By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: The Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing his 114th Episode of ‘Mann Ki Baat’ on Sunday, advocated for promotion of ‘Santhali’ language, highlights Shriman Ramjeet Tudu, resident of Mayurbhanj in Odisha, who is running a campaign to create an online identity of the Santhali language.
‘My dear friends, if I ask you which language a child learns most easily and quickly – your answer will be ‘mother tongue’. In our country almost twenty thousand languages and dialects are there and each one of them is surely a mother tongue of someone or the other,” PM Modi said.
PM Modi said “ there are some languages which are used by very few people, but you will be happy to know that today, unique efforts are being made to preserve those languages. One such language is our ‘Santhali’ language. A campaign has been started to give a new identity to Santhali with the help of digital innovation. ‘Santhali’ is spoken by the people of the Santhal tribal community residing in many states of our country”.
“Apart from India, tribal communities speaking Santhali are also present in Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. Shriman Ramjeet Tudu, resident of Mayurbhanj, Odisha is running a campaign to create an online identity of the Santhali language. Ramjeet ji has prepared a digital platform where literature related to the Santhali language can be read and written in Santhali language,” he said.
‘Actually, a few years ago when Ramjit ji started using the mobile phone, he was saddened by the fact that he could not send messages in his mother tongue. After that, he started exploring the possibilities of typing ‘Ol Chiki’, script of the Santhali language. With the help of some of his friends, he developed the technique of typing in ‘Ol Chiki’. Today, due to his efforts, articles written in Santhali language are reaching millions of people,” he added.
