Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu bats for people's movement to preserve and enrich languages

Visakhapatnam: Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday stressed the need for a people’s movement to preserve languages, complementing the efforts of the government in order to deliver the benefits of our language traditions to future generations. Highlighting the power of language to unite people across generations and geographies, Naidu called for a concerted efforts to preserve, enrich and propagate our languages, cultures and traditions. Speaking at the 6th annual Rashtretara Telugu Samakhya’ conference, he suggested that Telugu people should come together as one for the cause of Telugu language and the revitalisation of our local traditions. Noting that neglecting a language will lead to its decline, the vice-president said it is the duty of each individual to preserve and promote one’s mother tongue, without belittling other languages and cultures. He also underscored the need for primary education to be in one’s mother tongue, as envisaged by National Educational Policy, 2020. He noted that persons presently occupying the highest constitutional offices of the country, including the president, vice-president, prime minister and the Chief Justice of India all had primary education in their mother tongue. “People should not have the false impression that one cannot succeed and grow in life if they learn in their mother tongue. We have many past and present exemplars to disprove that,” he said. The vice-president also called for more initiatives in translating Telugu literature into other Indian languages, thereby spreading the richness of one’s language tradition. Appreciating the fact that many such cultural organisations continued their work online in the wake of the pandemic, Naidu suggested that efforts be intensified to integrate language and technology in the same spirit. Noting that there are more than a thousand organisations outside the Telugu states for the preservation and propagation of the Telugu language, he commended the initiative of the organisers in coming together on a common platform called ‘‘Rashtretara Telugu Samakhya.’’ He conveyed his best wishes for their future endeavours. Himachal Pradesh governor Bandaru Dattatreya, West Bengal Minister for Women and Child Development and Social Welfare Dr Shashi Panja, former Deputy Speaker of Andhra Pradesh Mandali Buddha Prasad, President of All India Telugu Federation Dr C M K Reddy, President of Rashtrethara Telugu Samakhya Sundara Rao and others were present during the virtual event.