Maha govt ties up with Wikipedia to promote Marathi language online

BJP-led Maharashtra government has tied up with Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, to propagate the Marathi language and increase its usage online.

The government made its announcement on Tuesday — ‘Marathi Bhasha Gaurav Din’. It said this will help spread the language across the globe and give Marathi-speaking people a single platform to interact. It is also expected to help reach Maharashtrians who have settled in the United States. “They will be encouraged to write about their profession and their native place. This would be given prominence in the Wikipedia Project page,” said the press release. An office promoting the venture has been in New York city.

However, Marathi language experts said they were not enthused. “Such announcements are merely symbolic and represent tokenism at best. Successive governments have always ignored Marathi language and diverted all their energies towards English,” said Deepak Pawar, president, Marathi Abhyas Kendra. He said a mere tie-up with Wikipedia would not serve any purpose.

“Various universities should encourage Marathi languages by starting courses in the language with substantive quality references. Many overseas Maharashtrians should write about their professional expertise in Marathi,” said Pawar.

Meanwhile, Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam has said that every person living in Maharashtra should speak Marathi and make an “honest and sincere” attempt to keep the language alive.

His remarks came against the backdrop of the goof-up in translation during Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao’s address to the Maharashtra legislature Monday. A similar glitch happened on Tuesday when the last stanza of ‘Marathi Abhimaan Geet’ wasn’t played in the Vidhan Bhavan on the occasion of Marathi Language Day, inviting the Opposition’s ire.

MUMBAI:The