to Prime Minister.

In 2019, the Institute, under ASI, was inaugurated by the Prime Minister. The advertisement has prescribed the minimum qualification criteria as a Masters's 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 the listed 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 the languages 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 admission process more inclusive, Palaniswami urged Modi to direct the ASI to suitably amend its guidelines and advertisement as well to also include a Masters degree in the Tamil language as one of the minimum qualifications for admission to the PG Diploma in Archaeology at the institute.

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