On International Mother Language Day, members of PARIBhasha team remember the voices that broke the silence of our neighbourhoods while keeping intact our bonds with languages and people
February 21, 2026 | PARIBhasha Team
Attacks on Bengali migrant workers from the minority community, particularly against those in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district, have risen sharply these past few months causing panic and terror amongst them
Harsh winters and cross border shelling are driving the Dard-Shin people in Kashmir’s Gurez valley out of their homes. Seasonal migration is also having an impact on the community’s language and culture
A Munda Adivasi teacher in Jharkhand has developed a curriculum that is bringing more children from scheduled tribe communities into the classroom
Adivasi girls in this primary residential school in Chhotaudepur play games and speak in Gujarati which, though not their mother tongue, serves as their link language
For the Gonds of Lonadei in Madhya Pradesh, their mother tongue is not just what they speak – it’s who they are. That identity now stands on shaky ground
Monpa children sing a song of their land and people, keeping their language alive
In Jharkhand, Shraddhanand composes songs in Asur, the mother tongue of his community
Shimga, celebrated at the onset of summer, is a special festival for many communities in Maharashtra. Here is how Warli Adivasis celebrate it
Afiya Khatun, a singer and Youtuber, has had her identity questioned on social media and a police complaint filed against her for singing a song in Assamese. Despite this, she persists in her art
Kharia, once spoken by many families in Chhattisgarh, today lives on through only one mother’s tongue in the village of Patandadar. A story for International Mother Language Day 2025
Bharia farmer Kamlesh Dandoliya is an accomplished author and language archivist. He says his mother tongue Bhariati is losing ground to Hindi, in fact much of the language has already been lost
In Chug village of West Kameng district, Karchung is the honoured wedding singer
Bhalchandra Dhangare teaches Adivasi children, many of whom are Warli speakers. He has made the dying language a part of his young students' classroom learning. A story for Teacher's Day
Jharkhand's Parahiya, Mal Paharia and Sabar Adivasi communities are drawing on their oral traditions to create grammar books and primers to preserve their endangered mother tongues. A story from PARI's Endangered Languages Project on International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples
A community of Kolam Adivasi cotton farmers in this district of Maharashtra speak Kolami, a language that is at risk of dying out. PARI’s Endangered Languages Project (ELP) takes a close look at the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), their livelihood and the challenges to their language
Bhiklya Ladkya Dhinda is a Warli Adivasi. The 89-year-old musician lives in Walwande and plays the tarpa, a traditional wind instrument made from bamboo and dried bottle gourd. Listen to the story of his music and faith, as told by him
Ho farmer Birsa Hembrom shows us how to make a monsoon fish dish
On International Mother Language Day, Indian language editors of PARIBhasha bring together a single story of loss and memory told in 14 different voices, each from a different locale
Every story published on PARI sees a reincarnation in 14 Indian languages. The pleasures and pains involved in the process often remain unarticulated. On International Translation Day celebrated on September 30, our Indian language editors engage in a conversation about their experiences
Using computer coding that transliterates between two Punjabi scripts, a 90-year-old former BSF commandant reintroduces Gurmukhi to Pakistani Punjab, Shahmukhi to Indian Punjab
On February 21, International Mother Language Day, PARI reaches out to migrant workers across India to understand the interplay between land, language and livelihoods in their lives
In times of divisiveness and hatred, a poet goes looking for the languages of love and liberty. And where else does she end up but in a gossamer of mother tongues rising from silenced histories
A passionate debate sparked off by a minister’s earnest appeal for a common national language takes a poet back to the Tower of Babel
A team of PARI translators celebrates International Translation Day by diving into the diverse world that we inhabit through and beyond our languages
Today, September 30, is International Translation Day. The People’s Archive of Rural India publishes in 13 languages – that is, in more than any other journalism website
From Bhojpuri to Tamil to Marathi – many children like Satyam Nisad, Raghu Pal and Khushi Rahidas struggle to learn a new language and stay on in school every time their parents migrate in search of wage labour
Ravi Viswanathan, the son of daily wage labourers in the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu, will soon be the first Alu Kurumba to earn a PhD degree with a thesis that documents his Adivasi community's endangered language
The songs and dance by the Santal, Munda, Oraon and Ho preserve their languages and bring in an income
Want to republish this article? Please write to [email protected] with a cc to [email protected]
All donors will be entitled to tax exemptions under Section-80G of the Income Tax Act. Please double check your email address before submitting.
PARI - People's Archive of Rural India
ruralindiaonline.org
https://ruralindiaonline.org/articles/endangered-languages-project
![‘I will never [again] sing in Assamese’](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fproduction.ruralindiaonline.org%2Fuploads%2FHP_COVER_IMAGEAA_I_will_never_again_sing_in_Assamese_a3a400799e.jpg&w=1080&q=75)
