Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 24: The 2-day conference on ‘Gojri language in the contemporary world’ took off here today with a galaxy of scholars and experts deliberating the future of Gojri language and culture.
Organized by Jammu & Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture & Languages to promote languages, the conference has participants from across Jammu and Kashmir.
The conference was inaugurated by Secretary to Government, Tribal Affairs Department, Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary. Writer-broadcaster, GD Tahir presented the keynote address. A large number of writers, poets and intellectuals attended the inaugural session.
Prominent participants included Salam ud Din Bajad, MK Waqar, Abdul Hamid Kasana, Ghulam Haider Badana, Javed Nizami, Mansha Khaki besides Abdul Gani Arif.
In his address, Choudhary called for collective efforts to off-set challenges confronting the Gojri language and culture. He lauded the initiatives taken by the Secretary, Cultural Academy, Bharat Singh Manhas for holistic development of regional languages and culture.
The highlight of the post-inaugural session was an illuminating theme paper on the topic of the conference presented by noted writer and broadcaster, Gulab Din Tahir.
In his paper, Tahir said that Gojri language has centuries old past with a rich treasure of literature and poetry adding that it is one of the rich languages in Northern India.
Earlier, in his welcome address, Secretary Academy, Bharat Singh said that the objective of the conference was to take a holistic view of Gojri language in the backdrop of the challenges it is confronting with and the opportunities that lay in its way. “It is very important to make our languages relevant to the modern times to ensure their survival and promotion”, he added.
As part of the 2-day event, music programmes and paper reading sessions were also held. The proceedings of the conference were conducted by Dr Shahnawaz.
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