Use of Bangla in all spheres still elusive [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

Use of Bangla in all spheres still elusive

Local February 20, 2017

The government largely failed to implement two Supreme Court directives issued in 2012 and 2014 that require the use of Bangla in all spheres of life and stopping distortions of the language.
A law enacted three decades ago requiring introduction of Bangla in all spheres of life also remain ignored by and large.
Palpable distortions continue to occur in pronunciations even 65 years after the historic language movement.
Many government and non-government offices still avoid the use of Bangla language ignoring the law and the SC directives.
Academicians blamed the apathy of the ruling elite for the failure to use Bangla in all spheres of national life without any distortion.
The ruling elite takes no interest in the use of the Bangla language, said professor emeritus Serajul Islam Choudhury due to its love for foreign language and culture.
He called it as the principal reason behind continued relegation of Bangla at offices and other areas of activities.
He said that non use or distorted use Bangla language was a manifestation of patriotism in decline.
When the law on introduction of Bangla in all spheres of life is ignored how can one expect that court directives on the issue would be followed, said Dhaka University teacher Syed Manzoorul Islam.
But culture minister Asaduzzman Noor said that the government never neglected Bangla.
The law alone, he said, can neither ensure the use of Bangla in all spheres of life nor stop its distortions.
He said that many laws of the land were seldom followed by the people.
Patriotism, love for mother tongue and social awareness
alone, he said, could ensure the use of undistorted Bangla in all spheres of life.
On February 16, 2012, the High Court Division in a suo moto rule asked private TV channels and radio stations to stop using distorted Bangla expression in their programmes and asked the government to explain why it should not be directed to stop airing such programmes.
After hearing a writ petition filed by a lawyer, another High Court bench on February 17, 2014 asked the government to ensure that only Bangla was used in all hoardings, signs, nameplates as well as vehicle number plates.
The court had also asked the government to explain why it failed to implement the Bangla Language Introduction Act.
DU English professor Syed Manzoorul Islam called it regrettable that many shopkeepers still wrote their signboards in English.
He called it even more regrettable that private radio stations and TV channels use incorrect and distorted Bangla in the dramas and advertisements they broadcast.
He called it totally palpable that some of the young broadcasters often show a strange knack to distort Bangla expressions and speak in foreign accents or mix English words in their sentences.
Both said that there was nothing wrong in learning English.
But it should not happen by ignoring Bangla or to distort Bangla.
They said that Bangla Academy and Dhaka University should play their due roles in the area.
Over 600 laws of the land are written in English and the proceedings in the superior courts take place in English.
Both Serajul Islam Choudhury and Manzoorul Islam called mixing English and Hindi words with spoken Bangla as ‘alarming’.
Asaduzzman Noor said that Bangla Academy was working to introduce Bangla in all spheres of life and ensure the use of chaste Bangla.
The culture minister said that a coordinated nation wide campaign would be launched soon to raise awareness about the use of Bangla in all spheres of life.