Golden Jubilee celebrations of Agradoot gets underway
HT Bureau
Guwahati, July 6: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that the Centre and the Assam Government are working together to minimise the problems faced by people during the ongoing floods in the state.
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While virtually inaugurating the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Assamese newspaper ‘Agradoot’, he said the state and its people are struggling due to the devastating floods this year, but chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his team are working hard to provide succour to the affected people.
“I have been regularly speaking with the CM and others. I want to assure the people of Assam that the Central and the State Governments are working together to minimise people’s problems,” he said.
Modi said that while India lagged during the last three industrial revolutions as most people did not have access to its vast knowledge, which is in Indian languages, the country, backed by digital knowledge, will lead the fourth industrial revolution of the 21st century.
“Before Independence, our languages didn’t grow. In fact they shrunk as most people didn’t have access to knowledge. The space for innovation and invention was limited. But the fourth industrial revolution in the 21st century will be led by India on the back of digital knowledge,” he said.
“Our focus is to provide knowledge in our own languages. So, we are working on the National Language Translation Mission. The National Education Policy (NEP) also encourages mother tongues so that knowledge of our own people can be gained in our own languages,” Modi said.
The Prime Minister remarked that under the guidance of Kanak Sen Deka, the ‘Agradoot’ always kept the national interest paramount. Even during the Emergency, when the biggest attack on democracy took place, even then ‘Agradoot’ daily and Dekaji did not compromise on journalistic values.
He created a new generation of value-based journalism, he said.
The Prime Minister underlined the sterling contribution of Indian language journalism to Indian tradition, culture, freedom struggle and the development journey.
“Assam has played a key role in the development of language journalism in India as the state has been a very vibrant place from the point of view of journalism. Journalism started 150 years ago in the Assamese language and kept on getting stronger with time,” he added.
Underlining the biodiversity and cultural richness of Assam and Northeast, the Prime Minister said Assam has a rich legacy of music and that it needs to reach the world at large.
He said efforts of the last 8 years with regard to physical and digital connectivity of the region will be hugely beneficial for the tribal tradition, tourism and culture of Assam. (With inputs from PTI)
