Sir,
This has reference to the writeup ‘Dogri can be saved’ (DE, Dec 22, 2018). There is no doubt that Dogri, the mother tongue of majority of the people of Jammu province, is losing ground with each passing day despite efforts by the government and some other organisations to promote this sweet language. Dogri has now been included in the 8th Schedule and it has literature which can match any other language in terms of richness, variety and volume of output.
We need to promote Dogri because it is not just the means of communication but it is also the repository of Dogra culture and heritage. We have our folklores, folksongs in Dogri which bind all the Dogras together into a single whole. But this sweet language is losing charm and importance with the young generation due to various reasons such as globalisation, modernisation, etc.
Children prefer to speak other languages such as Hindi and English in schools , colleges and universities as they have pressure from the School authorities and from the career point of view. The so called ‘English medium schools’ encourage them to speak English on the campus and elsewhere to brighten their prospects for career in Civil Services and other areas.But it must be remembered that the eclipse of Dogri means delinking of our rich Dogri culture. Though the Government has introduced this language at Hr Sec level, it cannot be promoted unless parents encourage their children to speak it at home. But it is a tragedy that the children of even the stalwarts of Dogri prefer to converse in Hindi or English at home.
The children need to be taught and encouraged to converse in Dogri at home and learn Hindi and English as well because learning one language helps in learning the other.
This language needs to be introduced at each level and sufficient number of teachers recruited. There is also need to start newspapers and magazines in Dogri and conducting debates, symposia on history, literature, folklores, folksongs etc of Dogri. Anchoring functions and programmes in Dogri, getting invitation cards for various functions printed in Dogri, inviting Dogri artists to various functions such as marriages, Mundans etc are other small ways through which we can promote Dogri and tell our children that Dogri has a richness and sweetness of its own and it is not a matter to be ashamed of to speak Dogri at home and elsewhere. This language is our identity and in losing this language, we will be endangering our own identity.
Ashok Sharma,
Udhampur.
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