Pune, Aug. 23 -- Marathi departments will be established in all private, deemed and private universities and colleges across Maharashtra, higher and technical education minister Chandrakant Patil said on Saturday, adding that the state will soon issue a government resolution to the effect. The announcement was made at a meeting of vice-chancellors and registrars of government and private universities at Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), held to discuss preparations for the 100th Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, scheduled at the university from January 28 to 31. Marathi language minister Uday Samant attended the meeting, while Patil joined via video conference. Patil said many students from other states come to Maharashtra for education and should have an opportunity to learn Marathi and understand its language and literature. He announced annual state-level student conferences to promote Marathi and help preserve the state's dialects. Samant said the Marathi language department would support the Maharashtra Sahitya Mahamandal and SPPU in organising the 100th literary conference. Marathi language department secretary Kiran Kulkarni said concerted efforts were needed to establish Marathi as a language of knowledge and employment. Samant called for dictionaries documenting Maharashtra's dialects, saying the state has around 260 dialects but many lack formal documentation. Dictionaries covering 100 dialects should be prepared and published during the 100th Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, he said. Rajesh Pande, trustee of Samarth Yuva Foundation, said efforts were underway to involve the National Service Scheme and student development boards of universities and colleges....