New Delhi, Jan 16 (IANS) Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, Mazhar Asif, emphasised the role of Hindi and Indian languages in decolonising minds from colonial past, an official said on Thursday.

Speaking on Wednesday at a five-day workshop on developing a ‘Learner’s Glossary of Social Sciences’ from English to Hindi, Asif has emphasised the need to break free from a colonial mindset.

“A false sense of modernity has a toxic effect on the minds of people. We need to rectify this immediately by prioritising the Indian Knowledge System (IKS),” he said.

He appreciated the work of translation of political terminology into Hindi and other modern Indian languages and extended his best wishes to all those present at the workshop.

The workshop was organised under the aegis of the Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology (CSTT) of the Ministry of Education and in collaboration with the Department of Political Science of Jamia Millia Islamia (a Central University), concluded on January 14 with a valedictory session held at the university’s M.N. Meenai Seminar Room, Department of Political Science.

Speaking further during the valedictory address, Asif said, “Merely translating scientific and technical terms may not be doing justice to the spirit of translation. Geography, history and culture has to be contextualised while undertaking and translating the terminologies into other Schedule Eight Languages or any other language.”

With his vivid experience in the field of being a professional translator and a prominent linguistics expert in Indian and Foreign languages, the Jamia Millia Islamia Vice-Chancellor advised the team members of the committee to take care of the limitations of the authentic translation, be it any language spoken and written in India.

He appreciated the work done by the team of thirteen expert members which have undertaken the task of preparing a glossary of technical and scientific terms used in Social Sciences into Hindi.

The welcome address was given by Professor Naved Jamal, the Coordinator of the workshop.

He emphasised the role of Gandhi’s notion of promoting Hindi/Hindustani and Bhartendu Harishchandra in the awakening of the spirit of national language.

He also highlighted the role and contribution of Professor D.S. Kothari, an eminent physicist and educationist, who chaired the Committee of Scientific and Technical Terminology (CSTT) from 1960-1965.

Bulbul Dhar-James, Head of the Department of Political Science, introduced the theme of the workshop to the audience.

Shahzad Ahmad Ansari, Assistant Director, gave a brief introduction on the Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology (CSTT).

Dean of Social Sciences, Muslim Khan, addressed the gathering as an invited distinguished speaker.

Saroj Kumar Das, in his address re-emphasised the notion of Bhartendu Harishchandra’s wherein he highlighted ‘Niz Bhasha Unnati’ (Development in its own language).

–IANS

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