Promoting the local languages, a year after news in the Sarazi and Bhaderwahi languages of Jammu and Kashmir’s Chenab region was started by our online news portal “The Chenab Times”, is reaching new heights.
India, a country of 135 crore people, has more than 19,500 mother tongues. And a study says about 96.7% of Indians have one of the 22 scheduled languages as their mother tongue. As per the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill, 2020, Kashmiri, Dogri, Urdu, Hindi, and English are the official languages to be used for official purposes in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. However, there are many other languages in Jammu and Kashmir spoken by a large number of people, but they were not considered in the bill. The Chenab Times, a news portal and website from the Chenab region in Jammu and Kashmir, explains it as “negligence” by the past and incumbent governments towards the region, which led to the disappearance of culture and the local languages in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir including the two important languages of the Chenab region.
The Chenab valley, also called the erstwhile Doda district, which is now administered into three districts, viz., Doda, Kishtwar, and Ramban, has a number of local languages linked to Pahari culture. The people in this region mostly speaks local languages dominated Pahari Kashmiri, but some other languages which have a long history with the region are Bhadarwahi, Sarazi, Pogli, Kishtwari, Padri, Bhalessi, etc.
The Chenab Times started an initiative to provide daily news headlines in the local languages of the Chenab region in January 2021 and is currently broadcasting the news in Sarazi and Bhaderwahi along with Urdu as additional support for these languages for easy understanding.
A local resident of Mahalla area of Doda district, Saidullah Butt says, “We love to listen events or programs in our local language Sarazi. Last year, when I had normal keypad phone I used to listen Sarazi news on Chenab Times from my neighbour’s phone. Now, I have bought smartphone specially for listening Sarazi news daily.”
While another local resident of Udyanpur area of Doda, Waseem Ahmed Akhoon calls Sarazi news, a positive step towards promotion of local languages and a step towards development. “Our mother tongues are being forgotten by new generation but these types of initiative like the daily Sarazi news is a good step towards preservation of this language and also a step towards development,” he said.
❤️ Support Independent Journalism
Your contribution keeps our reporting free, fearless, and accessible to everyone.
Or make a one-time donation
Secure via Razorpay • 12 monthly payments • Cancel anytime before next cycle
(We don't allow anyone to copy content. For Copyright or Use of Content related questions, visit here.)
The Chenab Times News Desk