Journalism of Courage
Our politicians language affection seems to be driven by the vote bank. Otherwise,under their own administration,there wouldnt have been a department,which,despite its immense contribution to the Marathi language,remains so neglected.
Established on July 6,1960,immediately after the formation of Maharashtra,the Language Department of the state government was conceptualised to impart the status of Rajbhasha upon Marathi. Till 1960,all the administrative work of the government was in English. Lack of equivalent Marathi words for governance terminology was the driving force behind the formation of this department, says Gautam Shinde,deputy director,language.
Following the initial series of government-related books,such as the Dictionary of Administrative Terms,Financial Terms,Administrative Noting,Rajabhasha Parichay (Introduction to Marathi Language) and so on,in the past 49 years,the department has released 30 terminologies on various academic subjects such as Physics,Chemistry,Mathematics,and Statistics. The 46 publications that include revised editions of many of these books have added lakhs of equivalent words to the Marathi language,thus contributing towards its enrichment. Words such as paripoornata (perfection),pruthakkaran (separation),Gausiya phal (Gaussian function) and many more have come out of the dictionary and become common academic words. The Physics dictionary has 13,000 words,the dictionary of administrative terms has 10,000 and so on, adds Pradhan.
Throwing light on the functioning of the department,Pradhan adds,Development of the dictionaries is need-generated. When the experts in a particular field approach us with the need to create equivalent words for the terminology in their subjects,the advisory committee appoints a sub-committee consisting of experts in that field from universities across Maharashtra,which in turn coins equivalent words for terms used in that subject.
With a legacy of renowned language experts like Durga Bhagwat,Y R Date,R N Dandekar and many more being members of the advisory committee,the department recently released Translation of the Indian Constitution,The Dictionary of Legal Terms and the most recent Dictionary of Journalism. Journalism sub-committee was established in 1985. Twenty-four years and 65 meetings later,the dictionary is ready with 6,000 words, says Pradhan.
Terming the glorious years as history Shinde adds,Since past six years,we do not have an advisory committee. All we are doing is reprinting the old versions,as there is no one to guide us. They use the terms we invented and proudly mention the designations we translated for them,but when it comes to the language,they just seem to understand numbers that give them votes,not realising that a language is about grammar, smiles Shinde.
