RAJNI SHARMA:::

It is a fact that language has the power to preserve cultures, ethos and heritage.  The Dogras who are famous for their gallant and uprightness owes a lot to their mother tongue ‘Dogri’ as this is not only ‘Khand Mithi’ i.e. sweet like sugar, but it is the storehouse of cultural heritage of whole lot of community settled at south of Pir Panjal mountain range and spread upto vast plains of Punjab. Even certain stretches of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh also use Dogri as their first language. With so much of population having Dogri as its mother tongue, the preservation and promotion of this language becomes imperative as it is the binding force between different communities residing in J&K and parts of HP and Punjab.

What is agonizing is the fact that quite a percentage of urban population in the region has now shun the use of this language by getting influenced by the glamour of English and other languages. Though, like ‘mirage’, the truth is different because what Dogri can offer to locals as far as ease of speaking and use of vocabulary is concerned, English and other languages can never. Much damage has been done to Dogri by the prevalent education set-up in J&K as there was very less scope to opt for this language while pursuing studies.

The successive governments which were lopsided in their attitude as far as promoting Dogri is concerned also played a very negative role in discriminating with this language.

Now with the changed scenario as far as administration is concerned it is the prime responsibility of stakeholders whether they are Dogri teachers at school, college or university level, poets, writers and scholars or the literary organizations, to ask concerned not to waste even a jiffy and initiate all the necessary steps to preserve and promote Dogri language as any delay in the process could have detrimental effects on the future of Dogri and in turn Dogra Culture.

At the household level much can be done by simply encouraging toddlers, children and youth to speak Dogri whenever possible and listen and cherish Dogri songs and if possible go through Dogri literature which is in no way lesser than literature of any other language. Besides using this sweet language in day to day affairs even during quarrels and conflicts can go a long way in promoting the language. The only way by which we could help flourish this language is convincing people that speaking Dogri will not diminish their personality in any way rather it will prove that they are persona with content and connected to roots, which are the traits of a complete personality.