PATNA, Feb. 21 -- The Bihar government on Friday announced that it will constitute search committees for the appointment of heads of various linguistic academies and grant them autonomy and financial independence within the next two months to ensure their smooth functioning. Bihar education minister Sunil Kumar said subject experts with sound knowledge of the respective languages should head the academies. The proposed search committees will be tasked with identifying and recommending suitable candidates. "We will form search committees for the selection of heads of language bodies and move the cabinet for granting autonomy and financial independence to these institutions in the next two months," Kumar said. The minister was responding to a starred question raised by Congress MLC Madan Mohan Jha during the question hour in the Bihar Legislative Council. Jha flagged the deteriorating condition of the Maithili Akademi and highlighted its declining academic output. Recalling its achievements, Jha noted that in its 49 years of existence, the Maithili Akademi had published 213 books, of which around 36 were included in academic curricula and nine received the Sahitya Akademi Award. However, he expressed concern that the academy has not published any book since 2020....