Орган регулирования бенгальского языка в Индии

Bangla language authority in India

The Pashchimbanga Bangla Akademi (, , ) is the official regulatory body of the Bengali language in West Bengal, India. It was founded on 20 May 1986 in Kolkata to act as the official authority of the language and is entrusted with the responsibility of reforming Bengali spelling and grammar, compiling dictionaries, encyclopedias and terminologies and promoting Bengali language and culture in West Bengal. Though the Akademi has no enforcement power over their rules and regulations, they are widely accepted by the Governments of West Bengal and Tripura as well as a considerable number of private publishing houses and institutions such as the Oxford University Press and the Ramakrishna Mission. The Akademi is housed in two separate buildings, one at Nandan Rabindra Sadan Complex (also mentioned as Bangla Akademi Rabindra Sadan or Nandan Bangla Akademi Complex during the Akademi festivals and book fairs) in South Kolkata and the other at Rabindra Okakura Bhaban, Bidhannagar (Salt Lake). Annadashankar Roy became the first President and Sanat Kumar Chattopadhyay the first secretary of the Akademi. The Bangla Akademi has been successful in extending its activities and programs to different districts of West Bengal and even to other states in India. In Kolkata, the Bangla Akademi organises different programs in collaboration with such bodies like Bangiya Sahitya Parishad, Sahitya Akademi, Publishers and Book Sellers' Guild, Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, National Book Trust and also with different universities and cultural organizations.

Bengal Academy of Literature, the first academic association to regulate and promote Bengali language and literature was set up in Kolkata under the chairmanship of Benoy Krishna Dev in 1893. In April 1894, the academy was reorganized and rechristened as Bangiya Sahitya Parishad, and Romesh Chunder Dutt became the first president of it. Scholars like Chandranath Bose, Dwijendranath Tagore, Jagadish Chandra Bose, Prafulla Chandra Roy, Satyendranath Tagore, Haraprasad Shastri, Ramendra Sundar Trivedi later served the Parishad as presidents. Rabindranth Tagore (Vice president: 1894–96, 1901, 1905–1909, 1917; Special Delegate: 1910) himself was closely associated to the institution since its inception. Bangiya Sahitya Parishad is the first academic institution on matters pertaining to Bengali language. It endeavored to compile standard Bengali dictionary, grammar and terminologies, both philosophical and scientific, to collect and publish old and medieval Bengali manuscripts, and to carry out translation from other language into Bengali and research on history, philosophy and science.

During the 20th century, the affairs concerning the promotion of Bengali language did not remain a sole responsibility of Bangiya Sahitya Parishad. As language prospered and literature enriched, a need of linguistic reform as well as an authority to enforce the reforms was felt by the scholars of the time. In the late 1930s, Rabindranath Tagore asked the University of Calcutta to determine the rules of Bengali spelling and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, the then Vice Chancellor of the university, set up a committee to look over the subject in November 1935. In May 1936, a standard rule for Bengali spelling was first imposed. These rules were later amended by Rabindranath Tagore and other scholars and practiced at academic level in all over Bengal for next 70 years.

After the partition of India in 1947, the people of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) felt a need for a new Bengali linguistic body suiting their new nationality. As a result, Bangla Academy in Dhaka was established in 1955. In 1990, the Bangla Academy enforced new regulations for Bengali spelling.

In West Bengal, various prominent institutions backed the process of development of the language, but that resulted in inconsistencies in it. For example, Rajsekhar Basu and Ananda Bazaar Patrika tried to simplify Bengali spelling; but instead of rationalizing the spelling system, it aroused controversy over the authority of such bodies. Even institutions like Visva Bharati University failed in the task.

In 1962, the Government of West Bengal started using Bengali for all official purposes. Since then, a need for an official regulator of the language has been felt. In 1986, with the general consent of Bengali intellectuals of the time, Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi, a wing of the Information and Cultural Affairs Department of the Government of West Bengal was set up. Afterward it was converted into a society and registered under Societies Registration Act. On 8 December 1994, it was declared an autonomous Governmental body.

Scholars at the Bangla Akademi work to promote the Bengali language in various ways. They are doing research on spelling, grammar and the origin and development of Bengali. They are publishing works by prominent writers in the language. They have built a large library to preserve original manuscripts. The government of Japan has donated Rs. 500000 for research in the academy. The government of West Bengal has also given a lump some amount of money. The Akademi is spending the money on the Indo Japan Cultural Center in Bidhannagar. The Akademi has also developed a Bengali font designed according to the changes made by them in the Bengali script. The font is available from this link.

Various festivals are being conducted nowadays by Bangla Akademi, e. g., Kabita Utsab (Poetry Festival), Little Magazine Mela (Little Magazine Fair), Kathasahitya Utsab (Fiction Festival), Chhora Utsab (Rhyme Festival) etc.

In May 2022, the academies decision to give Bangla Akademi Literature Award to Mamata Banerjee for her poems was met with fierce criticism. Mamata Banerjee in the end gave back the prize.