An Appeal for Inclusion of Pali language in MPSC Exams

Language and community

When a child is born, s/he learns everything whatever is seen or heard around her/him. The child takes and absorbs the words, phrases, styles, sentences of the spoken language. This is how every person learns the basics of the language.

This is the way of getting familiar with the language and that language (which is spoken at home) then becomes the mother tongue of that person. When person is able to interact using his/her mother tongue with others the language becomes an integral part of that community.

It is in this very process, mankind started phrasing words to make a spoken language. One of the earliest spoken language was PALI, also known as Magadhi since it was the language of Magadh Empire. The great Buddha also spoke in this "common man" language spreading his Dhamma. It is a known fact that as Buddhism spread to all the neighboring countries, it carried Dhamma in the form of Pali language. Thus apart from Buddhism, these countries also derived their languages from Pali language. Hence it is aptly said that spreading of Buddhism also made these countries "literate".

This beautiful language which encompasses the rich heritage of India of those days is a veritable source of social, political, religious and financial scenario of our golden past.

In Modern Buddha Babasaheb Dr. B. R. Ambedkar's word - "Those who forget their history, cannot make history!". So it is time to propagate Pali language.

Glory of Pali language

1. Pali is one of the most ancient languages of India that was largely spoken during Buddha and Mahavira's time.
2. Buddha had chosen Pali language for his teachings since it was the "common man's" language
3. Buddism spread rapidly in India and near-by regions and thus Pali became the base for all the neighboring countries languages like Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.
4. The manuscripts of Emperor Ashoka are in Pali language written in Brahmi and Kharoshti scripts that are largely found from Kandhaar (Afganistan) to Andhra Pradesh and Saurashtra, Pakistan to Odisha.
5. This gives us the magnitude of Pali speaking region in India.
6. Pali became a "common man's" language because its grammar is very easy compared to any existing languages and more-over many Indian languages have evolved from Pali.

Pali in MPSC exams

Pali is one of the optional languages in UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) exams (Check this). It has been found that usually students from Northern belt score better marks / grades compared to the rest of their counterparts. Naturally, even their overall percentage of no.of students are more than any part of the country. An analysis showed that this is because of the "subjects" that these students select. It has been found out that Pali is very scoring subject and helps in increasing the overall score in the UPSC exams.

Students who aspire for UPSC exams, usually appear the State competitive exams (eg. in Maharashtra, it is MPSC) as "trial", however the subjects selected at State level are continued in UPSC.

For example: Candidates choose History for MPSC and then continue the History subject in UPSC also. This is because the candidate has already studied that subject at State level so it becomes easy to study for the UPSC exam.

On realizing this, various State competitive exam boards like Utter Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Delhi, Uttranchal have included PALI in their syllabus.

Unfortunately in Maharashtra, the MPSC board is still unaware of this fact. Their apathy is the reason why Maharashtrian students score very less % in UPSC exams. In the past, many UPSC / MPSC appeared and passed students have appealed to the MPSC board for inclusion of Pali, however there has been no action taken. (see MPSC's language lists)

Today, Pali is been taught in various Universities in the country. In Maharashtra, we have Pune, Mumbai, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Nanded and Kolhapur Universities who teach Pali. There are educational institutes too who teach PALI. ie.

• Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies, Pune (9623007365, 9422504732, 9623115266)
• Pali Path Sanstha, Mumbai (9323650024, 9821544380, 9987040912)
• TRIBILS (Trirashmi Research Institute for Buddhism, Indic Languages and Scripts), Nashik

By including PALI in the MPSC Exams, the students of Maharashtra would get better score as well the number of Maharashtrian students would increase.

For this reason, we are conducting a "signature campaign" to appeal to the concerned authorities.

Signature Campaign

To include Pali in MPSC Exams, Indic language and Pali enthusiasts, MPSC and UPSC students have started a SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN in every district of Maharashtra. At present, more than 50,000 (Fifty Thousand) people have signed the petition and the number is growing rapidly. We target to get 20 - 25 lakhs signatures The signed forms will be submitted to following authorities:

1. Chairman, Maharashtra Public Service Commission
2. Chief Secretory, Maharashtra State
3. Chief Minister, Maharashtra State
4. Governer, Maharashtra State

Navayan.com requests all to fill out the following form. Your request for inclusion of PALI in MPSC Exams will be delivered to the above mentioned authorities.

For any further information on this petition, please contact:
1. Atul Bhosekar, Nashik (+91-253-2500442, +91-9545277410)
2. Kapil More, Mumbai (+91-9819830479)
3. P. B. Chandrikapure, Nagpur (+91-9860186680)
4. Adv. Kavita, Pune (+91-9960345307)

Appeal Letter (will be delivered to Chairman, MPSC)

Submit the form Responses (226371)

Your complete name *  

Your Email *  

Phone (+ STD code) *  

Write your own views *  

 

In the media

• Lokmat ePaper - http://epaper.lokmat.com/epapermain.aspx - Date - 20110929, Page #4