Andhra Pradesh - Tirupati   

Telugu losing its rightful place: litterateurs

–Photo: K. V. Poornachandra Kumar

Crusaders:Telugu litterateurs participating in a programme organised by Telugu Bhasha Parirakshana Vedika in Tirupati on Sunday.

TIRUPATI: Eminent Telugu litterateurs who converged here under the banner of the ‘Telugu Bhasha Parirakshana Samithi' have expressed deep anguish about the way the Telugu language and culture as a whole was losing its rightful place in the society and space in the administrative set up. They attributed it to the indifferent attitude of the Telugus themselves towards their mother tongue and pledged to launch a crusade not only to resurrect the language from its present shambles but to make it a vibrant and modern medium of communication as well.

Among the Telugu zealots who expressed their strong and prolific views in this connection at the meet held at Sindhuri Park were the former Chairperson of the Official Language Commission A.B.K. Prasad (in absentia), Dr. Rachapalem Chandrasekhar Reddy Chairman of the Board of Studies, Yogi Vemana University, Dr. Kasturi Viswanadham former Assistant Director, Central India Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, Dr. Madabhushi Sampath Kumar of Madras University, G.V.S.R. Krishnamurthy Professor (retd), also of Madras University.

They regretted that the fate of Telugu which was once considered as the Italian of the East faced the danger of becoming a dead language caught as it were in the quick sands of western culture and our obsession for foreign languages.

They said that the very fact that government and the Telugu language lovers were forced to fight a losing battle to secure the status of the ‘classical language' to Telugu clearly reflected the fate of one of the most ancient and dynamic languages in contrast to the languages of the neighbouring states.

It was in this context that the Parirakshana Samiti hammered out an action plan according to which it should make the government also a stake-holder in its movement and form an umbrella organisation roping into it all like-minded persons and organisations and lead a virulent campaign not only for an effective implementation of Telugu as the official language at all levels but also to make Telugu learning mandatory at the elementary school level itself.

Permission

It should also bring pressure on the government to give permission to the candidates to write in Telugu the competitive exams being conducted by the Central and State governments.

An Executive Committee of the Samithi has been constituted at the meet with the following as members: President: K.V.R. Murthy, Hon. President, Rachapalem Chandrasekhar Reddy, Vice-President: M. Venkaiah, General Secretary: Madabhushi Sampath Kumar, Secretary: Gaddipati Prabhakar Rao and Treasurer: K. Radhakrishna.

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