Students studying in University Of Delhi belonging to Kerala have mentioned in a written statement to the state’s chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan to put consideration towards the appointment of professors in the varsity’s Malayalam department, which allegedly has been dysfunctional for the last 18 years approximately. A memorandum in this regard was sent to the CM by the Students’ Federation of India (SFI).
The memorandum signed by Fibin Filal, secretary of SFI’s Hindu College unit stated that, ”Even after being accorded the classical language status, Malayalam has been completely neglected in a prominent central university like Delhi University. Research and analysis for the language, which has a rich heritage of more than 2,300 years, has been stunted in the academic spaces of the university. The inception of the Malayalam department in Delhi University can be traced back to 1968, which was started along with 11 other languages under the Department of Modern Indian Languages and Literary Studies. Back then, the department offered MA in Malayalam and had a full-fledged library with a collection of rare books,”.
“The department has been defunct since the last 18 years as lecturer posts are lying vacant. Making necessary appointments to the existing vacancies can result in the department becoming functional, thereby aiding students from Kerala for positively opting for Malayalam as an optional language in the UPSC civil services exam. A fully functional department can also lead to the growth of the language…,” it further read.
So far, Sachin N, a faculty member at Dyal Singh College, Professor O M Anujan and Professor Akavoor Narayanan were the last appointments in the Malayalam department, which was around 20 years ago. “It’s important that at least in central universities, there should be centres of other Indian languages, otherwise the Hindi majoritarianism will become uncontrollable and dangerous,” he said.
