Bhubaneswar: On the day which marks the anniversary of Odia attaining classical language status on March 11, 2014, linguists rued the fact that the language is not getting its due.
They feel that there are a lot of steps that are not being taken properly for the development and adoption of the language. Expressing concern over such negligence, the language experts pointed out that Odia is still properly not being used as an official language.
“If Odia is used in government, administrative affairs and media, then the language would spread and develop,” said linguist, Debi Prasanna Patnaik.
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On the other hand, the Odia Bhasa Pratisthan said that a lot of initiatives have been undertaken by it for promotion and propagation of Odia language.
“The people, who are in power, do not want Odia language to be used in educational institutions and the governance of Odisha,” said president of Odia Bhasa Pratisthan, Baisnab Parida.
“We are currently creating a dictionary of spoken Odia which will be completed soon and we have already created a dictionary containing administrative terminology. Moreover, we have published a book on the history of Odia language and in future we are planning to publish books on Odia culture and heritage,” said director of Odia Bhasa Pratisthan, Tamasarani Dasmohapatra.