Mother Tongues in India

International Mother language Day is celebrated every year on February 21 since 1990.  To every one of us, mother language is one of the most precious gifts that we have in our lives. The loss of language is part of the loss of whole cultures and knowledge systems, including philosophical systems, oral literary and music traditions, environmental knowledge systems, medical knowledge, and important cultural practices and artistic skills. The world stands to lose an important part of the sum of human knowledge whenever a language stops being used. Maintaining the languages of ethnic and cultural groups is critical for the preservation of cultural heritage and identity of a Nation.

In India, we have more than 1635 mother tongues, of these, 29 languages have more than a million native speakers, 60 have more than 100,000 and 122 have more than 10,000 native speakers.  This basic fact of there being a multiplicity of languages spoken in India is the subject of current seminar.

National Seminar

Role of Mother Tongues in Nation Building

 Jointly Organized By

Kannada Language Chair (CIL/ JNU) and Shodhsamvad/Research Forum

February 2018 (Wednesday)

212 Committee Room, School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies

Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi-67

PROGRAM

Morning session-10:00 AM to 1:00 PM

Welcome:                               Atul Vaibhav (Acting President, SS-RF)

Preliminary remarks:             Prof. Purushottama Bilimale,  Kannada Chair, CIL/SLL&CS

Moderator:                             Md. Anjar Husain

Papers:

Regional Languages and The Idea of India :                          Rahul Dev, Senior Journalist

Language Demography and Language in India:                   Dr. Shushant Mishra, JNU

Constitutional Safe Guard and Mother Tongues in India :  Prof. Asha Sarangi, CPS/ JNU

National Policy on Education and the position of Mother tongue:  Dr. Arvind Kumar Mishra ,

 Z akir Hussain Centre of Education, JNU

Vote of Thanks- Priyanka Kumari

Afternoon session- 2.00PM to 5.00 PM

Moderator- Manivannan Murugeshan

Tribal Language in India :                   Dr. Ganga Sahay Meena, CIL, JNU

Three Language Formula :                 Chandrashekhar N.P, Interpreter, Lokasabha 

Role of English in India :                     Dr. Sachin, Dayal Singh College, DU

State Language and Media :             Ramesh Aroli, Kamla Nehru College, DU

Language Politics in India :                Dr. N. Chandrasekaran, Tamil Centre,CIL, JNU)

Vote of Thanks- Sandhya Tiwari