Planning 25,000-strong rally in Delhi on July 27, leaders step up pressure on Modi govt to "recognize" Rajasthani

Dharna in Delhi in support of the demand

By Our Representative
In a sharp effort to step pressure on the Narendra Modi government, protagonists of those seeking to insert Rajasthani language in the eighth schedule of the Constitution have decided to hold a 25,000-strong rally on July 27 in Delhi in favour of their 12-year-old demand. To gather support from the Rajasthani community all over India for the proposed rally, the organizers of the rally began a yatra in Mumbai, reaching Ahmedabad on July 20.
“Before reaching Ahmedabad, we have already held meetings with Rajasthani community people at Vapi, Surat, Ankaleshwar and Vadodara”, said a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Rajasthani Bhasha Manyata Sangharsh Samiti, formed to campaign for the official recognition of Rajasthani as a medium of instruction for those willing to study in the mother tongue. “From Ahmedabad, we propose to go to Udaipur, Jodhpur and Bikaner, before reaching Delhi.”
Sources said, Union home minister Rajnath Singh has already “agreed” in principle to include Rajasthani in the eighth schedule. If earlier samiti members met him, how samiti members led by chairman of Prof Rajendra Barhat and vice-chairman Vijay Kumar Jain have decided to meet Modi to press for their demand to come up with a during the monsoon session of Parliament.
The reason for gathering support from Gujarat, samiti sources say, is particularly important, as there is a “huge cultural affinity” between Rajasthan and Gujarat. Besides, there a large Rajasthani community presence in several of the Gujarat towns. In Ahmedabad alone, there are an estimated 6 lakh Rajasthanis, which comes to around 10 per cent of the city’s population.
The plea to include Rajasthani in the eighth schedule of found resounding support of in 2003, when the state assembly passed a unanimous resolution in its favour and sent it to Delhi for consideration. “Ever since then, the issue is under examination. While both, ex-UPA and present NDA government have agreed in principle to the demand, strangely, things have failed to move”, says LN Patel, an Ahmedabad-based chartered accountant who hails from Jodhpur.
On May 5, the samiti held a well-attended dharna in Delhi in favour of its demand. Meanwhile, the view has gone strong among Rajasthan policy makers that, following the Andhra Pradesh and Odisha pattern of mother tongue based (MTB) multilingual education, people in Rajasthan should learn to read and write in their local dialect, as it would “help curb dropout rates, especially among girls, which is one of the highest in India.”
Awaiting a nod from Delhi, the Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan has allowed introduction of Rajasthani in schools in Udaipur, Dungarpur and Banswara districts, where children of class one will be given lessons in local dialects of Rajasthani. While Mewari will be the medium of teaching for students in Udaipur, teachers will communicate in Wagri with the scholars in the other two districts, according to a report.
Says Dr Surendra Singh Pokharna, a former scientist at ISRO, one reason why Rajasthani has not been included in the eighth schedule is a “misconception” in the officialdom that it is “only a group of dialects and there is no language as such”. He added, “The truth is just the opposite. The number of dialects of some of the Indian languages recognised by the Constitution is Hindi (43), Tamil (22), Telgu (36), Kannada (32), Marathi (65), Gujarati (27), Bengali (15), Konkani (16) and Punjabi (29). Larger the number of dialects, richer is the language.”
“Denying children education in their mother tongue may lead to intellectual damage which block learning process in children," says Dr Gayatri Tiwari, an expert in human behavior and family relations."Research has shown that children do better when they are taught in their mother tongue.”
Apart from Rajasthani, the demand has been pending to insert Bhojpuri, too, the eighth schedule of the Constitution, making it an officially recognized language. It finds support from influential quarters in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, as well as people’s representatives from the two states. Currently, there are 22 languages which have received such official recognition.

Comments

Importance of Bangladesh for India amidst 'growing might' of China in South Asia

By Samara Ashrat* The basic key factor behind the geopolitical importance of Bangladesh is its geographical location. The country shares land borders with Myanmar and India. Due to its geographical position, Bangladesh is a natural link between South Asia and Southeast Asia. The country is also a vital geopolitical ally to India, in that it has the potential to facilitate greater integration between Northeast India and Mainland India. Not only that, due to its open access to the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has become significant to both China and the US.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

'BBC film shows only tip of iceberg': Sanjiv Bhatt's daughter speaks at top US press club

By Our Representative The United States' premier journalists' organisation, the National Press Club (NPC), has come down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recent "attacks on journalists in India." Speaking at the screening of an episode of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question,” banned in India, in the club premises, NPC President Eileen O’Reilly said, “Since Modi came to power we have watched with frustration and disappointment as his regime has suppressed the rights of its citizens to a free and independent news media."

Chinese pressure? Left stateless, Rohingya crisis result of Myanmar citizenship law

By Dr Shakuntala Bhabani* A 22-member team of Myanmar immigration officials visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar to verify more than 400 Rohingya refugees as part of a pilot repatriation project. Does it hold out any hope for the forcibly displaced people to return to their ancestral homes in the Rakhine state of Myanmar? Only time will tell.

China ties up with India, Bangladesh to repatriate Rohingyas; Myanmar unwilling

By Harunur Rasid* We now have a new hope, thanks to news reports that were published in the Bangladeshi dailies recently. Myanmar has suddenly taken initiatives to repatriate Rohingyas. As part of this initiative, diplomats from eight countries posted in Yangon were flown to Rakhine last week. Among them were diplomats from Bangladesh, India and China.

Over-stressed? As Naveen Patnaik turns frail, Odisha 'moves closer' to leadership crisis

By Sudhansu R Das Not a single leader in Odisha is visible in the horizon who can replace Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He has ruled Odisha for nearly two and half decades. His father, Biju Patnaik, had built Odisha; he was a daring pilot who saved the life of Indonesia’s Prime Minister Sjahrir and President Sukarno when the Dutch army blocked their exit.

Natural farming: Hamirpur leads the way to 'huge improvement' in nutrition, livelihood

By Bharat Dogra* Santosh is a dedicated farmer who along with his wife Chunni Devi worked very hard in recent months to convert a small patch of unproductive land into a lush green, multi-layer vegetable garden. This has ensured year-round supply of organically grown vegetables to his family as well as fetched several thousand rupees in cash sales.

Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Ban Ki-moon, others ask Bangladesh PM to 'protect' Yunus

Counterview Desk A campaign has been launched to support Bangladesh-based economist, micro-finance guru and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, seeking signatures from citizens across the globe in order to “protect” his work, life and safety.

Electricity sharing opens up new window for India’s eastern neighbourhood engagement

By Sufian Asif* Today, challenges like climate change, pandemics, energy reliance, economic crisis, and many more are concerning us. No nation can overcome these obstacles without the assistance and collaboration of other nations. Most importantly, many of these problems have international repercussions. South Asia is facing much more difficulty when compared to other regions. In South Asia, we have some regional organizations, but they are ineffective.

Search This Blog