TN to bring out policy to preserve tribal languages in four months: Officials

Chennai, Sep 30 (IANS) The Chief Minister Stalin-led Tamil Nadu government is in the process of documenting and preserving languages used by the Adi Dravidar and tribal communities of the state and will bring out a policy framework in the next four months.

A policy framework is also being created to safeguard languages of the tribal communities in the state.

The Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department has been assigned the responsibility of preserving and documenting the rich culture, heritage and languages of the tribal communities of the state.

The DMK government has already allocated an initial corpus fund of Rs 2 crore for the preliminary expenses involved in the preservation and documentation.

The languages of Toda, Kota, Solaga, Kani and Narikuravar communities will be documented and preserved.

Sources in the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department of Tamil Nadu told IANS on Monday that the department has already conducted several rounds of brain storming sessions with anthropologists, linguists, folklore activists and tribal musicians as part of bringing out a policy framework for this comprehensive project.

According to the officials of the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department the policy can be expected in the next four months.

The officials also said that after taking extensive and in-depth inputs from experts in various areas concerning tribal language, customs and heritage, the department will bring out workable and implementable ideas in the policy.

The officials said that the department will explore folklore, stories and other oral traditions of the tribes.

They added that once the policy framework is approved, the department will form committees and the process of studying languages will commence.

A highly-placed official told IANS that after the policy is finalised the department will collaborate with various institutions working in the field of tribal welfare.

He said that the Tamil Nadu government will also try to collaborate with the United Nations (UN), which has declared 2022-2032 the ‘Decade of Indigenous Languages.’