Pune, October 03, 2026: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that a Center of Excellence for Studies in Classical Marathi will be established in Pune.

This announcement comes on the auspicious day when Marathi was granted the status of Classical Marathi Language on October 03, 2024.

Often called the Cultural Capital of Maharashtra, Pune has been chosen to host the prestigious Center of Excellence for Studies in Classical Marathi.

The center will be located at Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute, Pune.

This center will work to strengthen academic research, digitization, preservation and popularization of Classical Marathi.

This decision was approved by Language Division, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Government of India on October 01, 2026.

Fadnavis shared that since the approval has been granted, the state government will now start preparing the DPR for the proposed center to secure funds from the Central Government.

Earlier, Marathi language was accorded the status of Classical Language on October 03, 2024 along with four more languages by the Government of India.

The official communication from the Central Government announces formation of five such centers across India. Assamese at Tezpur University in Assam, Bengali at Visva-Bharati University in West Bengal, Marathi at Deccan College in Pune, Pali at Central University of Odisha and Prakrit at Central University of Gujarat.