Amarinder calls for promotion of Punjabi and English

Chandigarh, May 10 (UNI) Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today reiterated his firm resolve to give due recognition and status to the Punjabi language but at the same time he also underscored the need to promote English as a link language to enable the youth to compete globally because English was the universally accepted language world over.

Presiding over the first annual function of Vishav Varta, the first Punjabi news service, Capt Singh said he had attended the World Punjabi Conference at Lahore in 2003 and established World Punjabi Centre at Punjab University, Lahore to promote Punjabi language as a bridge to strengthen the age-old cultural ties between the Punjabis of Indian and Pakistani Punjab. He categorically said he should not be misconstrued or misinterpreted for pleading the case of English language merely for political reasons rather he had all regards and respect for Punjabi language being our mother tongue. He said in the changed scenario, the world had become a global village and the Punjabi youth could be versatile only if they had adequate knowledge of English language.

Capt. Singh urged the journalists to do objective reporting and develop a self mechanism to decide between the element of truth and negative factor highlighted by the politicians just to gain cheap popularity thereby giving a backward push to the developmental activities in the state. He categorically said that print media had a major role to play in this aspect because it had an element of permanence and deeper impact on the minds of the readers.

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