Context:
The ICCR will develop a pool of linguists fluent in 10 languages from some of India’s neighbours and other nations with whom it has shared cultural heritage.
Goal:
- India wants to increase its cultural influence in countries where it has historical ties, particularly those in its immediate vicinity.
- Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, and Indonesia to promote better intercultural communication.
- Languages include: Thai, Sinhalese, Bahasa (spoken in both Indonesia and Malaysia), Ghoti (spoken in Tibet), Burmese, Khmer (spoken in Cambodia), Kazakh, Uzbek, Bhutanese, and Uzbek.
Implementation:
- The ICCR intends to launch the initiative this year after training five to ten individuals in the official tongues of these nations.
- Consultations with universities: The ICCR is in talks on the project’s implementation strategies with universities, institutes, and specialists who provide foreign language courses in the nation.
- There are two ways to implement the project: One is to set up partnerships where instructors from various nations travel to India to conduct classes.
- The second strategy involves the ICCR providing scholarships to Indian students so they can travel to the countries where these languages are spoken and study them there.
Relevance and Need for the Project
- European languages like Spanish, French, and German as well as the languages of significant Asian economies like China and Japan have been the emphasis of language learning in India up until this point.
- India needs teachers of the languages of the nations with which it has a shared cultural history, as well as translators, interpreters, and translators.
- There is an urgent need for a pool of translators and interpreters because many people from nations like Turkey, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and the Maldives are traveling to India for medical treatment.
- The move was necessary, and experts believe that the ICCR’s list of languages needs to be enlarged, especially since India is experiencing a boom in its cultural and economic links with other neighbouring nations.
- ICCR stands for Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
- Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, India’s first Minister of Education, created it in 1950.
- It is a separate entity that reports to the Ministry of External Affairs.
- Its goals include actively taking part in the development and implementation of policies and programs pertaining to
- India’s international cultural relations, fostering and strengthening ties between India and other nations, and promoting culture