Give more airtime to Gojri programmes, urge Gujjars

Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 30

Demanding an adequate time slot for Gojri in All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan (DD) programmes, the Gujjar community on Sunday urged the state to increase the airtime for the language.

The Tribal Research and Cultural Foundation, an NGO, organised a programme on the ‘Role of media and tribes of J&K’.

Gujjar scholar Javaid Rahi said Gojri was a significant language of North-Western India, the speakers of which were mainly found in J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Uttarakhand, but it had not received much attention in J&K.

“Being a tribal language, Gojri deserves encouragement from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. Due representation should be given to the language on local stations of the AIR and DD,” Rahi said.

Other speakers expressed resentment against the non-representation to Gojri in daily broadcasts of various channels of the DD in the state, including DD Kashir and DD Jammu.