Video Editor: Ashutosh Bhardwaj
Producers: Hera Khan & Priyale Chandra
At Google and Quint HindI's 'Bol – Love Your Bhasha' event, Union Minister Nitin GadkarI spoke to The Quint’s Editorial Director Sanjay Pugalia on the importance of bringing regional languages online. Gadkari said that the situation is changing and the internet has emerged as a mirror now. The country is going throw a wave of innovation, technology and entrepreneurship. Whenever a change comes through, everyone has to accept it eventually, he said.
There is no one language spoken in the country, so all Indian languages are equally important. Mobile and internet connects people of all stratas of the society.Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister
Gadkari also stressed on the need to curb the circulation of fake news on the internet.
Those who spread fake news on the internet must be stopped so that the internet has more credibility. Access to regional languages on the internet and the digital world will be very beneficial.Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister
However, Pugalia pointed out that quite a few government websites are still available in English language and there are complaints that the government websites and/or apps should be available in regional languages.
Nitin Gadkari responded:
I feel that technology should reach people in regional languages. Education, health services, economic services, development, research and agriculture – growth in all these sectors will be accelerated. If we talk about including regional languages, the benefit will be doubled.
The Union Minister also said that the percentage of people that listen to English media is not large.
If you look at the percentage of people listening to English media, their numbers are not large. But English media still dominates because people in big cities like Mumbai and Delhi listen to it. The people in far-off areas understand regional languages. A woman working in the market will not understand English.
Gadkari said that it is important to promote the regional languages as each language represents a state and a culture and promoting that language will ultimately promote that culture. He added that technology could play a crucial role in achieving this goal.
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