Hyderabad: A meeting will be held by representatives of various Urdu organisations on January 25 in the city to discuss the challenges and ‘future of the Urdu language in Telangana’ as concerns over its neglect and marginalisation are growing.
The Mohibban-e-Urdu (Urdu Lovers) will organise a meeting on January 25 which will be presided over by Tahreek Muslim Shabban president Mohammed Mushtaq Mallik. The session aims to address critical issues threatening the survival of Urdu and its institutions in the state, said a press release from his office.
“The acute shortage of Urdu teachers has left many Urdu-medium schools on the verge of closure. Despite a seven-year wait since the last teacher recruitment notification in 2017, the latest DSC-2024 process filled only 517 of the 1,183 posts reserved for Urdu medium, leaving 666 positions vacant due to reserved category constraints,” stated the release.
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Mushtaq Mallik added that the state government’s “inability” to fill these posts has dealt a “severe blow” to Urdu-medium institutions in the state. He added that it has endangered their “very existence” and that it has also betrayed the hopes of aspiring teachers and students.
“Equally troubling is the government’s failure to implement Urdu as the second official language, despite the Telangana Official Languages (Amendment) Bill, 2017. The bill, passed in recognition of the state’s 12.69% Urdu-speaking population, has been reduced to little more than lip service. Official signboards are missing Urdu signage, press releases and communication are rarely issued in the language, and the recruitment of only 66 Urdu translators since the bill’s passage underscores the lack of commitment to this cause,” the release added.
Mushtaq Mallik said that the neglect of Urdu institutions and their assets has also “compounded the crisis”. At the meeting on January 25, prominent personalities, including leaders of religious and social organisations, writers, poets and journalists will address the meeting to deliberate on these issues.
Mallik added that institutions such as the Urdu Arts College in Himayatnagar and Urdu Ghar at Moghalpura in Hyderabad also face similar issues due to with inadequate funding and “official indifference”, which he said undermines their ability to serve as custodians of Urdu’s cultural and educational heritage.
