The Santali language was included in the eighth schedule of the Constitution of India through the 92nd Constitutional Amendment Act 2003. Now Santali is also an official language of India and Olchiki is the script of Santali language. The West Bengal Government recognized the Olchiki script for Santali language in 1982. The West Bengal Government also recognized Santali as a second official language in 2012. At present, in West Bengal, around 50 colleges and 9 Universities offer Santali courses in their curriculums. According to Wikipedia, around 7.6 million people speak the Santali language. States like, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, and Assam are the Santali-dominated speaking areas of India. Furthermore, Santali-speaking people also reside in Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.
Santali has rich folk literary resources and its written literary corpus also enriches the present context of modern world literature. Every year around 100 books are released at the annual conference of Santali Writers Association. The West Bengal Government also started the Santali Medium as a mode of study from the primary level in 2008.
Recently the Government of West Bengal established the Institute of Language Studies and Research, Kolkata, which is a premiere centre of Language Research. ILSR as a premier center of excellence, disseminates advanced knowledge in language studies, translation and cultural research. ILSR is directly affiliated to the Department of Higher Education, Government of West Bengal. While pursuing the highest global academic standards, this Institute envisions itself as a facilitator of advanced research and employment by leveraging various opportunities offered by the emerging global knowledge and communication economy and cultural research.
In the words of our Honourable Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, 'We respect all languages, We are proud of our Mother Tongue', Sri Sripati Tudu, attached currently to ILSR, wrote this book for non-Santali speakers to learn the Santali language easily. In this book, there are short introductions to the Santali language, script, culture, and ancient history. The book offers a rich collection of vocabulary and various semantic examples, something which is expected in a Handbook of Spoken Santali. Previously, Mr. Tudu has worked on different aspects of Santali language and literature. Among them, translation of different study materials for the Santali medium, translation of Tagore's selected poems in Santali, publication of research articles on Kavi Sarada Prasad Kisku, etc. His significant contribution has been the translation of the Constitution of India into Santali language, which had a big nation-wide impact.
In terms of the implementation of the Santali language as a second official language in West Bengal, this Handbook of Spoken Santali written by Sri Sripati Tudu is highly significant and praiseworthy. This is also the first attempt of such a Spoken Santali book in English by any native Santali speaker. I hope this initiative will help in transcending the language barrier and our interest in the Santali language, literature and culture will gradually grow and get stronger.
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