The state will celebrate Bhasa Divas on Wednesday. Namita Panda and Anwesha Ambaly of The Telegraph turn spotlight on initiatives taken to develop Odia, achievements of litterateurs and more

Celebrations

The state culture department has made grand plans to celebrate the Odia Bhasa Divas on Wednesday. Writers and youngsters will come together for an interactive session at the Jaydev Bhawan. Culture minister Ashok Panda, culture secretary Arabinda Padhee, MP Prasanna Pattasani and other dignitaries will be present on the occasion.

Winners of the state-level essay and debate competitions conducted by the department at various districts of the state will also be awarded. Around 14 school and college students will receive the award. A number of other programmes such as seminars, competitions and writers' meet will be organised across the state.

Initiatives

The Odisha Sahitya Akademi is working on various projects for the development of the language.

'Translations of the epic, The Mahabharat, written by Sarala Das will be published in various languages. Similarly, preparation of dictionaries in Odia dialects is under way,' said Satakadi Hota, president of Odisha Sahitya Akademi.

One of the most significant initiatives by the state institute is a project wherein technical and science books will be written in Odia.

'English is a progressive language and everyone should know it. But it is also important to have academic textbooks in our own language if we want Odia to be popular. We are lagging behind in this field. Hence, experts in different subjects, especially science, are being roped in to formulate Odia textbooks for students,' said Hota.

Recognition

A number of Odia authors have won Kendriya Sahitya Akademi awards in the last one year. In December 2014, eminent Odia poet Gopal Krushna Rath was presented the Kendriya Sahitya Akademi award for his famous anthology of poems Bipula Diganta.

In August 2014, two Odia authors were honoured by Sahitya Akademi. While the Baal Sahitya Puraskar for children's literature was conferred on veteran author Dash Benhur, poet Narendra Bhoi bagged the Yuva Puraskar for his book Pida Parba. Odia litterateur Rabindra Praharaj has been selected for the Kendriya Sahitya Akademi award for his translated work of classic Bengali novel Alaler Gharer Dulal. His translated Odia book is titled Thila Gharara Gelhapua.