Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh): Academic excellence in Hindi and other vernaculars cannot come without having adequate standard reference books, textbooks, research publications, and teachers and researchers with excellent abilities to engage in these languages. Unfortunately, today we are lacking on all these fronts and therefore a complete overhaul of the system is needed so that the instruments, ecosystem and culture of communication in the mother tongue are developed.

Professor AK Verma, Director of the Center for Society and Politics Studies, Kanpur, stated this in his address as a keynote speaker at a webinar – “Relevance of Mother Tongue in Science Research Social Sciences” organized by the Madhya Pradesh Social Science Research Institute (MPISSR). The webinar was organized on the occasion of Matrubhasha Diwas on Monday, as part of the “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav” series of programs.

Hw went on to add that we are all aware of linguistic imperialism and the fact that we are at 46th position in the Global Innovation Index should be cause for concern for all of us. It is very important to do research in the native language and of course originality of thought can come out better in the native language. Language has the ability to act as an interface between researchers and society, both psychologically and emotionally and therefore the mother tongue has a vital role to play, he said.

Another key speaker was Professor Shailendra Sharma, Director of the School of Hindi Studies at Vikram University. He mentioned that without knowing the local language and dialect, social science field research cannot do enough justice. He gave several examples of fieldwork related to tribal issues and the huge role of language in them. He emphasized documentation of folklore to understand history and also for social and cultural dimensions. Language has a huge role in social and cultural integration, he said. NEP-2020 has emphasized maximum use of Hindi and other vernaculars hopefully this will yield the desired results.

The program was chaired by the Chairman of MPISSR, Dr. Gopal Krishna Sharma. He said that effective communication should be the prerequisite for social science research in which the mother tongue is of paramount importance.

At the start of the program, the Director of MPISSR, Prof. Yatindra Singh Sisodia delivered the welcome speech and also emphasized the importance of conducting social science research in the mother tongue.

He also gave a general overview of the sorry state of quality work in Hindi and other vernaculars at present and expressed the need to revamp the script completely in light of NEP 2020. The program was coordinated by Dr Shailendra Parashar and Dr Tapas Kumar Dalpati. offered a vote of thanks.

Posted: Tuesday, February 22, 2022, 9:04 AM IST