As the world observes International Mother Language Day on Sunday, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu wrote to members of Parliament, urging them to promote their respective mother tongues, along with other Indian languages.

Saying that the mother tongue is the “soul of life”, Naidu made a passionate appeal to all MPs in a three-page letter, PTI reported. In the letter, Naidu stressed on the importance of strong foundational skills developed with the mother tongue in the initial years of informal learning at home. 

The Rajya Sabha chairman also said that the mother tongue is the first window of an infant to the world, adding that evidence suggests strong literary skills in the mother tongue helps in improving academic performance and facilitates the learning of other languages. 

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International Mother Language Day is a UNESCO-recognised observance, first announced in 1999, to help promote linguistic and cultural diversity. 

“With a multiplicity of languages and a rich spectrum of dialects, we have regions which are repositories of knowledge much of which stands imperiled today. This is mainly due to a mindset of looking down upon one’s mother tongue and wearing the linguistic badge of competence in English as a false sign of superiority,” Naidu said in his letter. 

“Culture and language are the two sides of the same coin. They embody rich knowledge and practices accumulated over a long period. Extinction of a language results in the loss of precious legacy. We can’t allow this to happen.”

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The vice president stressed on the need for promoting native languages for preserving the country’s rich cultural diversity.

“We take pride in India being a mosaic of several languages and cultures epitomising unity in diversity. This applies to the world as well, which is emerging as a global village. The richness of our diverse cultures can only be preserved through promotion of mother languages,” he wrote.

Noting that learning more languages is useful as it offers more windows to the world besides enabling cross cultural understanding, peace and harmony, Naidu stressed that “it can’t be achieved without a strong foundation in one’s own first language. Mother tongue is the soul of life”.

Naidu called upon each MP to be an active facilitator in promoting native languages in the large areas they represent and to start with by taking up appropriate communication and outreach programmes on the occasion of ‘International Mother Language Day’ by drawing inspiration from the motto of “Let us love and promote mother tongue”.

“I request you to be an active facilitator in promoting native languages in the large area you represent in the Parliament. Given your standing among the people you represent, your efforts could give a fillip to the promotion of Indian languages.

“I sincerely hope that you would agree with me on the need for preservation and promotion of all Indian languages and do whatever is possible to enrich them,” he told the MPs in his letter.

Naidu also informed the MPs that about 200 Indian languages are facing extinction and the UNO has expressed concern over one world language becoming extinct every two weeks.