BMS to intensify agitation on Mundari language

Baripada, May 15 (UNI) The ''Bharat Munda Samaj'' (BMS), an outfit of the Munda tribals, will soon intensify agitation demanding inclusion of the Mundari language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution and recognition of ''Mundari Bani'' script.

BMS President Prof Sanatan Munda told newspersons here today that the decision to intensify the agitation to secure constitutional status for the Mundari language was taken on the concluding day of 3-day-long national conference of the Mundas held at Basipitha village on Saturday last.

Jharkhand MLA Amulya Sardar, former Rajya Sabha member from Orissa Birabhadra Singh, delegates from West Bengal and Bihar led by Jyotindra Nath Singh and Galay Purti unequivocally supported the demand and announced to intensify the agitation in their respective states.

The BMS president said the Mundari language when communicated with the help of borrowed scripts like Devnagri, English, Bengali or Oriya will suffer from phonetic deformities. He claimed that the language when communicated with the help of its own script called ''Mundari Bani'' could ensure phonetic accuracies.

The script was invented by the eminent Munda scholar Olguru Pandit Rohidas Singh Nag and is being used by the Munda tribals across the country.

Prof Munda asserted that the preservation, promotion and enrichment of the cultural ethos of the tribe and its language (Mundari) could be possible only when the language was included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

The conference also demanded the lessons to the Munda children should be imparted through the medium of 'Mundari' script at the primary level.

BMS Coordinator Natha Singh said the outfit would now concentrate on mass meetings, demonstrations, submission of memorandum to the Central and state governments, and mobilisation of political support.

Over five thousand delegates from Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Orissa attended the conference which was inaugurated by Orissa Fisheries and Animal Resources Minister Golok Nayak.

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