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Modi govt wants to train pandits and pujaris, design curriculum to standardise rituals

Skill Development Ministry officials say Modi govt wants to sustain Vedic culture, and also create employment opportunities in India and abroad.

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New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government is planning to implement a skill-based training programme for pandits and pujaris (Hindu priests) in India. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship is set to implement this programme, keeping in mind that pandits are in demand not just in India but in Hindu communities across the globe.

A ministry official told ThePrint that the objective is to “sustain the Vedic culture and heritage of our country”, and that it is “imperative” that the government not only preserves the knowledge, but imparts it in the right way.

The official added that by skilling youth in this segment, the government will not only create more employment opportunities, but also formalise this unorganised sector.


Also read: Skill India ministry needs to find itself 1 office before it can help Indians find jobs


The curriculum

The ministry is planning to design a curriculum that will standardise the mantras and rituals performed in pujas and yagnas. This format-based training course will be designed to meet the standards of the National Skills Qualification Framework, a competency-based framework that organises all qualifications according to levels of knowledge, skill and aptitude. These levels, graded from one to 10, are defined in terms of learning outcomes which learners must possess, regardless of whether they are obtained through formal, non-formal or informal learning.

To ensure that everyone has access to this training programme, an important prerequisite will be the knowledge of Sanskrit and a keen interest in the field.

Although the locations for the skill centres have not been finalised yet, the first thought is to set them up in centres of Hindu culture like Mathura and Varanasi.

Rajaram Shukla, vice-chancellor of Varanasi’s Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, who came up with this idea and proposed it to the ministry, said it is important that training be imparted in tandem with the ‘shastriya paddhati’ (the system espoused by ancient texts).

Shukla also said the knowledge of correct vaastu shastra (the traditional Indian architectural system) and jyotish vidya (astrology) is essential for pandits, through which they can earn something like Rs 50,000 per month.


Also read: Automation & AI won’t make low-skilled jobs disappear


 

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8 COMMENTS

  1. This is typical British “Hindooism” (Arya Samaj / Ramakrishna Muth) policy being extended to eradicate the traditional hereditary as well as apprenticeship process. Modi should understand and strengthen the many traditional systems instead

    • I don’t know why some people are so obsessed and tied down with caste and class … they never fail to bring up this shortcut to ‘success’ … always out to look for ways to obtain special rights instead of seeking advancement through meritocracy …

  2. What nonsense! All purohits are trained in their respective branch of Vedas and all other rituals. Nobody becomes a priest just like that. Its a long 10 year course. After that they do apprenticeship for a year and first become assistant and later become the head. Go see in Sringeri and any large Veda pathashala in the south. The north Indians have no knowledge of Pooja, Homa or anything and come up with such absurd ideas.

  3. I am sure brahmins will want to have exclusive reservation in the course ..
    Vedic culture of exclusivity is the reason for all problems in India. Vedic culture hates democracy and equality.

  4. My poor mother almost fell asleep towards the end of the ceremony, near dawn. By the time wife and I got married, the pandits were more businesslike, delivered according to preset parameters. Many of them had regular day jobs, this was a little additional income. Personally one feels the government should focus on getting us to five trillion.

  5. Just watching a leader of the country is wasting his time in what, you can predict the deep sink hole he is in. He ain’t cutting it for no future India.

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