Bodo Sahitya Sabha-ASCOSYS signs MoU on preservation of culture

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: For widespread dissemination and establishment of the Bodo language as a technical language the Bodo Sahitya Sabha (BSS) signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with ASCOSYS so as to save the culture, heritage and identity of the community.

Addressing mediapersons and others present in the MoU signing ceremony Bodo Sahitya Sabha general secretary Prasanta Bodo said that the MoU has been signed with a view to developing a systematic e-book project so that the Bodo and non- Bodo people can have a easy access to know and learn the language. He said that “through this e-Thunlai project we’ll try to make it easily understandable in a conversational manner by not keeping books just in the form of a book or a piece of literature. Besides allowing the Bodos to learn Assamese and English through technology, this project will also allow the people to learn the Bodo language. We’re trying to provide a medium to interested people outside the state to learn the language. We hope to establish the language at the international level”. He further said that the BSS will look into technically skilled manpower while ASCOSYS will help them with their technology".

Commenting on the necessity of taking interventions for the preservation of one’s own language, ASCOSYS director Mondeep Sarma said “The e-Thunlai project is an effort towards preserving the Bodo language through digitalization so as to make the language easily available to the interested one. We’ve witnessed that half of the world’s 7,000 languages are on the brink of extinction. Over 400 languages were lost over the last 100 years and approximately 50%- 90% of the existing languages are likely to disappear in the next century. However, the extinction of language is more than what we think, as with the end of a language the entire culture of a particular community also disappears. The e-Thunlai project includes some initiatives like developing an application in order make the language available on fingertip.”

Speaking on the occasion Professor Pran Hari Talukdar said that the technology will definitely play a role in the development of the Bodo language. “However, we need to be cautious to ascertain that such a move does not affect the creativity of language and literature in the name of development of technology,” Talukdar added.

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