117 endangered languages being preserved, says govt

• The Ministry of Education, through Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysuru, under the Scheme for Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages of India (SPPEL), works on protection, preservation and documentation of all the mother tongues/languages of India spoken by less than 10,000 people which are called endangered languages. 

• In the first phase of the scheme, 117 endangered languages/mother tongues have been chosen from all over India for study and documentation.

• As per the Census of India 2011 (Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India), a total of 121 languages have been reported in the country. 

• Several of these languages have their own distinct scripts, while others are written in shared or regional scripts.

Scheme for Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages

• The Scheme for Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages (SPPEL) was instituted by the Ministry of Education in 2013. 

• The sole objective of the Scheme is to document and archive the country’s languages that have become endangered or likely to be endangered in the near future. 

• The scheme is monitored by Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) located in Mysuru, Karnataka. 

• The CIIL has collaborated with various universities and institutes across India for this mission.