14 Sanskrit scholars to be honoured
Fourteen Sanskrit scholars will be honoured by the Rajasthan government for their contribution to the language. The scholars will be given the awards on Sanskrit Day which will be celebrated in the state on August 4.
The awards will be given in four categories to encourage Sanskrit and to inspire youngsters to learn the language.
“Sanskrit and sanskriti (culture) complement each other and it’s only through conservation of Sanskrit that we can save the culture,” said Kiran Maheshwari, state minister for higher, technical and Sanskrit education, while addressing a press conference here on Wednesday. “The government is making all efforts for the development of Sanskrit education in the state. This is necessary for conserving our culture,” she added.
The Sanskrit Sadhna Shikhar Samman award, along with a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh will be given to Swami Govind Dev Giri of Pushkar, Ajmer, this year. There will be two recipients of Sanskrit Sadhna Samman award – Pandit Satyanarain Shastri of Ajmer and Kailash Chandra Mundra – who will also be getting cash prizes of ₹ 51,000 each.
The Sanskrit Vidwatsamman award along with ₹ 31,000 each will be given to six scholars this year while the Sanskrit Yuvapratibha award will be given to five from the state. The latter will get a cash prize of ₹21,000 each.
In addition, 17 outstanding students from Sanskrit schools will be awarded on the occasion.
Two philanthropists who have contributed to Sanskrit education will also be felicitated. Bajrang Lal Tapadiya of Nagaur, who’s Supreme Foundation Trust pays salaries to over 100 Sanskrit teachers, and Nemichand Toshniwal, who runs the Shri Sita Devi Charitable Trust, Kolkata, are the philanthropists who will be awarded.
The minister also announced two initiatives of the higher education department — an English mobile application that will be launched during the Festival of Education on August 5 and a web portal for tracking college students will also be launched soon.
The basic version of the mobile app will be free but the premium version, which is for advanced learners, will be priced at ₹ 1500.
The minister said that the app will tell students the right pronunciation of English words and also help them with translations.
On the other hand, the web portal will be along the lines of school education department’s Shala Darshan portal and Shala Darpan portal and have the details of all students.
It will help track the students through college up till the placement of the students, and help maintain the tracking chain of students after school, the minister said.
She said the work on the website is near completion and would be launched in next two or three months.
“By this, we will have track record of every students,” Maheshwari said.