PM Modi to Inaugurate 98th Marathi Sahitya Sammelan on February 21

The much awaited and talked about 98th Akhil Bhartiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan is going to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the 21st of February, 2012.

This conference first took place in 1878 when Mahadev Govind Ranade was president. After that, this conference has held nearly every year since 1926 and has brought together the scholars, critics, literary figures to debate on the various issues like the relevance of Marathi in changing times.

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Well-known expert of Marathi folk literature, culture, traditions and theatre artist Tara Bhawalkar is the president of the conference which is returning after a gap of 71 years to the national capital.

The last conference held in Delhi in 1954, and the president was then well-known lexicographer Tarkatirtha Laxmanshastri Joshi. Inaugurating the conference was then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Particularly satisfied with coincidence that the president of this conference-three to happen after Marathi was awarded the classical language status by central government last year-is Bhawalkar, who had worked with Joshi on the Marathi encyclopedia.

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Speaking to PTI, Bhawalkar expressed dismay over the apathetic attitude towards the Marathi language from the government and rest of the society.

Furthermore, in support of his argument that this would help save the language, he stated that the government should promote technical education in the Marathi language and facilitate publication or research in the mother tongue.

According to Bhawalkar, despite the poorly developed Marathi language in the cities, it is flourishing in rural areas where thousands of literary festivals are held every year.

Three-day conference will be held at Talkatora Stadium, marked as 'Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's Literature City' for this period.

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