By Prof. S.N.Malakar

Joshi- Adhikari Institute of Social Studies (JAISS) organized a two days seminar on 28-29, March 2015 at Mangalam in Khagaria town (Bihar). It was organized in co-operation with National Council for the Promotion of Urdu Language (NCUPUL). Government of India. Pragatisheel Lekhak Sangh(PWA), Khagaria District, Bihar also joined the seminar with a programme “Mushaira”. The topic of Seminar was “Bihar mein Urdu ke Samne Chunoutiyan”.

Bihar being one of the most important provinces of the country where the institutional base of Urdu has been very strong since the dawn of Urdu language. Urdu has been deeply rooted in the day to day language communication, legal system and literature of Bihar. It has tremendous impact on the local dialects of Bihar. Urdu acquires important place in Bhojpuri, Maithili, Angika, Maghi, Vazzika, Nagpuri, Suryapuri and in many Adivasi languages of Bihar and Jharkhand. It has immensely helped in establishing the composite culture and harmonious relations among the people and communities. It has also played pioneer role in leading the voices of freedom movement of Bihar.

Since independence, Urdu struggled a lot to become the second language in Bihar and ultimately it succeeded. The Challenges before Urdu today are due to some emerging reasons. These reasons need to be focused. Firstly, Urdu was made second language in Bihar after forty years of independence. Even though it is second language, Urdu has been limited to Madarsa. Focus has not been laid down in all the schools and all the communities. It should have been compulsory in all the schools and for all the communities. At the level of higher education, most of the university’s departments are faced with poor infrastructural facilities and shortage of teachers. So is the case with primary and secondary schools. Secondly, by reducing the Urdu language up to Muslim community is a conspiracy of certain sections of society. The Act of Bihar Government is also not universal, it has compartmentalized the psyche of people which is leading to communal differentiation among the communities. Historically, Urdu being a cementing factor has come under severe challenge today. Thus the development of Urdu cutting across the Social Section has been hampered by the reluctance of Bihar Government. This attitude of Govt. of Bihar has also minimized the role of Urdu in social transformation.

Thirdly, Urdu is facing the most serious challenges from the globalization process. The very nature of today’s globalization process is determined by the global forces. Their interests lie in profit and privatization of education. They need a language of commerce not a language of human relation. Their agenda of privatization and rationalization has reduced the role of language which emerged in a process of evolving human and social relation. Emphasis on privatization of technological education has diverted the focus form humanities and languages. Education and language policy are oriented for the profit of corporate and foreign investors which has reduced the scope of language development. Privatization of educational and technical education and the corporate and foreign interventions have reduced the scope of development of national languages. It is challenges for all the languages where Urdu is also under scrutiny. Indian and provincial government have accepted the globalization process and reduced the job opportunities in educational institution which are the most retrogressive steps on the part of central and state government.
Lastly, serious challenges before Urdu is coming from the communal and right reactionary forces among Hindus to marginalise and undermining Urdu. Their attempts to limit and to brand Urdu language as the language of Muslims. They want to create a Ghetto for Urdu speaking people. In response to that a tiny section of Muslim fundamentalist also try to monopolize Urdu. The biggest challenge is before progressive sections is to fight against deliberate and relentless onslaught of those rights reactionary forces.

In the light of above theme, seminar was inaugurated by Prof Ajay Patnaik, Director, JAISS. In his inaugural speech he pointed out the historical role of Urdu in freedom movement and its importance in creating composite ethos of Indian literature. He also expressed his opinion about the enhancement of Urdu language to broaden the dimension of social harmony. Professor Md. Badrudding Sabnam, Head of the Urdu Department, Bhagalpur University was guest of Honour and keynote speaker. He touched various dimensions of Urdu literature. He spelt out its challenges and prospects of developments. He categorically said Urdu language is the language of Hindustan not a language of particular religion. He admired many Hindu Urdu scholars like, Munsi remchand, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Krishnachander and many more. He also remembered the first Pragati Lekhak Sangh conference held in Lucknow 1936, and applaused the contribution of Sajjad Zaheer in leading the writer’s movement, a historic one. Professor S.N. Malakar, Deputy Director of JAISS, introduced the theme of subject and also the objectives of seminar. He emphasized such seminar be organized in remote areas where the local literary personalities, teachers, advocates and intellectuals of all walks of life should be benefited. Through such attempts we can establish a dialogue with general people and fill the knowledge gap. The seminar was conducted by Dr. Abdul Salam, Associate Professor, Koshi College, Khagaria. He thanked the organizer of JAISS for lending this opportunity of dialogue and discussion in Khagaria. Lastly, President of Pragati Lekhak Sang, Khagaria, Sri Lakhan Lal Sharma expressed his gratitude for organizing this seminar in Khagaria.

The second session was Chaired by Prof. Sahid, HOD (Urdu), Marwari College, Bhagalpur. The second session started with an interview compilation of Baba Nagarjuna’s views on Urdu by Kanaihiya Kumar, Ph.D Scholar, School of International Studies, JNU, New Delhi. In this session, Zeyaullah Anwar, Nausad Alam, Md Faraq Azam, Md Hifzur Rehman, Shamim Ahmad, Zubir Alam, all research scholars from CIL, School of Languages, Jawaharlal Nehru University Presented their papers. Dr Abdul Salam Ansari, Associate Professor Koshi College, Khagria, Dr, Shams Tavrez Khan and Dr. Shambu Singh from Sidhu Kanu University, Dumaka, Jharkhand.

Dr Noor Jahan Director, Jamia Naurul Bahat, Purnia focused on the subject. Prof Rama Bachan Singh Principal, KMD College Parbatta, Khagaria beautifully concluded the session . His speech was centre of attraction.

The Third Session was Chaired by Vice-President Dr Abdul Salam Ansari, Associate Professor Koshi College, Khagaria. Dr Touseef Mohsin HOD (English), Koshi College Khagaria, Abdur Rahim, Research Scholar JNU and Aftab Ahmed Maneri, Research Scholar JNU, presented their papers. Md Javed Ali President Anjuman Issahul Muslamin, Muktar Abbashi Advocate cum press reporter, Krishna Murari Mishra, Advocate, Khagaria, Krishna Kumar Sharma, communist Party Activist, Md Haider Ali JDU activist , Shafique Alam, Principal and Dr Srikant Chander also participate in the discussion.

Fourth Session was chaired by Prof. Md Baddruddin Sabram, HOD, Bhagalpur University. This was a Mushaira cum Kavi- Gosthi session. Mushaira was conducted by Dr. Saheed HOD (Urdu) Marwari College, Bhagalpur. Ex-president of PWA Khagaria and Editor of ‘Avam’ Viswanath presented tarnunum which was loudly admired. Md. Salauddin, Ghanshyam ji, Md Khalid, Upender Unmukt, Navita, Kamran Alvi, Pranesh, Dr Saheed, Dr Salman and others made a joyful events. Prof Baddruddin also recited his own poem and drew the attention of audience. Ex-president PWA, Vishawnath expressed his gratitude for having such successful and useful seminar in Khagaria and thanked everybody who participated and co-operated to make this seminar a grand success. Seminar ended with thanks by Prof. S.N.Malakar, Deputy Director, JAISS. The proceedings and message of seminar were well received by the local media Qumi Tanzeem, Inqlab, Danik Jagran, Parbhat Khabar, Hindustan have extensively covered the theme and points of discussions in their newspaper columns.