Students celebrate multilingual heritage

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, February 21

To spread awareness about linguistic and cultural diversity of the country, the Central University of Punjab Bathinda (CUPB) celebrated the International Mother Language Day, also called Matribhasha Diwas, on Friday. A special programme was organised to celebrate the multilingual heritage reflecting the spirit of ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ as a part of the university’s 11th Foundation Day celebrations.

Dean (academic affairs) Prof P Ramarao presided over the event, wherein over 250 students participated and witnessed artistic performances in 16 Indian languages.

Prof Alpna Saini welcomed the participants and introduced the programme theme. “India is a nation with a diverse linguistic culture, which we should be proud of. The university reflects the diverse linguistic culture of the country as students from 27 states study here,” she said.

Professor Rao complimented the students for their magnificent performance. He said the UNESCO declared February 21 as the International Mother Language Day in 1999 to preserve and protect all native languages spoken in the world. He motivated youngsters to feel proud of their mother tongue and preserve the diverse linguistic heritage of our country.

A total of 18 activities, including poems, songs, dance, ghazals and speeches, in Punjabi, Garhwali, Haryanvi, Marathi, Bhojpuri, Assamese, Hindi, Dogri, Tamil, Maithili, Rajasthani, Urdu, Malayalam, Oriya, Telugu and Bangla were organised.

The programme commenced with a melodious performance on a Garhwali song, ‘Bedu pako baro masa’ by a team led by Ashish. Next, different teams led by Rahul and Rajeev and students Harsh and Vikram sang songs in Marathi, Assamese, Maithili and Bhojpuri, respectively. Nidhi, Yogesh, and Shikha recited poems in Haryanvi, Hindi and Dogri, respectively. Vidya and her team members amazed everyone with their performance on a Tamil song, ‘Tamil thai valthu’.

A team led by Harmanjot performed on a famous Punjabi song, ‘Main wari main wari meri samiye’.

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