Bhubaneswar, Aug 9 (PTI) Nearly 40 per cent of the world’s 7,000 languages including dialects spoken by indigenous people groups have already disappeared and several others are on the verge of getting extinct, experts said on Wednesday. The world is facing the danger of losing its languages several of which are listed as endangered and loss of languages equates to loss of culture, said Dr K Sreenivasarao, Secretary of the Sahitya Akademi.
He was addressing the inaugural programme of the All India Tribal Writers’ Meet at Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA), a private university, here organised to mark the International Day of World’s Indigenous People celebrated on August 9.
The two-day conference, which has attracted around 70 tribal writers from different parts of the country, was organised by the Sahitya Akademi in collaboration with the Centre for Preservation, Propagation and Restoration of Ancient Culture and Heritage of India (PPRACHIN), the conservation arm of SOA.
Affirming that these indigenous groups were the repository of the world’s culture, Sreenivasarao said, “If we don’t care now, we will lose the culture and the associated ancient knowledge system which these communities possessed.”
The Sahitya Akademi, he said, was engaged in translation and publication of tribal literature into English and other Indian languages.
Haladhar Nag, writer and Padmashree awardee, who addressed the inaugural session in his native ‘Koshali’ language, said he had studied up to class three but was able to delve into the world of literature.
“My writings are rooted to the soil where I live,” he said.
Nag’s writings have been translated into a number of languages abroad became part of the curriculum in several universities.
Prof Jagannath Das, who delivered the keynote address, said the tribal people, unlike those influenced by modernity, don’t drift away from their culture.
“Tribal people are inexorably linked to nature like hills, rivers and streams and express their feelings from the heart. We need to listen to their poetry and appreciate it,” he said.
Dr Gourahari Das appreciated the decision of Sahitya Akademi and PPRACHIN to hold the tribal writers’ conclave describing it as an important venture while underscoring the need for documentation of tribal literature.
Convenor of Sahitya Akademi’s Santhali Advisory Board Chaitanya Prasad Majhi said around 40 per cent of the world’s 7,000 languages had already become extinct while calling for urgent steps to arrest this trend.
He said UNESCO had declared the years between 2022 to 2032 as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages for their protection and propagation.
Eminent writer and Head of PPRACHIN, Dr Gayatribala Panda said it was necessary to preserve the valuable components of tribal culture and that of tribal folklore in a systematic manner before they became extinct.
Prof Pradipta Kumar Nanda, Vice-Chancellor of SOA, presided over the programme.