UNESCO invites tribal rights activist to Paris

Devy to help chart out plans for policies for indigenous languages in India

Vadodara-based tribal rights activist and Sahitya Akademi Award winner Ganesh Devy has been invited by the UNESCO executive board in Paris to discuss issues relating to the framing of policies on indigenous languages of the world.

Devy will join the conference in Paris on September 23 and will give a presentation on the 90 indigenous languages of India, the scriptures of which need to be preserved for their continued existence.

Devy, who runs an NGO working for Denotified Nomadic Tribes, said: “There are nearly 1,600 indigenous languages in India, and 90 of these are spoken by more than 10,000 people….The languages reflect the richness of their culture and tradition that have been developed over the ages. They can be retained only if the scriptures of those languages are preserved properly.”

Devy informed that at present, there are only 21 indigenous languages that receive government patronage according to the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India. These languages are promoted in schools and colleges.