Dikshit on Monday announced that her government will soon set up the academy as there is a sizeable Maithili and Bhojpuri speaking population with “their own cultural identity” in the Capital.

Maithili has been included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India by the Constitution (92nd Amendment) Act, 2003. It has rich literary tradition and has contributed great poets like Vidyapati to Indian literary panorama, Dikshit said. The Chief Minister said the Bhojpuri speaking population has a large “numerical base in Delhi” and it deserves proper support and patronage from the state.

“The cultural dimension of these two languages has enriched Delhi for quite sometime and the Chhath Pooja celebration has become an integral part of the state’s cultural calendar. Therefore, there is a strong need to create a separate language academy for these two languages,” government officials said.

The proposed Maithili and Bhojpuri language academy will organise programmes, seminars and exhibitions. It will also help publish books related to these languages. It will support, recognise and give aid to institutions connected with these languages. This academy will also support the upcoming and established authors by publishing their work to enrich the regional literature.