Aligarh, September 21: Prof. M. J. Warsi, Department of Linguistics, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), delivered the inaugural lecture as chief guest at an online two-week refresher course on “Language and Linguistics: Contemporary Theories, Applications and Interdisciplinary Perspective”, organised by the Department of Linguistics, Berhampur University, Odisha.
Speaking on “Multilingualism and Multidisciplinary Perspective in Higher Education: Towards a Sustainable India”, Prof. Warsi highlighted the growing significance of linguistic diversity in the context of sustainable development and digital transformation.
He said a society cannot be truly sustainable if development leads to educational exclusion, social inequality, cultural marginalisation or the gradual loss of linguistic resources through which communities preserve and transmit knowledge.
Prof. Warsi said that the 2030 Agenda’s commitment to “leave no one behind” could, in the Indian context, also be understood as a call to ensure that linguistic diversity is not left behind. He pointed out that as education, healthcare, financial services and other essential systems increasingly move online, languages with limited digital resources may face new forms of exclusion.
