नवीनतम
English, not Indian Languages are competitors of Hindi: Pokhriyal
BHOPAL [Maha Media]: Former union education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has said that it is English language that is giving tough competition to Hindi, and not regional languages. “We have to understand this,” he says.
Pokhriyal was speaking on Friday - the second day of the four-day literature festival ‘Vishwarang 2023,’ at Rabindranath Tagore University in the city. He was present as chief guest and inaugurated the event formally.
Among the special guests on the stage were Radhavallabh Tripathi, former Vice Chancellor of Central Sanskrit University and Atul Kothari, National Secretary of Education Culture Upliftment Trust. Other guests included Madhuri Ramdhari, General Secretary of Vishwa Hindi Secretariat, Mauritius, Anil Joshi, member of the global Hindi family, Santosh Choubey, Chancellor of Rabindranath Tagore University and Director of Vishwarang, Siddharth Chaturvedi, Co-Director of Vishwarang, Liladhar Mandloi and Mukesh Verma. The function was coordinated by Vinay Upadhyay, director of Tagore Vishwakala Kendra.
“If you want to change the country then change education. If education is to be changed then language will have to be restored. There are many challenges in this,” Atul Kothari said. Choubey informed about the concept of Vishwarang.
Besides, Vishwarang Samman was held. Dhananjay Verma was feted for Hindi whereas Janaki Prasad Sharma for Urdu, Manoranjan Byopari for Bengali, Vasant Aba Dahake for Marathi, Sujata Chaudhary for Oriya/English, Prof. Kolakpuri Enak was awarded for Telugu, and Mahadev Toppo for Hindi and Kudukh language. Hindi Report, Vishwarang Catalog and Vishwarang Magazine were inaugurated by the guests. The guests also inaugurated the International Hindi Center set up on the premises of Tagore World Art Centre.
The event started with Mangalacharan in which Sakshi Shivlekar performed devotional music on Mohan Veena. She presented ‘Vaishnav Jan To… ‘Ekla Chalo Re…,’ and ‘Payo Ji Maine Ram Ratan Dhan Payo…’. She ended her performance with raga Ahir Bhairav. Ramendra Singh Solanki accompanied her on the tabla.
The main ideological session of the Bhasha Utsav was on the topic “Our Linguistic Diversity – Our Strength” in which renowned writer and thinker Pawan Verma was present as the keynote speaker. Anil Sharma Joshi also participated as a speaker.
Verma said that India comes second in the world in terms of the number of languages. “There are 740 languages in our country. Whereas, Papua New Guinea is a smaller country than us where 840 languages are spoken. These languages have emerged over thousands of years. Crores of people speak them. We should be proud of our linguistic heritage,” he said, adding that “there is no doubt that Hindi is the most widely spoken language which is not limited to India. Rather, it is a growing language which is rapidly expanding around the world. Language is a subject which we should build as our strength in a sensitive manner.” Anil Sharma Joshi said that we should not underestimate Hindi in any matter.
Besides, traditional and famous Manganiyar folk music of Rajasthan was presented in the evening session under Purvarang. He started off with a song ‘Kesariya balam padharo mahre desh..,’ followed by the singing of Gaurbandh. Child artistes Rahul and Bhura Khan presented the song Hase To Meethon Laage. The main attraction was the 17-stringed instrument Kamayacha which was being played by Bhuguda Khan. Also, Bhutte Khan was coordinating the entire group and Nehru Khan was accompanying him as a singer. Sakhi Khan was accompanying on harmonium and Joga Khan on dholak. Jesa Khan was playing Khadtal, a traditional folk instru
Taal Kachari was presented by Pandit Akhilesh Gundecha and his group Madhya Lay. The group is a collective band of renowned young artists mainly from Madhya Pradesh, which was started 12 years ago. The artists started off with worshipping the 12 Jyotirlingas of Mahakal. Thereafter, two Bandishes were presented in Raga Jog. They concluded with ‘Ekla Chalo Re..’. Akhilesh Gundecha on vocal, Anoop Singh Borlia on side rhythm, Anirudh Joshi on sitar, Ramendra Singh Solanki on tabla and Pandit Santosh Sant on flute were accompanying artists.
