Previous Year Question
Which one of the following was given Classical Language status recently?
Correct Answer: A
Detailed Solution
This question must be answered in the context of 2015. On 20 February 2014, the Government of India approved the classification of Odia as a Classical Language. Therefore, when the question was asked in 2015, Odia was the most recently declared Classical Language among the given options.
Odia became the sixth Indian language to receive this status. The languages recognised before it were:
Tamil — 2004
Sanskrit — 2005
Telugu — 2008
Kannada — 2008
Malayalam — 2013
Odia — 2014
Konkani and Bhojpuri do not have Classical Language status.
Present position: On 3 October 2024, Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali were also approved for Classical Language status. This increased the total number of Classical Languages in India to 11. Thus, Assamese is a Classical Language today, but it did not possess this status when the question was asked in 2015.
Therefore, according to the question-year context of 2015, the correct answer is (a) Odia.