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The Maharashtra government has ordered that letters 'La' and 'Sha' in the Marathi language, that have "Hindi influence" currently, will be written in a certain way in the Devanagri script, an official said on Sunday. The changes will be applicable in all government communication as well as textbooks recommended by the state education board, he said. "The letters 'La' and 'Sha' are written in a different way currently. This style has influence of Hindi. The state government has now decided through an order that it will be written in the Devanagari script," he explained. The state government appointed committee for language has also recommended the usage of a 'chandrabindu', one of various linguistic symbols called diacritics, to indicate the nasal pronunciation of a vowel, the official added. There are 36 consonants and 16 initial vowels in Marathi in the Devanagari script, a writing system used by more than 120 languages.
The proposal for granting classical language status to Marathi is under active consideration, Minister of State for Culture Arjun Ram Meghwal said on Monday. Replying to a supplementary question by BJP MP Gopal Shetty in the Lok Sabha, the Minister said a 8-member committee was set up which is deliberating on the subject. "So far, Tamil, Telugu, Sanskrit, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia have been given the status of classical languages. Giving the status to Marathi language is under consideration and the Government will move forward with a positive attitude," Meghwal said during the Question Hour, which witnessed repeated adjournments amid opposition protest over Pegasus spyware and other issues. The criteria adopted by the government to determine the eligibility of a language for classical status includes its recorded history over a period of 1500-2000 years, body of ancient literature, whether its literary tradition is original and not borrowed from another speech community and other