After political parties in Tamil Nadu made an issue if it, the Pt. Deenadayal Upadhyaya Institute of Archaeology has included a master’s degree in Tamil as a qualification for their postgraduate diploma course in Archaeology.
In a corrigendum for its admission notice released on October 8, the Joint Director General of the institute has said that the qualification norms have been altered, including Tamil this time.
As per the corrigendum, anyone with a master’s degree in all the classical languages notified by the government of India, that is -- Tamil, Sanskrit, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam,Odia and Pali, Prakrit, Arabic or Persian -- would qualify.
Madurai MP, Su. Venkatesan, who was the first to rake up the issue, has welcomed the move. “Injustice that attempted to render Tamil students unqualified and deny them entry into the Archaeological Survey of India at its very doorstep, has been thwarted,” he said. He recalled that several parties and organizations had condemned the ASI notice that did not include master’s degree in Tamil as a qualification for the two-year PG diploma course.
Subsequently, Chief Minister, Edappadi K. Palaniswami wrote to the Prime Minister on this issue, appealing him to include a PG degree in Tamil also in the list of qualified courses.
Among the qualifications listed for the diploma course were a master’s degree in Ancient or Medieval Indian History/Archaeology,/Anthropology, Indian Classical languages such as Sanskirt, Pali, Prakriti, Arabic or Persion or in Geology with knowledge of the Pleistocene age from a recognized university.
“It was Tamil Nadu that had raised its voice over the injustice against classical languages other than Sanskrit,” Mr. Venkatesan, a Communist Party of India (Marixst) MP said. He said that the ASI has announced its relaxation and now similarly, the Centre should dissolve the expert committee constituted by the Union Ministry of Culture to conduct a study on the origins and evolution of Indian culture. The announcement on the committee too drew flak, and the Chief Minister drew the attention of the Prime Minister over the composition of the committee that did not have any representative from the southern States.
