"Work should be done towards digitisation of Uttarakhand's dialects, folk tales, folk songs and literature": CM Pushkar Singh Dhami

He proposed creating an e-library to store and showcase Uttarakhand's folk literature, developing audio-visuals based on folk tales, organising weekly competitions in schools to promote local dialects and hosting a large-scale festival to celebrate Uttarakhand's language and literature.

The Chief Minister said, "Work should be done towards digitization of Uttarakhand's dialects, folk tales, folk songs and literature. For this, an e-library should be created. Along with increasing the collection based on folk tales, audio visuals should also be made on them."

Dhami further stressed that competitions, based on local dialect language should be organised once a week in schools, including creating a linguistic map of Uttarakhand's dialects.

"A festival of Uttarakhand language and literature should be organised on a large scale, in which litterateurs from all over the country should be invited," the chief minister further added. "A linguistic map of the dialects of Uttarakhand should be made."

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami was speaking during the general assembly and management executive committee meeting of Uttarakhand Bhasha Sansthan in the secretariat. The Chief Minister also appealed to the people of the state to promote the use of books.

In the meeting, it was decided that the amount of Uttarakhand Sahitya Gaurav Samman will be increased from 5 lakhs to 5.51 lakhs.

The state government will also award long-term literary service award, the award money of which will amount to Rs 5 lakhs. A young writer competition will be organized to encourage young writers towards the official language, Hindi.

Young writers of two age groups 18 to 24 and 25 to 35 will be included in it. Along with arranging mobile libraries in remote areas of the state, it was agreed to take the help of big publishers to provide books and literature related to various subjects to the readers. The Bhasha Sansthan will work towards promoting local dialects by preparing short videos to increase the interest of children towards folk languages.

Uttarakhand Bhasha Sansthan will compile the complete literature of renowned playwright 'Govind Ballabh Pant', compile the literature of Uttarakhand's writers published in various newspapers and magazines of India 50 to 100 years ago and conduct research projects for the preservation and study of Uttarakhand's high Himalayan and tribal languages. Two Sahitya Grams will be built in the state for literary creation amidst nature, seminars and discussions among writers.

Language Minister Subodh Uniyal said that in the last three years, many new initiatives have been taken by the Bhasha Sansthan in Uttarakhand. Along with the preservation and promotion of languages, rapid efforts are being made to promote local dialects. Many awards are being given by the state government to encourage people in the direction of language. (ANI)