NEW DELHI: AMID the ongoing language row, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday emphasised the need to nurture every language. “Should there be a confrontational stance on language in Bharat? We have to nurture every language.”
During a virtual interaction with students of IIT Hyderabad, Dhankhar stated that India is a land of rich languages—Sanskrit, Bangla, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and many others. Even in Parliament, simultaneous translation occurs in 22 languages.
He also referred to the recent conferral of classical language status on some languages as a proud moment. As languages have a global reach, every language should be nurtured. They are a gold mine of literature, and these literary works are filled with knowledge and wisdom—Vedas, Puranas, the epics Ramayana, Mahabharata, and the Gita, he added.
The Vice-President also ideated for the formation of a confederation of alumni associations from institutes of excellence. Underlining the importance of alumni associations, he said, “Look at global universities and their endowment funds, billions of US dollars. I had the opportunity to see the figures.
The top list is approaching 50 billion dollars. Why don’t we have this? We have alumni. Let our alumni contribute to the corpus. The amount doesn’t matter; it’s the spirit of contribution that will foster a connection with the institute.”
He shared an idea with IIT Hyderabad’s students: “I have proposed an idea. We have institutes of excellence—such as IITs, and others. Their alumni associations should form a confederation, which will become a top global benchmark think tank for policymakers.”
Urging the corporate sector to invest in research and innovation, the Vice-President said, “Firstly, our corporates. I am not critical, just a critique. They must invest in research—invest in research for development and innovation.”