Need for Sanskrit university questioned

[sajiv]

Need for Sanskrit university questioned

The president of the Karnataka Development Forum, Patil Puttappa, has urged the State Government to conduct a detailed study on the pros and cons of establishing a Sanskrit Veda university before taking any final decision on the issue.

In a press release issued here, Mr. Puttappa said that the Government should first assess whether it was really necessary to establish a Sanskrit university in the State.

Mr. Puttappa said there were two issues concerning the Sanskrit University. He said: "While one is pertaining to Sanskrit and other is about Vedas.

For study of both, there are ample opportunities. In fact, the University Grants Commission has already taken steps to provide ample scope for teaching Sanskrit. But the ground reality is that although there are qualified teachers, there aren't many students".

The number of faculty teaching Sanskrit at the seven universities in the State exceeded the number of students enrolled for the courses there. "Why has the Government turned a blind eye to this stark reality?" he asked.

With regard to the study of Vedas, limited number of students were pursuing the study of Vedas under the guidance 'acharyas', he said.

Mr. Puttappa said that there was no point in spending money to establish a university when the necessity for such a university is being questioned. He urged the elected the representatives and Ministers to immediately take up the issue and stop the Government from going ahead with the move to establish a Sanskrit university.

Mr. Puttappa opined that the Government should instead focus on strengthening Kannada and give first priority to it. The Government should recruit Kannada teachers to several posts that are vacant in colleges and universities in the State, he added.