President Ram Nath Kovind addresses the 61st annual conference of Bodo Sahitya Sabha
President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday said that it's the responsibility of the society and government to promote local languages. Addressing the valedictory function of the 61st annual conference of the Bodo Sahitya Sabha (BSS) in Assam's Tamulpur, he said it has significantly contributed in strengthening the Bodo language, literature and culture in the last 70 years.
He is the first President to have attended and addressed the BSS meet - a regional language literary meet.
Noting that so far 17 writers have been awarded the Sahitya Akademi Awards for their works in Bodo language, President Kovind said that out of that, ten have been awarded for poetry and this shows the natural inclination towards poetry among the Bodo writers.
"Many women are writing in different genres of Bodo literature. But it has also been observed that only two women are among senior writers who have received the Akademi Award for original works," he said and urged the BSS to encourage women writers.
The President said that to keep any literature alive and relevant, the participation of the younger generation is very important, therefore, special encouragement should also be given to the young writers.
The three-day conference of the BSS began on Monday and several thousand delegates attended the meet from across the country and abroad.