Mahadeep Singh Jamwal
Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going. Dogri is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about five million people in India and Pakistan, chiefly in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, but also in northern Punjab, other parts of J&K, and elsewhere. When we refer 'Dogri', we come across that Official recognition of the language has been gradual, but progressive. On 2nd August 1969, based on the unanimous recommendation of a panel of linguists, the General Council of The Sahitya Academy, Delhi recognized Dogri as an "independent modern literary language" of India, and approved for Sahitya literary awards and publishing books in this language. On 22nd December 2003, in a major milestone, Dogri was recognized as an official language of India by including it in the 8th schedule of Indian Constitution. Originally 14 languages were included in the schedule, 'Sindhi' was included by 21st amendment in 1967, 'Konkani, Manipuri, and Nepali' were included by 71st amendment in 1992, and Bodo, Dogri, Santhali and Maithali' were included by 92nd Amendment on December 22, 2003, making in all 22 languages in the eighth schedule to the constitution.
The Constitution (Ninety-second Amendment) Act, 2003, Introduced in the Lok Sabha on 18 August 2003 for amendment in 8th schedule was debated & passed by the Lok Sabha on 22 December 2003, with a formal amendment and consideration of an amendment. As per Articles 344(1) and 351 of the Indian Constitution, the eighth schedule includes the recognition of 22 languages referred to as scheduled languages and given recognition, status and official encouragement. The Government of India is under an obligation to take measures for the development of these languages. In the year 1317, Amir Khusro, the famous Hindi and Persian poet, referred to Duger (Dogri) while describing the languages and dialects of India. Dogri has an established tradition of poetry, fiction and dramatic works. Shiraza Dogri is a Dogri literary periodical issued by the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, which is a notable publisher of modern Dogri literary work, another being the Dogri Sanstha. We feel discrimination with Dogri as it does not have a dedicated state television channel yet, unlike Kashmiri (which has the Doordarshan Koshur channel, available on cable and satellite television throughout India). Even we find that out of 22 languages referred as scheduled languages only 17 languages find mention on our currency notes, two (including English which is not a scheduled language) on front side and 15 on back side arranged in alphabetical order. The left over six scheduled languages are; Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Manipuri, Santhali and Sindhi finding no mention on Indian currency notes. Whereas Kashmiri finds place on the Indian Currency Notes and missing of Dogri is discrimination with Jammu region where the Dogri language is spoken in the state. The state of Jammu & Kashmir is a multilingual state with Kashmiri, Dogri, and Ladakhi, three dominant regional languages. Kashmiri was included in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution of India from its very inception. Dogri was included in the year 2003, whereas Ladakhi is non-scheduled language.
Dogri is included in the school curriculum up to the 8th grade in school education in the Jammu region since 2002. The rules are not implemented properly. Dogri language teachers have not been appointed for teaching it. There is continuous demand for teaching Dogri as a compulsory subject at all levels in the school education in the Jammu region of the state of J&K. Earlier Dogri was taught in Ragunath Ji temple 'Pathshalla' during the reign of Maharaja Ranbir Singh (1856-1885), but after his death the practice did not remain in vogue. Then after a gap of more than sixty years in 1948, Dogri was introduced as a subject in primary classes. The teaching of Dogri was discontinued in 1953. The Jammu and Kashmir University introduced the teaching of Dogri as a subject under the title OC&MIL (Proficiency namely Tilak, high Proficiency namely Praveen and Honors namely Shriomani) in 1964, 1967 and 1969 respectively. At school level it was started in the year 1983 in 9th and 10th classes as an additional optional subject in schools of Jammu region. After a gap of about nineteen years, Dogri was introduced at primary level as a third language in 2002. It is not taught in classes 6th to 8th in the absence of clear orders. It is taught as a subject at the undergraduate levels in the colleges of Jammu region since 1987, as a subject at the MA level at the University of Jammu since 1983 and research studies are also being carried out for M.Phil and Ph.D Degrees in Dogri. In 2005, a collection of over 100 works of prose and poetry in Dogri published over the last 50 years was made accessible online at the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysore. The Department of Information Technology, Govt. of India has prepared localized software programmes and Dogri-English-Dogri Dictionaries, which were released on the 21st February, 2009 in New Delhi. In will not be fair to depart without tribute to Dogri writers awarded with the Sahitya Akademy Award for their marvelous work in the field of Dogri language. The award for Dogri language started in 1970.
Before concluding let us pledge to celebrate 22nd December as 'Dogri Inclusion Day', the day Dogri language was included in the eighth schedule of The Constitution of India on 22 December 2003 and at the same time struggle for its proper teaching in the schools and press for its printing on Indian Currency Notes, a real concern. |
