International Mother Language Day is celebrated on 21 February to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural uniqueness of different people. First announced by UNESCO on 17 November 1999, it was formally recognized by the United Nations General Assembly with the adoption of UN resolution 56/262 in 2002. Mother Language Day is part of a broader by peoples of the world" as adopted by the UN General Assembly on 16 May 2007 in UN resolution 61/266, which also established 2008 as the International Year of Languages. The idea to celebrate International Mother Language Day was the initiative of Bangladesh a country which came in to existence with brave operation of Indian Army against Pakistan’s atrocities against Bangla speaking people of east Pakistan. This day is very significant for Bharat due to many reasons. When Pakistan was created in 1947, it had two geographically separate parts: East Pakistan (currently known as Bangladesh) and West Pakistan (currently known as Pakistan). The two parts were very different to each other in sense of culture, language, etc. In 1948, the then Government of Pakistan declared Urdu to be the sole national language of Pakistan including for the people of east Pakistan who were native speakers of Bangla. The East Pakistan people protested, since Bangla was the mother tongue of majority of the population from East Pakistan. The residents there demanded Bangla to be at least one of the national languages, in addition to Urdu. The demand was raised first by Dhirendranath Datta from East Pakistan on 23 February 1948, in the constituent Assembly of Pakistan. But Pakistan government was stubborn about imposing Urdu. This turned in to continuous battle , general public, arranged massive rallies and meetings became a regular phenomena. On 21 February 1952, police opened fire on rallies organised by the students of the University of Dhaka.In this open fire incident, many people died and got injured. This is a rare incident in history, where people sacrificed their lives for their mother tongue.
The resolution was suggested by two Bangladeshis Rafiqul Islam and Abdus Salam, living in Vancouver, Canada. They wrote a letter to Kofi Annan on 9 January 1998 asking him to take a step for saving the world's languages from extinction by declaring an International Mother Language Day. They proposed the date as 21 February to commemorate the 1952 killings in Dhaka during the Language Movement."21st February – The International Mother Language Day.
On 17 November 1999 the 30th General Assembly of UNESCO unanimously resolved that "21st February be proclaimed International Mother Language Day throughout the world. This day is a glorious chapter in history of Bharat and it’s army who assisted to the cause by fighting a decisive war against Pakistan and preserved the Bangla language identity from extinction by theocratic Islamic state of Pakistan.
Bullet Points
Students studying through Bharatiya languages do more scientific research than those who get engineering education in English medium
– Bharatiya scientist CV Srinath Shastri
The study of English activates only one part of the brain while the study of Hindi activates both parts of the brain
– Dr. Nandini Singh, National Brain Research Center, Bharat
If there is a complete script in the world, then it is Devanagari – Sir Isaac Pitman
Hindi is taught in some form or the other in about 170 countries of the world nowadays. Sanskrit is being taught in universities in more than 32 countries of the world. It is compulsory to study Sanskrit for 6 years in St James's School in England.
“I could become a good scientist because I studied Mathematics and Science in mother tongue (Dharampeth College Nagpur)”. – Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam
I have been using English for 60 years, but English can never facilitate the level of spontaneity that we get speaking in Hindi.
– Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya
“If science is to be made publically accessible, then science should be taught through mother tongue.”
-World-famous poet and Nobel laureate Ravindra Nath Thakur
“The foreign medium of instruction has put an extra load on the nerves of the our children, made them rattles, they are not fit for creativity …. The foreign language has hindered the development of native languages.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
Among the top 20 countries of the world GDP, all of them are doing all their work in their own language, in which four countries are English speaking, because their mother tongue is English. He further writes that among the 20 most backward countries in the GDP of the world, higher education is being given in foreign language or in its own and foreign language both and the work of governance and administration are done in the same way..
– Retired Senior Scientist from Microsoft, Sankrat Sanu
World reknowned atomic scientist and Vice Chancellor of Hiroshima University, Japan, do not know English.
– Former director of NEPA, Mr. Pradeep Joshi
Most of India's renowned scientists have received their education in their mother tongue. Among which mainly Jagdish Chandra Basu,
Srinivasa Ramanujan, Dr. Abdul Kalam etc. are the prominent names
