Chennai meet to focus on Telugu pride

Hyderabad, May 24: About 4,000 delegates from all over India and neighbouring Mauritius are expected to attend the all-India Telugu meet in Chennai from June 1 to 3 to focus on the problems of Telugus living outside Andhra Pradesh.

Authorities of Potti Sriramulu Telugu University are faced with complaints from neighbouring States like Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra on the lack of textbooks and adequate Telugu teaching staff.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Avula Manjulatha, Vice-Chancellor of the university, said the conference would have academic sessions on language, history and culture after the delegates' session on June 2.

She said there were not many problems with translations of school syllabi into Telugu in Maharashtra and Karnataka. But Telugus in Orissa were facing difficulties.

Blow to Telugus

The 1984 agreement between Andhra Pradesh and Orissa Governments to constitute House committees to deal with the language problems had not taken off, she said.

The recent order of the Tamil Nadu Government making Tamil compulsory for all students while relegating Telugu to third language had come as a blow to Telugus.

The meeting in Chennai would be used to explore solutions to these problems, she said, apart from discussing the status of Telugu in the backdrop of globalisation.Folk art forms of Telugus and `Astavadhanam' would be staged. Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy will inaugurate the meeting on June 1.

Courtesy: Siasat