Only 24,821 people speak Sanskrit in India, reveals Home Ministry's Language Department
India Today
A large part of the population in India, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Punjab speaks and understands Urdu, but only 2,4821 people in the country speak Sanskrit.
A large part of the population in India, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Punjab speaks and understands Urdu, but only 2,4821 people in the country speak Sanskrit.
This information was revealed by the language department of the Union Home Ministry's Registrar General and Census Commissioner's office, in reply to an RTI application filed by Agra-based surgeon and social activist Dr. Devashish Bhattacharya. According to the information received by Dr. Bhattacharya, as per the 2011 census, only 0.002 percent of the Indian population speaks Sanskrit.
According to Dr. Bhattacharya, Sanskrit is not listed as a minority language in the constitution, but as one of the 22 official languages of the country. In 2010, Uttarakhand became the first state in India to list Sanskrit as its second official language. However, it is hardly spoken by anyone, while Hindi, which is a mixture of several languages including Sanskrit, is spoken by several crores of Indians.
Dr. Sapna, a linguist at the Kendriya Hindi Sansthan (KHS), said that not just Sanskrit, but the KHS is working on preserving 18 regional languages, including Braj Bhasha, Avadhi, and Bhojpuri. Dictionaries are being prepared for these languages. Three dictionaries have already been prepared, while 15 are underway.
Social activist Sameer told India Today that on September 9, 2022, the local district magistrate's court in the Hamirpur district of Uttar Pradesh created history by passing an order in Sanskrit. The DM's order brought Sanskrit back into the headlines. He said that the Hamirpur District Magistrate, Dr. Chandrabhushan Tripathi did a Ph.D. in Sanskrit and this order written in Sanskrit has inspired many Sanskrit scholars to try and bring this endangered language into daily practice.
