Towards preserving heritage of language

 The need to promote tribal literature and dialects was stressed at the 3rd national  seminar  on tribal literature and languages with special reference to languages of North East India. The event got underway in Chedema on March 11 at the Tourist Resort.

Addressing the seminar as the chief guest, Minister for Higher Education Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu said that language serves as the medium of understanding as well as creative powers. Literature on the other hand provides humanity with the best foundation for advancement. Literature serves as reservoir of thought and knowledge that preserve culture and other aspects of life throughout the ages, he said.

The minister said modern writers do their best to generate new knowledge  in the realms of human life. “We also honour old values, culture and wisdom of our ancestors. It is also a specimen of a person’s originality and identity. Therefore, we have  history in every field of discipline of studies that continues to the present time and will continue to the future,” the minister said.

Full report here Morung Express

Symposium held on Gujarat tribal literature

To boost Gujarati tribal and folk literature, M S University’s department of Gujarati organised a state-level symposium discussing the nuances of the literature on Saturday in Vadodara. With over 45 writers and academicians of Gujarati literature from across the state, including those from tribal areas, the symposium questioned the stand of Gujarati literature on tribal literature.

While academicians find Gujarati tribal literature and folk literature to be far from being a popular genre among writers, Nita Bhagat, Head of Gujarati department of M S University, said, “It is only for the last two decades that the genre has been taken up and explored by writers and it is still in a developing phase."

Discussing Gujarati novels on tribal culture, Jitendra Vasava, a lecturer at Adivasi Academy, Tejgadh said, “The adivasi has always been described as a figure of pity by mainstream writers. But there is a group of tribal writers, who, through their literature, are giving an answer to the questions raised on their identity. This is a phase of revolt for tribal writers, who are trying to showcase the tribes in the same light. It is only after this that the tribal writers can write about the beauty of their world."

Full report here Indian Express

Cries in the wilderness of desertion and apathy

Narayan has a point when he says he’s not a Dalit writer, but an Adivasi author. Tribals, though classified under the Scheduled Tribe category, cannot be referred to as Dalits. Like other sub-castes who have their own identity, tribals too have a unique social identity, he asserts. “Tribals are the ones who are marginalised and dumped in the backyards of the society, primarily due to geographical compulsions. We are being sidelined by even the so-called Dalits. Tribals are nobody’s slaves. We are blessed with the practical knowledge for living,” he adds.

Narayan believes there’s an essential disparity between so-called Dalit literary works and indigenous tribal literature. “For modern society, however, everything — that is everything that’s not of the Savarna — smacks of the Dalit touch. I’m totally ignorant about the Dalit way of life. None of the Dalit writers are in touch with me.

“Tribal literature comprises those writings which originate from the ones who are sidelined by both mainstream and dalit literature,” observes Narayan, the first and the foremost tribal writer in Malayalam and the award-winning author of Kocharethi.

Full report here Express Buzz