Telugu meet to focus on art, culture

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday said the World Telugu Conference in the city in December should focus not only on Telugu literature but also culture and art forms.

Mr Rao held a meeting with litterateurs and officials at Pragathi Bhavan to discuss on the agenda for the conference.

He said the government would implement compulsory Telugu subject norm till Class XII from next year. Muslim religious leaders had sought introduction of Telugu as a subject in Urdu medium schools.

“The conference should unfold the great literary creativity of Telangana state, showcase the literary works of the great Telangana writers, send a message that there is a future for Telangana language,” he said.

“The conference should be organised to uphold the self dignity, entertaining the people and bring laurels to Hyderabad. The conference should dwell on the Telangana literary creativity, Telangana language uniqueness and all the genres of the region,” Mr Rao noted.

Chief adviser Rajiv Sharma, adviser K.V. Ramanachary, MP K. Kavitha, Telangana Sahitya Academy chairman Nandini Siddha Reddy, TS Press Academy chairman Allam Narayana, Telugu University ViceChancellor S.V. Satyanarayana, cultural Affairs secretary B. Venkatesham were among those who were present at the meeting.

“There is lot of literary creativity that took place in Telangana. There is no dearth of talent in the region. But they did not get the kind of name and fame which the Telangana literary personali- ties deserved,” the Chief Minister said.

“The work that is happening for the development of language here should be known to the world,” Mr Rao told the meeting.

“The conference should show the self-respect of the Telangana literary history, culture and not to demean others. Special programmes should be held on all language genres. Give importance to painting and other art forms. Our talent and greatness should come forward. Publish the unpublished manuscripts,” Mr Chandrasekhar Rao said.