Utnoor Gondi Standardization Conference

The opening ceremony (l-r): Susheela Durve (GM President), KLN Swamy (Circle Inspector Utnoor), Sanath Kumar (District Education Officer, Utnoor), P. Bheemu (Deputy Director - Tribal Welfare Utnoor), Athram Sakku (Ex MLA, Asifabad), Meseram Durgu, Mesaram Nagorao (Rtd. SP), Sidam Bheemrao (Ex Chairman ITDA Utnoor)

 CGNet has come the Kumaram Bheem complex in Utnoor in Adilabad District, Telengana for the latest in the series of Gondi language standadization conferences we are taking part in.  So far, this is the fourth we have held. The other three were in Delhi, Hampi, Karnataka and Amarkantak, MP.

We are here to continue to build a standardized dictionary for the Gondi language wherein all the many regional variations of Gondi words are collected together in one place. The ultimate goal here is to gain official recognition for the Gondi language. Without this recognition, Gondi children cannot attend lessons at school in their own language; Gondi speaking people cannot communicate with government services and the number of people that speak Gondi will continue to decline at its current alarming rate. 

You can read more about the previous conference, held last month at the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University in Amarkantak, Madhya Pradesh, if you follow this link.

Kumaran Bheem

The Kumaran Bheem complex is operated by the Integrated Tribal Development Agency, a government body that works for the tribal peoples of central India (of whom the Gond people are one). Kumaram Bheem, incidentally, was tribal leader from the 19^th century who fought against the Nizams of Hyderabad for tribal rights.Inside the complex there are educational institutions for adivasis, a self-employment training centre and other institutions operated by the ITDA. 

In the main hall is a small shrine to the Gond gods Jai Jango and Jai Lingo

The conference was officially opened yesterday morning with a lamp lighting ceremony. After that there were speeches from visiting dignitaries (you can see all of those guys at the top of the page).

A work group finalizes some Gondi word entries

 When lunch was over, the participants started the important work we are all here to do. They divided into two teams: one for finalising the entries that the previous conferences had assembled and another for adding new words. (For details of how this process works exactly, again, check out the blog entries for the Amarkantak conference).

Dr. Chandhu (Adilabad), Rekha Shyam Naik (MLA, Khanapur), Ailaiah (Revenue Divisional Officer, Utnoor)

Today, this work continued. We also hosted some more VIPs including Rekha Shyam Naik, the MLA of this constituency.