RS passes bill granting central univ status to CIEFL, Hyderabad

New Delhi, Dec 5 (UNI) Amidst a walkout by the opposition BJP, the Rajya Sabha today passed the Bill granting Central University status to the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad.

The Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages University Bill, 2006 is aimed to establish and incorporate a teaching university for the promotion and development of English and other foreign languages and their literature.

Replying to the debate on the Bill, Minister of State for Human Resource Development D Purandeswari said that CIEFL, which has its centres at Hyderabad, Lucknow and Shillong has played a crucial role in growth and development of English, French, German and Russian languages.

Pointing out the measures being taken by China and Japan to increase English teaching in their respective countries, the MoS said that providing central university status to CIEFL would increase its stature and more centres of it could be set up depending on the demand.

Earlier participating in the debate, Mr Ramdev Bhandari of the Rashtriya Janata Dal said that while promoting English and foreign languages, the government should also take measures to promote regional languages of the country.

Ms N C Durga of the TDP called for developing infrastructure of CIEFL by opening more regional centres and filling all the pending vacancies. She demanded that the goverment develop a roadmap for CIEFL development.

Mr Uday Pratap Singh (SP) supported the bill though he called for replacing English with Hindi and other Indian languages as the link language. He said that till the time the language of government and people are not the same, social and economic justice could not be ensured. He said that English, which is a foreign language, should be removed from the administrative work and judiciary and not be associated with prestige of the persons.

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