Madras Skt. College to be closed

Michael Witzel witzel at FAS.HARVARD.EDU
Sat Apr 8 13:20:27 UTC 2000


The following news item has been brought to my attention. It should be of
interest to list members:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>From Indian Express :

Sanskrit college faces closure in TN

KARTHIK SUBRAMANIAN
CHENNAI, APRIL 6: Even as the Central Government observed last year as
`Sanskrit Year', the 94-year-old Madras Sanskrit College is facing a
closure threat due to non-availability of funds.

The allotment of the annual grant had not arrived from the Centre for
the last three months and the salaries of the employees have been paid
through overdrafts.

The Sri V Krishnaswami Iyer Sanskrit Education Trust which provides
free boarding and lodging to the 130 students in the college premises
in Mylapore, is just making ends meet. Despite the financial crisis,
the student strength has grown from 60 to 130 in the last few years.

College Secretary B Madhavan told The Indian Express that the
management had made several representations to the Centre but in vain.
``If the present situation continues, the institution will have to
close down in course of time.''

The college, founded by eminent jurist V Krishnaswami Iyer in 1906,
just ambles along, thanks to the dedicated trust and the staff members.
The college conducts a widely-acclaimed five-year course affiliated to
Madras University, `Siromani'. Other popular Sanskrit colleges in Tamil
Nadu are the Srirangam Sanskrit College and Rajah's College,
Thiruvaiyaru.

The college which was managed by Sri V Krishnaswami Iyer Sanskrit
Education Trust in its initial years, came to be aided aid by the
Central Government in 1977. Under the Adarsh Maha Vidyalaya scheme, the
Government was to cover 95 per cent of the staff salaries and 75 per
cent of the other expenses through contingency grants. The annual grant
sanctioned for the college by the Centre is to the tune of Rs 20 lakh.

The staff are yet to get the UGC scale of pay that came into force in
1996. The Centre grant will reach Rs 33 lakh if the UGC scales are to
be implemented. Services of five of the 11 lecturers, including the
librarian, are yet to be made permanent. The college has no principal
for the past seven years.

The trust has been looking westwards for NRI funding and also at the
corporate sector to bale it out of the financial crisis. But sadly,
nothing substantial has come through so far.
========================================
Michael Witzel
Department of Sanskrit & Indian Studies, Harvard University
2 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge MA 02138

ph. 617-496 2990 (also messages)
home page:     www.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mwpage.htm

Elect. Journ. of Vedic Studies:         www1.shore.net/~india/ejvs
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