The Ministry of Marathi Language is a ministry in

government of Maharashtra The Government of Maharashtra is the state governing authority for the states of india, state of Maharashtra, India. It is a democratically elected State governments of India, government with 288 Member of the Legislative Assembly (India), MLAs ...

. Ministry is responsible for the promotion of Marathi language in India as well as abroad.

Deepak Kesarkar Deepak Vasant Kesarkar is a member of the 14th Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. He is the Cabinet Minister for Ministry of Education, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change and Ministry of Marathi Language. He represents the Sawantwadi Ass ...

is current Minister for Marathi Language. Language department offers free Marathi classes to non-Marathi speakers living in Maharashtra.

Head office

List of Cabinet Ministers

List of Ministers of State

List of Principal Secretary

Marathi language

Marathi is an

Indo-Aryan language The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily concentrated in India, Pa ...

spoken predominantly by around 83 million

Marathi people The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a ...

of Maharashtra,

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

. It is the

official language An official language is a language given supreme status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically the term "official language" does not refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government (e.g. judiciary, ...

and co-official language in the Maharashtra and

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to th ...

states of

Western India Western India is a loosely defined region of India consisting of its western part. The Ministry of Home Affairs in its Western Zonal Council Administrative division includes the states of Goa, Gujarat, and Maharashtra along with the Uni ...

, respectively and is one of the 22 scheduled

languages of India Languages spoken in India belong to several language families, the major ones being the Indo-European languages spoken by 78.05% of Indians and the Dravidian languages spoken by 19.64% of Indians, both families together are sometimes known ...

. With 83 million speakers as 2011, Marathi ranks 10th in the list of languages with most native speakers in the world. Marathi has the third largest number of native speakers in India, after

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

and

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the ...

. The language has some of the oldest literature of all modern Indian languages, dating from around 600 AD. The major dialects of Marathi are Standard Marathi and the

Varhadi dialect Varhadi is a dialect of Marathi spoken in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra and by Marathi people of adjoining parts of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana in India. Vocabulary and grammar Although all the dialects of Marathi are mut ...

Koli Koli may refer to: Places * Koli, Finland, a hill in Finland * Koli National Park, a national park in Finland * Koli, Iran (disambiguation), several places in Iran * Koli Airfield, a former airfield in the South Pacific Other uses * Koli people ...

Agri Agri may refer to: Places * Ağrı Province, eastern Turkey ** Ağrı, the capital city of the province * Ağrı, the Turkish name for Mount Ararat in Turkey * Ağrı Subregion, Turkey, a statistical subregion * Ağrı (electoral district), an e ...

and

Malvani Konkani Malvani is a dialect of Konkani with significant Marathi influences and loanwords. Although Malvani does not have a unique script, the Devanagari script is used by most speakers. Malvani is sometimes used for sarcastic newspaper articles and ...

have been heavily influenced by Marathi varieties.

Departments

Ministry of Marathi Language has one key department - Marathi Bhasha Vibhag (Marathi language department). Separate administrative department was established in 2010.

Child agencies

* Rajya Marathi Vikas Sanstha (State Institute for Marathi Development) * Maharashtra Rajy Vishawakosh Nirmiti Mandal * Maharashtra Rajya Sahitya aani Sankriti Mandal * Bhasha Sanchanalay (Language Directorate)

Efforts to receive classical language status

In 2004, the

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

declared that languages that met certain requirements could be accorded the status of a "

Classical Language A classical language is any language with an independent literary tradition and a large and ancient body of written literature. Classical languages are typically dead languages, or show a high degree of diglossia, as the spoken varieties of the ...

" of India. The Marathi ministry has submitted an application to the

to grant ''

classical language A classical language is any language with an independent literary tradition and a large and ancient body of written literature. Classical languages are typically dead languages, or show a high degree of diglossia, as the spoken varieties of the ...

'' status to Marathi. The

is considering the request.

Various activities

Awards

Various awards are given to exceptional people in the field of Marathi language. * Yashwantrao Chavan Award * Vi. Da. Karandikar Lifetime Achievement Award : Trophy and cash prize of

₹ The Indian rupee sign (₹) is the currency symbol for the Indian rupee (ISO 4217: INR), the official currency of India. Designed by D. Udaya Kumar, it was presented to the public by the Government of India on 15 July 2010, following its select ...

5,00,000 * P. Bhagawat Award : Trophy and cash prize of

3,00,000 * Bhasha Sanvardhan (Language Promotion) : Two cash prize awards of

1,00,000

Marathi language day

Marathi Language Day (मराठी दिन/मराठी दिवस ) is celebrated on 27 February every year across the Indian states of Maharashtra and

. This day is regulated by the Ministry of Marathi language. It is celebrated on the Birthday of eminent Marathi Poet Vi. Va. Shirwadkar, popularly known as Kusumagraj. Essay competitions and seminars are arranged in schools and colleges, and government officials are asked to conduct various events.

Use of Marathi in government offices

Ministry made it compulsory to use Marathi language in all

Government of Maharashtra The Government of Maharashtra is the state governing authority for the states of india, state of Maharashtra, India. It is a democratically elected State governments of India, government with 288 Member of the Legislative Assembly (India), MLAs ...

offices.

Marathi in schools

''The Maharashtra Compulsory Teaching and Learning of Marathi Language in Schools Bill, 2020'' was proposed by the Marathi ministry and passed by the

unanimously. Marathi language classes are mandatory in all schools of Maharashtra.

International collaboration

Internationalization efforts started in 2021 to engage international Marathi diaspora. Department launched various initiatives to popularize Marathi language outside India. US Consul General was felicitated for promoting US based organizations working in Marathi language.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ministry of Marathi Language Government ministries of Maharashtra Maharashtra-related lists Marathi language Language advocacy organizations