Vijayawada: Need to protect mother tongue stressed

Vijayawada (NTR district): Dr Samala Ramesh Babu, the honorary president of Telugu Bhashodyama Samakya, said that Telugu Bhashodyama Samakhya is the first federation in the country, formed in 2003 with a view to protect the mother tongue. He said the Telugu Bhashodyama Samakhya is making all efforts to protect mother tongue and to create awareness among youth on the importance of the protection of the language.

He addressed the gathering at a programme organised on Tuesday on the occasion of 20th anniversary of Telugu Bhashodyama Samakhya and International Mother Language Day. The event was organised by Telugu linguistic Federation (Telugu Bhashodyama Samakhya) at Siddhartha College, Vijayawada. National president of Samakhya Acharya Garapati Umamaheswara Rao presided over the meeting.

Dr Movva Srinivasa Reddy, the chief organiser of the event, said that language is necessary for proper expression of views and for communication. Regional languages are facing threat of existence due to increasing use of the English language, he pointed out.

Prof Joga Singh of Punjab University said that education has become a business in the country and the English language has given impetus to that business and unfortunately the school language has now become a home language. He said that many countries provide an opportunity to study in their mother tongue. He said that the responsibility of preserving the mother tongue lies with the youth.

In a study report conducted by UNESCO in 12 countries including India have made it clear that it is easier for a student who has learnt the mother tongue to learn other foreign languages, and it is ridiculous that the rulers are spending crores of rupees to teach English. He said that if the language collapses, all the cultural traditions of the region will be lost in the future.

Acharya Bellamkonda Rajasekhar, former vice-chancellor of the University of Hyderabad, said that if the language does not survive, the survival of the race will be questionable. Engineering education can also be taught in the mother tongue, he added.

Later in the second session, former deputy speaker of State Legislative Assembly Mandali Buddha Prasad explained the programmes conducted by Telugu Bhashodyama Samakhya for the past two decades. Dr Garapati Uma Maheswara Rao explained their plan of action and they passed seven resolutions unanimously on the occasion.