The Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, one of the three central institutes in the country promoting Sanskrit, has adopted five villages across the country to ensure people are able to converse in the language, following a directive by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

The Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan (RKS), Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha in Delhi and the Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha in Tirupati are the three central institutes promoting the more than 3,500-year-old language.

The HRD Ministry has directed the three institutes to adopt two villages and teach the language in a bid to boost Sanskrit as a spoken language.

'The RKS has adopted five villages including Jubarta in Tripura, Masot in Himachal Pradesh, Chittebail in Karnataka, Adat in Kerala and Barai in Madhya Pradesh so that everybody in the village is able to converse in Sanskrit language,' a senior HRD Ministry official said.

The other two institutes are yet to adopt villages, the official added.

Chairing a meeting of heads of central language institutions under the HRD ministry last month, Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' had directed that at least two Sanskrit-speaking villages need to be developed near central institutes promoting and preserving the language.