CM releases Olchiki dictionary

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday released the trilingual Olchiki dictionary, the first-of-its-kind at Uttarkanya in Siliguri.

The Chief Minister also held a high-level meeting of the Tribal Advisory Council. State Tourism and North Bengal Development ministers Goutam Deb, Rabindranath Ghosh and Sanjay Thade, Principal Secretary, Backward Classes Welfare department also attended the meeting. She also inaugurated a 327 capacity auditorium at Uttarkanya.

There was a demand by the Santhal community for preparing a proper trilingual (Santhali-English-Bengali) dictionary for the preservation, protection and development of the said language in the state. It may be mentioned that after coming to power, Mamata Banerjee gave special stress on the development of the tribal community.

The Tribal Development department provided all infrastructural support and guidance to the Santhali Academy in this endeavour.

A trilingual dictionary in Olchiki script (Santhali-English-Bengali) has been composed by the Academy under the guidance and supervision of the experts of

Santhali Academy.

Combination of the three languages — Santhali (in Olchiki), English and Bengali along with usage of Santhali words has given a new dimension to the dictionary.

This is a comprehensive dictionary with 24,550 Santhali words in Olchiki script, Santhali alphabets in the dictionary and numericals in Santhali from 1-100, measurement of mass, length and volume used in Santhali, names of the month and day in the Santhali language along with names of the colours in the Santhali language along with scientific (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Geography, History etc) terminologies in Santhali and English language, idioms in Santhali language with their uses and familial relations in Santhali.

The synonyms in Bengali and English have been checked by Aveek Majumder, chairman, Expert Committee on Education, School Education Department. An editorial board was set up to oversee the compilation of the dictionary.

Saraswati Press, a government of West Bengal enterprise has been entrusted with the printing of the dictionary. Scholars spent nearly two-and-a-half-years to compile it.

The Paschim-Banga Santhali Academy was registered under the West Bengal Societies Registration Act-1961 for promotion, preservation and encouragement for the study of Santhali language, literature and culture in the state under the administrative control of the TD Department.

Academicians said the dictionary will immensely help those studying the Santhali language and will be provided to students using Santhali and those institutions associated with the development of the language and culture.