18 Indian languages echo at British Parliament

New Delhi : A fascinating event was organised at the House of Lords of British Parliament recently where 18 different languages of India, including Nepali were presented. Marking the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, the programme was organised by UK’s arts charity Sanskruti Centre for Cultural Excellence in association with All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Modern Languages and Chartered Institute of Linguists.

Parliamentary host Baroness Garden of Frognal spoke on the significance of languages and commended the organisers for conceiving the meaningful content. Poems, mostly self-authored by the diaspora members living in the UK, were presented in Telugu, Sanskrit, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Dogri, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Odiya, Punjabi, Sindhi and Nepali. Scripts such as Takri, Sharda, and Mithilakshar were highlighted. Founder of Sanskruti Centre, Hyderabad-born Ragasudha Vinjamuri spoke on endangered languages and mentioned about Tai Khamti language of Arunachal Pradesh, which is on the verge of decline. She has underscored the efforts of NGOs like Tai Khamti Heritage and Literature Society in language preservation.

Poems in respective mother tongues were presented by not only writers, but also doctors, Councillors, university educators, members of the British armed forces, Chartered Accountants, Artists, and IT professionals.

Dr Nandita Sahu, Attache (Hindi and Culture) from the High Commission of India has given concluding remarks. In attendance were Prof. Terry Lamb (Professor of Languages) and Philip Harding-Esch (Secretariat, APPG- Modern Languages).