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You are here: <span> <a href="http://www.deccanherald.com/">Home</a> » <a href="http://www.deccanherald.com/contents/73/city.html">City</a> » Conference calls for fight against Hindi imposition</span>
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<h1>Conference calls for fight against Hindi imposition</h1>
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DH News Service, Bengaluru, Feb 20 2018, 1:57 IST
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<div class="gmail-brTOpStyle"><p class="gmail-title" align="justify">Representatives
of regional languages from across the country gathered under a single
platform to discuss the imposition of Hindi and find the ways to break
that hegemony.</p> <p class="gmail-bodytext" align="justify">The two-day
conference organised by the Campaign for Language Equality Rights
(CLEAR) in association with pro-Kannada group Banavasi Balaga saw the
participation of speakers from several states.</p> <p class="gmail-bodytext" align="justify">Garga Chatterjee from Kolkata said the imposition of Hindi and English had led to the marginalisation of regional languages.</p> <p class="gmail-bodytext" align="justify">"Punjab
National Bank doesn't use Punjabi in the branches located in home
state...the safety instructions on Bengaluru-Chennai flights are given
in Hindi... applications for passports will not be accepted unless they
are in Hindi or English although the United States accepts visa
applications in Bengali were some of the issues raised during the
conference," he explained.</p> <p class="gmail-bodytext" align="justify">Delivering
a talk on 'Language Policy in India and its Consequences', Chatterjee
said the idea of democracy, which is supposed to recognise the
aspirations of the people, had been eroded due to the flawed language
policies. "People are forced to conduct their businesses in languages
they don't understand. This includes even the judiciary," he added.</p> <p class="gmail-bodytext" align="justify">Noting
that information can be obtained in Tamil in London, he said seven
decades of independence had not provided any relief to people of the
country.</p> <p class="gmail-bodytext" align="justify">The two-day event will
feature 30 sessions, giving time for speakers from local languages,
ranging from Tulu, Beary to Bhojpuri, Sourashtra and Assamese.</p> </div></div></section></div></div></div></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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