STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The Centre has approved the Bodo Sahitya Sabha’s (BSS) four projects including the one on compilation of a multilingual dictionary.
The projects, according to the BSS leaders, will not only help in developing the Bodo language, which was included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution way back in 2003, but also boost the literary body’s move to introduce the Bodo language in government schools in neighbouring West Bengal.
An office bearer of BSS also said a multilingual dictionary would be published in Bodo, Hindi, Bengali and English languages. He added that through the other three projects, the Bodo Sahitya Sabha would develop three glossaries —“music and fine arts”, “library science” and “home science” in Bodo language.
BSS vice president Kamalakanta Mushahary recently met chairman of the Central Hindi Directorate and Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology, Avanish Kumar and discussed in details about the projects. During the meeting, Kumar informed Mushahary that the Central Hindi Directorate, an organization of the Central Government, has approved the four projects of Bodo Sahitya Sabha.
The BSS has prepared textbooks up to Class-III with an aim to introduce those in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling districts — where the Bodo community has a sizeable population — from the next academic session.
“We are in touch with the Bengal government. The BSS has officially opened Bodo language teaching centres in at least 50 schools in West Bengal,” the BSS office bearer said. The Bodo population in West Bengal will be around 2.5 lakh. The BSS will organize a workshop to compile the multilingual dictionary and the glossaries in New Delhi in December.