Shubhranshu Choudhary, founder, CGNET Swara

LANGUAGE WARRIORS TO THE RESCUE

Gondi is spoken by 12 million Gond adivasis and yet, there is no one standardised Gondi language that unifies them all. Different versions and dialects exist, specific to the geographical areas they live in, with influences of the regional languages seeping in. Choudhary is working on a dictionary project that is standardising Gondi language, and prompting the State to include it in the schedule language list.

“The lack of standardised Gondi has led to a chasm between the State and the Gondi-speaking tribals of Chhattisgarh. This was exploited by Maoists who not only speak their language but also lived with them,” says Choudhary. “If everyone has a standardised dictionary, then journalists, administrators or teachers can emerge from within the community. They don’t need to drop out of schools and take up the gun. They could work with All India Radio to start a news service in Gondi,” adds Choudhary.

“It’s a slow process, but if we believe that Maoism is the biggest internal security threat, then we need to look into this.”