Mumbai: in the time of increased stress In the midst of a decades-old border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka, the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government formally agreed to provide financial assistance to organizations working towards the preservation of the Marathi language along the border shared by the two states. Started a plan.
The Shinde government formulated the scheme in June, but the state Marathi language department officially launched it only last month, according to a government resolution dated November 30 accessed by ThePrint.
A department official, who did not wish to be named, told ThePrint that the idea was simply to ensure that “Marathi language and literature is not only preserved, but also flourishes in the border areas where both Marathi and Kannada are spoken”. effect”.
Shinde-led Balasahebchi Shiv Sena cabinet minister Deepak Kesarkar, who holds the Marathi language portfolio, did not respond to calls and text messages from ThePrint.
The new scheme is significant as it comes at a time when the governments of Maharashtra and Karnataka have been argument Over their six-decade-old territorial war, the border flared up with renewed vigor.
Maharashtra has come a long way since the states were reorganized in the 1950s demand To include 814 villages along its border and the city of Belagavi – areas of Karnataka with a large Marathi-speaking population – under its territory.
This conflict has become a political hot potato, not just between the BJP government in Karnataka and the BJP-Balasahebchi Shiv Sena government. In Maharashtra, but also within Maharashtra, the opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) used the issue to target the ruling coalition.
The MVA consists of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress.
Read also: Maharashtra’s alliances in trouble over border dispute with Karnataka, BJP and Congress gearing up
plan to promote marathi
As per the Government Resolution (GR), the state government will give a financial grant of up to Rs 10 lakh for undertaking projects to promote Marathi in the Maharashtra-Karnataka border areas.
This includes organizing speeches by Marathi writers, philosophers, storytellers or poets in border areas, organizing exhibitions to make Marathi books available at subsidized prices, and even publishing and distributing Marathi books without profit, loss Involves helping. Base.
As per the GR, Marathi newspapers and other publications operating from border towns and villages will also be eligible for the grant.
Similarly, the state government will also provide financial assistance for activities to popularize and preserve Devanagari, the script used for Marathi.
“Through this scheme, the government also wants to promote a lot of Marathi literature festivals for the youth and children in the border areas. Institutions conducting Marathi language competitions for students like essay writing, debate, theater etc. will also be considered for assistance.
Shinde government’s initiative for border areas
The plan to give financial grants to organizations promoting Marathi in border areas is one of the decisions the Shinde government has taken amid the conflict that reignited the state’s borders.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde last month expanded pension scheme To the freedom fighters to the beneficiaries in the disputed border areas.
He also said that he would take steps for Detailed Mahatma Phule Jan Arogya Yojana – Government of Maharashtra Major Health Insurance Scheme For disputed areas.
last month, he Revised Formed a high-powered committee on border conflicts and made himself its chairman. Around the same time, he Appointed Cabinet ministers Chandrakant Patil and Shambhuraj Desai to oversee Maharashtra’s legal battle over the issue in the Supreme Court.
Shinde-led cabinet on Sunday Approved Rs 2,000 crore plan for expansion Mhaisal Lift Irrigation Scheme to 48 Dry Village in Jat taluka of Sangli.
Presently part of Maharashtra, these 48 villages were being built intermittently. the demands Merger with Karnataka since last one decade due to not getting enough water.
Speaking on the first day of the winter session of the state legislature, Shinde said: “The previous government (Thackeray-led MVA) stopped many schemes in border areas, (but) we have restarted them. But, I do not want to politicize the issue.”
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)