Telugu Implementation

TTD gets a pat for Telugu implementation

State Official Language Commission chief reviews process

RAPT ATTENTION: Chairman of Official Language Commission A.B.K. Prasad addressing a meeting on implementation of Telugu in TTD administration in Tirupati on Thursday.

TIRUPATI: The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) management has got a pat on its back on implementation of Telugu in its day-to-day administration from none other than ABK Prasad, a veteran journalist and the chairman of State Official Language Commission.

At a meeting on `Telugu implementation,' organised at the TTD's SV Employees Training Academy (SVETA) premises here on Thursday, Mr. Prasad went to the extent of heaping laurels on the TTD management for faring better than the Secretariat in this regard.

Mr. Prasad appealed to the Telugus to express love towards their mother tongue by thinking beyond using it merely in official communication.

The Government would strive to give a fillip by using the language extensively from the secretariat to the village level.

"If we do not have affection on our mother language, the entire Telugu-speaking community will be washed away by the onslaught of information technology," he warned. The TTD Executive Officer, A.P.V. Narayana Sharma, explained how a language would reflect the identity of a tribe and the need to retain one's distinctiveness by collective effort. Lamenting that Telugu was being used in the Government setup only as a duty and not out of affection, the Joint Executive Officer, N. Muktheswara Rao, stressed on the need to speak the people's language in a democracy. SVETA Director, Bhuman, elaborated on how training modules were designed in Telugu in order to effectively drive home the point into the minds of the 16,000 plus employees working in the TTD. Mr. Prasad also released a handy booklet `Kaaryalaya Padaavali' brought out by the TTD.

At another meeting conducted with senior officials, Mr. Prasad reviewed the implementation of Telugu in the TTD administration.

Courtesy: The Hindu

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Delay in official language status to Telugu flayed

Tirupati, July 21: The State Official Languages Commission chairman, Mr A.B.K. Prasad, took objection to the delay in awardin-g official language status to Telugu, 50 years after statehood to Andhra Pradesh. Speaking during a training programme for TTD empl-oyees here on Thursday, he said that all other States in the south were well ahead of the State in implementing the local language as official language. “We are yet to find suitable alternatives in Telugu for several English words,” Mr Prasad said, expressing concern over the grip of English language on people of the State. He said that he felt immensely happy when he found all boards in Kannada during his recent visit to Mysore. He had a word of praise for Kannadigas while referring to the invention of the name Gagana Sakhi for the term, air hostess. Mr Prasad alleged the role of some vested interests such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, besides other such instituti-ons against the introduction of Telugu as the official language. He said that Mr Edward Nexin of US had revealed this in his book. Pointing to the disappearance of 3,500 languages of the 6,000 languages in the world, he felt the need to protect the local language from the brink of disappearance. He stressed the need to give priority to the mother tongue before giving importance to other languages. He pointed to a proposal to organise Telugu Bhasha Day on February 22, referring to a suggestion by Un-esco. TTD executive officer Mr A.P.V.N. Sharma said that they had no objection to implement Telugu as off-icial language in the TTD. Indicating to the use of Hindi, Tamil and English, he reminded that it was being done in the interest of lakhs of devotees coming from various States. TTD JEO Mr Muktheswar Rao, and others were present. Courtesy: Deccan Chronicle