Editor,
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday pitched for preserving local languages, saying when a language dies, culture, traditions and customs associated with it are also lost. His statement comes at atime when Hindi is being pushed for the acceptance as the national language.
Truly, language is the lifeline of culture, tradition and customs of people living in a region and the best way to preserve or promote any language is to use it extensively in everyday life. The Vice President exhorted people to preserve their languages and said, “More and more people should start using their native languages at home, in the community, in meetings and in administration.” He further added, “In my opinion, promotion of mother tongue should begin at the primary school level. I have been advising all state governments to make their mother tongue mandatory up to primary school.”
As every potter praises his pot, a local language is so important to its region. It reflects everything of the ethos of the people.But the recent proposal of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to promote Hindi as the national language had already kicked up a controversy as his proposal; ‘one nation and one language’ would slowly kill the non-Hindi regional languages. India is like a continent having several religions and languages with diverse cultures and climates. Yet in these diversities, we find absolute unity and harmony, which have been marvelled by other countries.
While upholding our local language, a lingua franca is needed to interact with others who are not accustomed to our native language. There are three languages available for the nation to pick from-Hindi, Sanskrit or English. In my opinion, English can be adopted as the lingua franca for the nation considering so many advantages it has over the other languages. We can accept it more comfortably like many of the African countries have adopted and also like different states in the north east of India have adopted.
Yours etc.,
TK Nandanan,
Via email
Home fires!
Editor,
I have been here in the UK for over three months now and, thanks to the on line edition of the Shillong Times, I was able to get all the home news daily – an efficient service. Thank you very much.
Yours etc.,
D M Pariat,
Manchester
Railways get environment friendly
Editor,
It’s really great to know that the railways are planning elaborately to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of the father of the nation ,Mahatma Gandhiji,in a magnificent and befitting manner. The Central railways will be ready with many of its locomotives featuring pictures of Mahatma Gandhi on them. The painting work has been going on in the locomotive workshops and very soon locomotives with Gandhijis pictures will be on the track’s.
The Railways have already announced to stop using single-use plastics on their trains from October 2 and have decided to use kulhads to cater tea and snacks at railway stations. The national public transporter is also ready with initiatives like provision of bottle crushing machines, cleanliness of railway stations and it’s train premises, tree plantation and development of 150 track side nurseries. The railways must also adhere to one of the greatest value that the Mahatma taught the world- punctuality!
M PRADYU
KANNUR
Mercy is meaningful
Editor,
The landmark judgment pronounced by the High Court of Tripura banning the centuries old tradition of sacrificing animals/birds for rituals in religious places, following the Public Interest Litigation filed by former District Judge Subhash Bhattacharjee, is highly appreciable. Few people are sacrificing animals/birds in the name of devotion to appease the Gods. Humans are largely spiritual beings who always prefers to follow different ways to impress their God and secure blessings, hoping such can help them to lead a wonderful life according their wishes. But practicing of inhuman traditions to appease the Almighty is unacceptable in a civilized society .
Owing to unending desires and unsavory nature, humans are always dissatisfied with their lives and such dissatisfaction encourages them to follow unscientific beliefs, which are undoubtedly foolish. Without observance of the factuality no one should follow any beliefs in the name of devotion or tradition. Unwise activities are not going to achieve boons from the Almighty. No one should follow any beliefs at the cost of humanity.
All beings are created by God with the same significance for different purposes. Each creature specializes in a particular activity and its existence is helpful for creation. All beings have the right to live on the earth until it arrives at its natural death. No one has the right to snap their lives abruptly. Raising voices against bird/animal sacrifice should not be construed as blasphemy. All religions preach kindness towards fellow beings. It is significant to remember that God cares for persons who act with goodness and humanity
Yours etc.,
Raghubabu Kondapi,
Ongole, (Andhra Pradesh),