HRD Minister Smriti Irani Clarified Sanskrit To Be Elective Subject in IITs

The Union Human Resource Development Minister(HRD)  Smriti Irani, amidst the recent controversy over her decision to include Sanskrit in IITs, clarified that the Sanskrit would be offered as elective language in IITs only for those who want to study it.

She further made her stance clear through a written reply in Rajya Sabha saying, the idea has been recommended by N Gopalaswami committee. The committee in its report had suggested including Sanskrit in IITs to revive the lost status of Sanskrit. The committee suggested IITs should facilitate study of science and technology as reflected in Sanskrit literature, along with inter-disciplinary study of Sanskrit and modern subjects.

Social media has ruptured the decision making fun of the decision taken a few days ago by the ministry. It got muddy when criticism from major contours ranging from educationists and professors pour in. Irani in her reply said, “In consonance with the recommendations, IITs have been requested to offer Sanskrit as an elective subject or as a language course for students who wish to study the language.”

In another query related to the IITs, the HRD minister stated that although 2643 teaching positions are vacant in these institutes as on 1 September 2015, it is compensated with the visiting faculties, research scholars and contractual adjuncts. She confirmed that the study and teaching is not getting affected in these institutes at any cost and the ministry would look forward to any such problems rising further in future.

Recently, the recommendation to increase the annual fee was accepted by the HRD ministry for IITs, making it to whopping Rs. 2 lakh per year.