13-Mar-2018: President of India inaugurates world Hindi secretariat in Mauritius
The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, inaugurated the World Hindi Secretariat building in Mauritius. He also launched the World Hindi Secretariat’s logo, an Early Digital Learning Programme.
President said that Hindi has played an important role in society and culture in both India and Mauritius. It is a global language and the Indian community, spread across the world, has preserved its culture and traditions – and passed it to the next generation – through its linguistic traditions, including Hindi. Hindi is being taught in about 175 universities in various countries.
The 11th World Hindi Conference is going to be held in Mauritius in August 2018. Apart from India, Mauritius is the only country where this conference is being hosted for a third time. This is evidence of the affection of the people of Mauritius for Hindi.
President Ram Nath Kovind is the first Indian President to visit Madagascar.
29-Apr-2017: Prime Minister dedicates the holy Vachanas of Basavanna, translated into 23 languages
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, dedicated the holy Vachanas of Basavanna, translated into 23 languages, and addressed an event to mark the inauguration of Basava Jayanthi 2017, and Golden Jubilee Celebration of Basava Samithi.
Basaveshwara had envisioned a democratic arrangement, several centuries ago. He said our land has been blessed with great individuals who have transformed our society. He said reform has always come to our society from within, whenever required. He expressed confidence that reformers would emerge from within the Muslim community itself, to put an end to the pain suffered by some Muslim women, because of the practice of “triple talaq.” He urged the Muslim community not to look at this issue through a political lens.
Describing Lord Basaveshwara’s Vachanas as a basis for good governance, the Prime Minister said the fruits of development such as housing, electricity and roads should reach one and all, without distinction. He said this is the true essence of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas.”
2-March-2017: Endangered Kurukh gets official language status in West Bengal.
Kurukh, an endangered tribal language of the Dravidian family, is set to get a new lease of life in West Bengal. It is spoken by the Oraon tribal community.
Kurukh language of the Oraon community who live in Dooars in north Bengal was given official status in the State last month. While most of the tribal languages in the State have their origins in the Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Barman families, Kurukh is an exception.
The only example of a tribal language having its origin from the Dravidian family is Malto, which is not spoken in West Bengal, but in the Rajmahal hills of Jharkhand. Santhali, Munda and Hoe languages belong to the Austro-Asiatic family, while the languages spoken by the Lepcha, Tamang and Bhutia tribes of the Darjeeling hills were of the Tibeto-Burman group.
Jharkhand has recognised Kurukh as a language, and students can write their school final examination in its script. The decision to allow students to write their school final examination in Kurukh was taken by the Jharkhand government in February 2016. In 2003, the State officially recognised the language and its script.
Kurukh script reflected the socio-cultural aspects of the tribal community. "The script is called Tolong Siki. It resembles that of any Dravidian language. We started working on it in 1989. By 1999, the script was ready. In at least two private schools of Jharkhand, students now write the examination in the Kurukh script,” Dr. Oraon said.
According to the 2001 census report (the latest official data on language-speakers), the language is spoken by about 17 lakh persons.
Mr. Bhattacharya said that since the Oraons were in different States, many members of the community picked up languages like Hindi and Bengali.
To develop and popularise an endangered language like Kurukh, we need a standard script and grammar, a standard dictionary and textbooks.