Maharashtra Universities To Hold Marathi Literary Conferences

Higher education minister Chandrakant Patil wants every public, private and deemed university in the state to host a one-day student conference ahead of the 100th Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan in Pune.

Maharashtra's Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil has told every public, self-financed and deemed university in the state to organise a one-day Marathi literary conference for students. The instruction went out during an online review meeting with vice-chancellors ahead of the 100th Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, which lands in Pune from January 28 to 31, 2027.

Patil wants numbers. He's asked universities to make special arrangements so a large pool of young students actually shows up, the idea being to get more students reading and writing in Marathi rather than treating the sammelan as something that happens to older generations of writers.

He's also asked institutions not to schedule their conferences on the same day. Spread them out, he said, so each one gets its own moment instead of competing for coverage and attention on a single date. Marathi Language Minister Uday Samant and senior officials from both the Higher Education and Marathi Language departments sat in on the meeting.

This isn't a standalone push. Samant used the same meeting to announce a separate series called "Abhijat Marathi, Abhiman Marathi," timed for October to mark Marathi's classical-language status. That rollout is already dated out university by university, and it reads like a proper campus tour.

It opens at the University of Mumbai on October 3, then moves to Savitribai Phule Pune University on October 4, Shivaji University in Kolhapur on October 5, and Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar Solapur University on October 6. Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University in Nanded gets its slot on October 7, followed by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar on October 8.

The calendar keeps going through the second week of October. Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University hosts on October 9, the newly set up Marathi Bhasha University at Riddhapur on October 10, Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University on October 11, and Kavikulaguru Kalidas Sanskrit University at Ramtek on October 12.

Gondwana University in Gadchiroli takes October 13, Kavayitri Bahinabai Chaudhari North Maharashtra University in Jalgaon takes October 14, and Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University in Nashik closes the run on October 15. Samant said SNDT Women's University in Mumbai and its affiliated colleges will run their own programmes alongside this schedule.

What this amounts to, practically, is a state government trying to make sure the 100th sammelan doesn't feel like a closed-door literary club meeting in Pune next January. Getting eighteen-odd universities to actually deliver these conferences, on staggered dates, with real student turnout, is a different ask than announcing them on a call. The next marker to watch is October 3, when the Mumbai university programme kicks the classical-language series off and everyone gets a first read on how seriously campuses are taking this.