NEW DELHI, INDIA, September 17, 2004: The Centre on Friday decided to declare Tamil a “classical language,” the first to be recognized so in the country. The Union Cabinet, which met on Friday morning, decided to create a new category of “classical languages” and put Tamil in this category. After the Cabinet meeting, Information and Broadcasting Minister, S Jaipal Reddy, said the government would consider putting Sanskrit and other languages in this category, depending on their “heritage and legacy.” An Expert Committee of Sahitya Akademi, which had been set up to look into it, has suggested strict criteria for declaration of languages as classical languages, he said. The declaration would be made through Government notification and there was no need for any change in law, Reddy explained.
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