Miles to go before she rests on laurels

Avula Manjulatha has given a fillip to many projects as head of Potti Sriramulu Telugu Vishwavidyalayam.

VISIONARY Manjulatha has many initiatives to her credit

She has been in office for barely six months and has already made an impact. From the time ఆవుల మంజులత (Avula Manjulatha) took over the reins of పొట్టి శ్రీరాములు తెలుగు విశ్వవిద్యాలయం (Potti Sriramulu Telugu Vishwavidyalayam) as its Vice Chancellor, there has been vibrant activity, be it in honouring artists and scholars of the state, expansion plans, distance education, digitalisation programme or proposing a national language status to Telugu language.

The Vice Chancellor comes across as an erudite, eloquent lady of letters with clear-cut objectives and realisable goals. Known to be receptive to creative suggestions, Manjulatha says, "The university was started by the late Chief Minister Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao with a specific purpose and profound vision, which is yet to be fulfilled in real terms. There were many constraints and there still are, but we have to make a zealous effort to complete tasks that have been left midway. I would like to see myself working towards certain goals that would further enhance the status of this university."

What are her contributions so far? "They are still in the nascent stage. We are now equipped to start online courses in Kuchipudi and Telugu for the NRIs. The state government has given its nod. In the next academic year, we are planning to start MCA integrated programme through distance education module. There is a need for a full-fledged Telugu dictionary (nigantuvu) and basic dictionaries that will help non-Telugus learning the language at our department," she says.

Manjulatha also emphasises the need to complete the unfinished documentation of varied folklores under the Janapada Peetam in a phased, district-wise manner so that the data can be stored on CDs. "Resource crunch is our main hassle, as our infrastructure expansion plans are moving at snail's pace. The government has sanctioned one crore towards building fund for the Bachupalli campus. The rest of the amount will be released in due course of time to complete the administrative block. We also have to strengthen our faculty, especially in the crucial departments of dance and music, so that our research does not suffer," she adds.

Manjulatha has also given an impetus to the drive of securing national status for Telugu at par with Tamil. The Telugu university held a conference of all political parties and public in this regard.

"This was proposed long ago by scholars like Acharya Narayana Reddy. We have stepped in now to give the required thrust. At the conference, non-resident Indian organisations like TANA and ATA expressed their solidarity towards the cause.

"Telugu is an ancient Dravidian language and not a derivative of Sanskrit as is believed. Historical facts suggest that Telugu is not less than 2,500 years old. Telugu, along with Konda and Koya, is hailed as the middle Dravidian language. Literature flourished even before Nannayya. We also propose to ask for an official language status for Telugu. A random state-wide survey and representation is still in the offing, which would strengthen our plea."

Here is a woman of substance whose by-words are progress and success. And going by her scholarship and judgement, it looks like realisation of dreams is not far off.

R.K.

Courtesy: The Hindu

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