The Hindu reports today that Odia now joins Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam as an official "classical language" of India.
It would be nice if we could now look forward to the opening of many new departments of classics in Indian universities, and the appointment of professorships and lectureships to support the study of the Indian classics!  And an acceptance by banks, computer companies and other employers that a degree in classics is a valid and valuable education for any subsequent profession.

Best,
--
Dr Dominik Wujastyk
Department of South Asia, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies,
University of Vienna,
Spitalgasse 2-4, Courtyard 2, Entrance 2.1
1090 Vienna, Austria
and
Adjunct Professor,
Division of Health and Humanities,
St. John's Research Institute, Bangalore, India.