New Delhi, Feb 20 (UNI) Describing the first learned and spoken mother tongue as the ‘soul of life’, the Vice President and Chairman of Rajya Sabha M Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday passionately urged all the Members of Parliament to actively contribute to the cause of preservation and promotion of Indian languages.
Mr Naidu reached out to all the Members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in different widely spoken Indian languages and English by e-mail on the 16th of this month he elaborated on the importance of strong foundational skills in the first language in the initial years of informal learning at home, as the first window to the world for infants, for subsequent better academic performance and even for learning a second language.
Elaborating on the consequence of neglecting native languages, Mr Naidu said that it results in the loss of knowledge accumulated over time in respective cultures, of which languages are a manifestation.
In his three pages letter to the MPs, he said “With a multiplicity of languages and a rich spectrum of dialects, we have regions which are repositories of knowledge much of which stands imperiled today. This is mainly due to a mindset of looking down upon one’s mother tongue and wearing the linguistic badge of competence in English as a false sign of superiority. Culture and language are the two sides of the same coin. They embody rich knowledge and practices accumulated over a long period. Extinction of a language results in the loss of precious legacy. We can’t allow this to happen.”
The Vice President also stressed on the need for promoting native languages for preserving the country’s rich cultural diversity. “We take pride in India being a mosaic of several languages and cultures epitomising unity in diversity. This applies to the world as well, which is emerging as a global village. The richness of our diverse cultures can only be preserved through promotion of mother languages”, he said in his letter.
Stating that learning more languages is useful as it offers more windows to the world besides enabling cross cultural understanding, peace and harmony, the Rajya Sabha Chairman stressed that “But it cannot be achieved without a strong foundation in one’s own first language. Mother tongue is the soul of life.”
In this context, Mr Naidu urged all MPs to be active facilitators in promoting native languages in the large areas they represent and to start with by taking up appropriate communication and outreach programmes on the occasion of ‘International Mother Languages Day’ by drawing inspiration from the motto of “Let us love and promote mother tongue.”
He also informed the MPs that about 200 Indian languages facing extinction and the UNO expressing concern over one world language becoming extinct every two weeks.
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