Once a celebrated centre for literary excellence, Bihar's Maithili Academy now stands on the brink of permanent closure, its halls silent and its future uncertain. The nearly 50-year-old institution, which was instrumental in promoting the Maithili language and produced nine Sahitya Akademi-winning titles, is battling severe institutional neglect and a crippling staff shortage.
A Deserted Hall of Learning
At 1 pm on a regular day, the prestigious Maithili Academy on the campus of the Bihar Rashtrabhasha Parishad in Patna's Rajendra Nagar is eerily empty. The academy has been reduced to operating from a single room, containing just one desk, a few chairs, a printer, and some metal cabinets. The only sounds interrupting the silence are shouts from a cricket game on the playground outside. This stark emptiness is a far cry from its glorious past, when it housed a treasure of 60,000 books and was a thriving abode for scholars and litterateurs.
Protests and Political Appeals for Survival
The alarming state of the academy has triggered protests from writers, activists, and even members of Bihar's ruling alliance. Demonstrators have taken to the streets, demanding immediate government intervention to revive the crumbling institution. Bharatiya Janata Party state president Sanjay Saraogi has written to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Education Minister Sunil Kumar, flagging the academy's critical role in promoting Maithili. A senior Janata Dal (United) leader also pledged to urge the CM to prevent its closure.
However, Bihar Education Minister Sunil Kumar, under whose department the academy falls, did not respond to queries. An official attributed the crisis to an acute staff crunch, stating that the sole staffer had been sent back to his original post and that running the academy without appointments was impossible.
A Legacy of Neglect and Broader Institutional Crisis
Founded in 1976 with the objective of promoting the Maithili language, the academy's decline has been gradual but steady. Footfall has plummeted from 50 scholars daily to just 4-5. The academy, which once had a sanctioned staff strength of 21, currently has no staff at all. It now shares a room with the Bangla Academy, and its last publication was in 2021.
Critics blame the Bihar government's general neglect of language academies for this slow death. Maithili scholar Hridayanarayan Jha questioned why the academy should face closure when there was a provision of Rs 1.5 crore for language academies.
The crisis is not isolated to the Maithili Academy. The parent body, the Bihar Rashtrabhasha Parishad (established in 1950 to promote Hindi), and other language academies like the Sanskrit Academy face similar fates. Staff describe a dire situation where precious literature was once piled on floors, exposed to dust and termites, due to a lack of racks. Manpower is depleting rapidly, with retirements set to accelerate from 2026, potentially leaving barely 10 staff members by 2030 amid a government recruitment freeze.
Despite these overwhelming odds, the Maithili Academy's legacy continues to shine. In 2023, it generated a revenue of Rs 8-9 lakh. Furthermore, Maithili writers continue to earn national acclaim, with Basukinath Jha winning the Sahitya Akademi award in 2023 and veteran writer Mahendra Malangia winning in 2024.
Protest leaders like Vivekanand Jha of the Chetna Samiti find it ironic that governments talk of promoting Indian languages while planning to close such institutions. The onus, they assert, is squarely on the Bihar government to save the Maithili Academy from sinking into oblivion and preserve a vital piece of the state's cultural heritage.
