Guwahati. President Ram Nath Kovind said on Wednesday that it is the responsibility of the society and the government to promote local languages. At the same time, emphasis has been laid on promotion of local language in the National Education Policy-2020. Addressing the closing ceremony of the 61st Annual Convention of Bodo Sahitya Sabha (BSS) at Tamulpur in western Assam, the President said that the BSS has made significant contributions in the last 70 years in strengthening the Bodo language, literature and culture. Noting that so far 17 writers have been awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for their works in Bodo language. Kovind said that 10 of them have been awarded for poetry and this reflects the natural inclination towards poetry among Bodo writers.
Urging the BSS to encourage women writers, she said, “Many women are writing in different genres of Bodo literature. But it has also been observed that among the senior writers there are only two women who have been nominated by the Sahitya Akademi for original work. To keep any literature alive and relevant, participation of the younger generation is very important. Therefore, young writers should also be given special encouragement by BSS.
Kovind expressed confidence that such translated literature would give an opportunity to the readers of Bodo language to get acquainted with other Indian languages as well as world literature. The President appealed to the Assam government to make efforts to promote the Bodo language.
Kovind told the gathering that he was familiar with the Bodo language since he was a member of the Rajya Sabha. He said that Bodo language was included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister. The President said that BSS Founder-President Joy Bhadra Hagjar and General Secretary Sonaram Thosen have made commendable efforts to recognize Bodo language. He said that this gathering has also played an important role in the use of Bodo language as a medium of schooling and a place in higher education.
Kovind is the first President to attend and address the BSS meeting.
The three-day conference of BSS began on Monday and was attended by several thousand delegates from across the country and abroad. Apart from Assam, Bodo speaking people live in large numbers in Bangladesh, Nepal, Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and West Bengal.
Inspired by the Assam Sahitya Sabha, BSS was formed in 1952 for the development of literature, culture and language. The Bodos (or Boros) were once a powerful and influential caste in the Northeast. The Assam government recognized the Bodo language as an associate official language of the state in 2020 following the signing of the Bodo Peace Accord between the Centre, the Assam government and four Bodo militant organizations in January 2020.
Assam Governor Prof. Jagdish Mukhi, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, his Meghalaya and Sikkim counterpart Conrad K. Sangma and Prem Singh Tamang and dignitaries from Bangladesh and Nepal participated in the mega event of BSS.
—AnyTV News
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