First appearance of Urdu & Arabic courses

In Indra Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) introduced two new programmes in Urdu and Arabic languages. Students can get admissions in two sessions January or July.

The School of Humanities has launched BA (Elective) programme in Urdu adding to its certificate and diploma programmes while the School of Foreign Languages has launched a certificate programme in Arabic language in the University.

The course introduces pronunciation skills, Script writing, communicative Urdu and comprehension of Urdu prose and poetry. Each course has eight credits to improve the communicating, writing, reading and comprehensive skills of students. The maximum duration to complete the diploma programme is three years while the minimum duration is one year.

The certificate programme in Arabic language aims at acquainting beginners with the essentials of the Arabic language. In this programme includes four essential components: reading, writing, listening and speaking. This programme provides students to learn simple, friendly and innovative material with audio support. This programme’s syllabus divided into two parts, course one and course two. Course one basis on basics of Arabic language with reading and writing while course two comprises on listening and speaking.

We got no funds to hold meet, says Urdu Academy

Bangalore: World Urdu Conference started on Wednesday to celebrate and discussed about some major issues of Urdu language. Organizers complained the many letters to chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, asking for support to hold the conference, fell on deaf ears.

Though the letters were forwarded to the Kannada and culture department from August, the pleas were not recognized by the department. "We had written several times to the CM and the Kannada and culture department, but nobody took any interest. We did not get any financial support either. We had requested for Rs 3.5 crore to organize this international meet. On the contrary, the department decided to dissolve our Academy," said chief patron, All India Urdu Manch, Khaleel Mamoom.
The meet saw several Urdu poets from different countries including United Kingdom, Pakistan, Bangladesh and US. Governor H R Bharadwaj appeared in completely different mood on Wednesday and addressed luminaries of Urdu literature and poetry and also told the audience how integral Urdu was to the culture of the country.

Former chairman, Sahitya Academy, Gopi Chand Narang also said again that the message of Urdu should reach the people. "We should give the pluralistic message of Urdu to Karnataka. It goes along with Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Rajasthani or Punjabi. We will not allow politicization of language here," he said.