the Union Human Resources Development Minister, Kapil Sibal on Tuesday said that Urdu will be introduced as a subject at school-level across the country “as it is not a language of Muslims only but a language of the whole country”. He emphasized the need to create employment opportunities for those studying Urdu.
“We are making a plan to accommodate Urdu language in school syllabus all over the country. Urdu was born in Delhi but it is spoken widely in West Bengal, Ajmer, Hyderabad and Kerala. It is a part of our culture,” said Sibal.
He further said, “Urdu connects a human being with the divine. Teaching and translation is done extensively in Urdu but not much research has been done in it. We have to create employment opportunities for experts in Urdu so that more and more students get attracted to it.” The Union Minister of State for Communications and Technology, Sachin Pilot was the chief guest for the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion the Vice-Chancellor of Delhi University, Prof. Dinesh Singh who is himself proficient in Urdu and an Urdu lover, addressed the students in Urdu and the students gave three cheers for it and went applauded him.
He said he is aggrieved by the fact that as much as Urdu has a hold over him, he doesn’t have an equal hold over his beloved language. “Urdu has shown us the path of freedom during the war of independence and is above all Indian languages. Every child should learn this language,” he said.
Meanwhile on the same day the Vice President of India, M Hamid Ansari suggested implementation of the “three language formula” for the country. He said that while in the non-Hindi speaking states, students learn Hindi either as second or third language, the same was not happening in Hindi speaking states. It was indeed a rare student in the Hindi speaking states who learn other non-Hindi language, he said.
While releasing a book entitled ‘Sahastra Varson ka Telugu Sahitya’ brought out by the Andhra Pradesh Hindi Academy at a function here Ansari emphasised on the means and incentives to encourage students from Hindi speaking states to learn one of the southern languages. “A student should be able to study their mother tongue as well as the official language of their state”, he said.
Lauding the efforts of Andhra Pradesh Hindi Academy for bringing out this publication, Ansari said that such cultural and literary exchange made directly from one Indian language to another, without the inter mediation of English, would promote national integration and understanding.
