Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said the Legislative Assembly could take the lead in propagating Telugu by making all correspondences in the native language while the government implemented the recommendations of a six-member committee that was headed by former Minister of Culture, Palle Raghunatha Reddy.
Mr. Naidu made a suggestion to that effect to Speaker Kodela Siva Prasad Rao while intervening in a discussion following the calling of Minister for Tourism and Telugu Language and Culture, Bhuma Akhila Priya’s attention by MLA T. Sravan Kumar to ‘implementation of Telugu language in administration and education’ in the Assembly on Wednesday.
The Chief Minister said the State government was also talking to the Centre and other States to make them implement Telugu as a second or third official language up to primary schooling in areas where there were sizeable Telugu-speaking people.
“Like we are respecting the sentiments of people of Tamil Nadu and Odisha who have Tamil and Oriya schools in Chittoor and Srikakulam, we expect our mother tongue to be given due importance. We should make a concerted effort to earn the Italian of the East the recognition it deserves,” he said.
Mr. Naidu said the feeling that only proficiency in English language would earn good jobs was deeply entrenched in the minds of even the staunch advocates of Telugu, who speak out in its favour just for the sake of voicing their concern.
‘Authority being set up’
He agreed with BJP floor leader P. Vishnu Kumar Raju’s view that children learn better in their mother-tongue, which was emphasised by the UNESCO many years ago.
The CM said the government was in the process of constituting Telugu Language Development Authority comprising seven divisions for conserving and propagating the language.
Ms. Akhila Priya said all shops and commercial complexes in all towns and cities were supposed to have their names written in Telugu and all government inaugurations, program guidelines, foundation stone name boards etc. should have Telugu names displayed.
High-level officers were mandated to monitor implementation.