Under the scheme of Grants-in-Aid to Tribal Research Institutes (TRIs), the Ministry of Tribal Affairs provides funds to the State governments, on 50:50 sharing basis, for various activities performed by these Institutes such as conducting research on various aspects of tribal life including their languages, art and culture, setting up of tribal museums for exhibiting tribal artifacts, promotion of tribal culture etc. The Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysore under the Ministry of Human Resource Development has conducted programmes on data collection, description, documentation and material production in a number of these languages as part of the normal activities during the XI Five Year Plan, which include:

1.      Dimensions of Language Endangerment

2.      Descriptive Study of Languages of the North East

3.      Speech Sciences project

4.      North Eastern Languages Development

5.      Language Information Services of India

6.      Bhasha Mandakini North East

7.      Lexicography and material production

This information was given by Shri. Tushar A. Chaudhary, the Minister of State for Tribal Affairs, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

SB/AP