Trying to reserve space for shops to sell Marathi books in civic areas: Vinod Tawde

While admitting that the language department needs a complete revamp, Minister for Marathi Bhasha, Vinod Tawde didn't make any promises and revealed little of the plans up his sleeve while speaking to dna's Ashutosh Shukla. Excerpts:

The department seems to be the most neglected one, being run without a dedicated secretary for more than two years now. What do you have to say?

I think the department was created because of the political situation (due to the set-up of MNS) at that time. But still, the government could have done a number of things, releasing Unicode, for example. The present generation is the Internet generation, it is going away from the language. New programmes can be started to attract the youth back to the regional language.

But isn't the department already working on this?

The department has just been existing, it hasn't fulfilled its purpose.

What is the way out then?

We need to plan a phase-wise programme. Marathi has 60 dialects, we need to digitise them. Pieces of literature in these dialects can be publicised to make people aware of the language's beauty. The government has decided that lower courts should do work in Marathi. For that to happen, there need to be more Marathi-medium colleges, new books for students.

A number of Acts still need to be translated. Justice Dharmadhikari has said Marathi is used only for translation and no drafting. Any comment?

What he said is right. We do not have law books in Marathi. A person who drafts faces a number of problems. A person going to the lower court should know what is happening.

Which are the key areas of concern in the department that you have shortlisted?

The department needs a total revamp. There are three to four mahamandals working for a singular cause. The first thing I am trying to do is get classical language status for Marathi. That will help us with central grants of Rs500-600 crore. Without a dedicated secretary the department is not serving its purpose. Any secretary should instruct that file will not move if it's not in Marathi. There isn't any punishment in law either to enforce this.

So, will you introduce punishment?

No, but there will be incentives, like promotion, and these will be put in annual confidential reports. All this brings us back to the issue of who will monitor. There is no dedicated secretary. Other staffers can do the monitoring.

What are your big plans for the department?

There are no big plans, only small plans that will be done in phases. It was a defunct department handled by chief minister until recently. We will make it pro-active.

What goals have you set?

There are a number of them, but I don't want to talk about them now. But there ought to be something that people can look forward to. We have said what we will be doing in our manifesto — giving it classical language status, more use of the language in government work, and books in Marathi to be made available in rural areas. We will have more sammelans and exhibitions. All these already exist as department's duties. Exhibition of books doesn't... We are also trying to convince the urban development department to give space for shops in government buildings located in municipal areas, where Marathi books can be sold.

Your ally Shiv Sena has been more vociferous when it comes to the language. Has it sought the department from you?

Sena has realised it's in the right hands, so it hasn't demanded the department.

Major govt initiatives

Getting classical language status for Marathi
Setting up Marathi Bhasha Bhavan
Having a universal font for the language
Drafting a policy on how the language will be after 25 years

So far, so good...

On Marathi Bhasha Diwas (February 27), the government is likely to come out with the Unicode, which will give people a universal font for Marathi language the world over. Of the 19 volumes of Marathi encyclopedia published, 17 are available in digital (CD) format.