February 21 was declared by the UN as International Mother Language Day (IMLD) for worldwide annual observance.
The objective is to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism and to encourage the preservation and protection of all languages used by people of the world.
‘International Mother Language Day has been being observed since 2000 to promote peace and multilingualism. The date corresponds to the day in 1952 when students from the University of Dhaka, Jagannath College and Dhaka Medical College, demonstrating for the recognition of Bengali as one of the two national languages of East Pakistan, were brutally shot dead by police (then under Pakistan government) near the Dhaka High Court in the capital of present-day Bangladesh.’ (Wikipedia)
One’s mother tongue is what one learns from one’s parents. It has its own sweetness as the milk of one’s mother. It has to be savoured, relished and enjoyed by every member of the community. It needs to be encouraged by the State and all other communities.
In India mother tongue of all different groups and communities is not Constitutionally recognised. At the same the State encourages teaching of mother tongue in lower classes of schools so that children may not forget their mother tongue. According to Census of India of 2001, India has 122 major languages and 1599 other languages. There are Constitutionally recognised 23 official languages.
It is a strange phenomenon that many of those who get carried away by urban culture or go to other cities for jobs lose the taste of their mother tongue. When they get back to their communities years later they cannot speak their own mother tongue. There are communities in India whose members do not even speak or even know their mother tongue but are at home with other languages.
Mother’s tongue is like one’s mother’s breast milk. Its favour, taste and nourishment should not be neglected.