Imphal: The government of Manipur has crores of rupees even for the animals in the Iroisemba zoo, but no fund for the development of the 35 tribal languages of the state, lamented writer Ragongning Gangmei.
He was speaking at the book release program me of his book titled “State Apathy of Tribal Languages in Manipur” today at Manipur Press Club, Imphal.
He said that diversity in language and culture is the beauty of Manipur which has 38 communities out of which 35 are tribals. The writer stated that tribals do not have any sense of belonging to the state due to the apathy of tribal languages by the government of Manipur. He alleged that the government has no fund for printing tribal language books for students, but it has fund for printing English, Hindi and Manipuri books.
Tribal language books for school students are printed mostly by the concerned tribal literature societies at their own expenses, said Gangmei. (NNN)