After the Central Government’s accordance of Classical status to Odia language, the State Culture Department has constituted an Advisory Committee comprising renowned litterateurs, linguists and senior State Government officials to successfully execute subsequent procedural programmes as mandated.
The Odisha Sahitya Akademi President and the Utkal University of Culture Vice-Chancellor have been appointed as the President and Vice-President of the committee, respectively. This apart, linguists Dr Debi Prasanna Patnaik and Dr Khageswar Mohapatra, litterateurs Shantanu Kumar Acharya, Bibhuti Patnaik, Dr Pratibha Ray, Dr. Ramachandra Behera, Rajkishore Mishara, Dr Kailash Chandra Tikayatray, Dr Basant Kumar Panda, Dr Gourang Charan Das, Manorama Mohapatra (Biswal), Dr Maheswar Mohanty, Dr Gourahari Das and Ashwini Kumar Mishra, Culture Department Director and Director of Odia Bhasa Pratisthana have been appointed as convenors of this advisory committee.
The committee would discuss and mutually take decisions regarding demand for Central assistance, proper utilisation of Central grants, setting up of a Classical Odia Foundation as a centre of excellence, development and research on Odia and request for creation of a Professor post to the UGC. Based on the decisions and recommendations of this committee, the State Government would take necessary steps in this regard.
It may be noted that considering the 2000 years of history behind the Odia language, its usage, texts and records, the Union Culture Department accorded the Classical status to the language in February this year. As per the guidelines, the subsequent steps which need to be undertaken once the language is accorded Classical status include more research on the language, setting up of a Classical language excellence centre and selection of eminent linguists for various awards.