Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Shri Durgadas Uikey informed Raya Sabha that the Ministry of Home Affairs has informed that there have been demands from time to time for inclusion of several Indian languages in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution including ‘Gor Boli’. However, there are no fixed criteria for consideration of any language for inclusion in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. The attempts to fix such criteria through Pahwa and Sitakant Mohapatra Committees have remained inconclusive. As the evolution of dialects and languages is a dynamic process, influenced by socio-cultural, economic and political developments, it is difficult to fix any criterion for languages for inclusion in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. The Government is conscious of the sentiments and requirements for inclusion of other languages in the Eighth Schedule. Such requests have to be considered keeping in mind these sentiments, and the other relevant considerations.

(d): The Ministry of culture has informed that to preserve and propagate the endangered and tribal languages of India, Sahitya Akademi has instituted a Language Development Board. Through the Board, Akademi periodically organizes Language Conventions. A two-day Banjara Language Convention was organized by the Akademi on 10-11 September 2022 at Hyderabad. Apart from the Language Conventions, Sahitya Akademi confers Bhasha Samman on the scholars in two categories – for research in Classical and Medieval Literature of India and for outstanding contributions to the development and enrichment of unrecognized languages including tribal languages like Banjara. In order to collect, preserve and disseminate vast tribal and oral literature of India, Sahitya Akademi has established two centres, North-East Centre for Oral Literature (NECOL) at Agartala, Imphal and Centre for Oral and Tribal Literature (COTLIT) in New Delhi.

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