Context

• The Government of India has initiated a scheme known as “Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages of India (SPPEL)”, informed an MP in Parliament.

About SPPEL Scheme

• Galvanized by the grim situation of lesser known languages in the country, the Scheme was instituted by Ministry of Human Resource Development 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.
• University Grants Commission (UGC) is also providing financial assistance for creation of centres for endangered languages at Central and State Universities.

Present status

• At the moment, the languages which are spoken by less than 10,000 speakers or languages which are not linguistically studied earlier are chiefly considered to be documented in this scheme.
• Presently, 117 languages have been listed for the documentation.
• Documentation in the form of grammar, dictionary and ethno-linguistic profiles of about 500 lesser known languages are estimated to be accomplished in the coming years.

Source:PIB