Vigyan Prasar is a
national organization under the department of Science and technology, working
for Science popularization.Under its “Reaching to un-reach programme", it was
envisaged of bringing out popular science literature in Urdu. A national level seminar
cum workshop for development of popular science literature in Urdu was organized
at Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) Hyderabad from 9 to 11 April 2013. The seminar cum workshop was
inaugurated by Prof Shamim Jairajpuri the founding vice chancellor of MANUU.
The current vice chancellor Mohammed Mian also addressed the gathering. The
chief guest was Prof S. Irfan Habib of NUEPA, New Delhi. He deliberated on
history of science writing in Urdu in India. For the first time an abstract booklet
of popular science writing in Urdu titled as ‘Talkhis’ was published and
released during inaugural session.
The registrar of
Vigyan Prasar Dr TV Venkatsewaran deliberated on the need to develop easy to
understand scientific literature in Urdu. He stressed that present time being
the time of technology and knowledge so a large population cannot be denied the
benefits of technology. If scientific thought is presented in mother tongue a
large population is going to appreciate it and they will be encouraged to
express their views. Dr Irfana Begum who was the organizer of this seminar cum
workshop stressed that popularization of
science through Urdu medium is need of hour. To appreciate the beauty of
science and to avail the fruits of technology is the right of every citizen
irrespective of their mother tongue. She urged those scientists and writers
whose mother tongue is Urdu but they prefer to write in English and Hindi to
write in Urdu as well. Dr Khalid Mubashiruzzafar the co organizer of the
program from the Department of Translation, MAANU stressed on the role of
translation in developing popular scientific literature in Urdu. Dr Monika Kaul
from Delhi University who has done her schooling from the Kashmir valley and
knows Urdu, discussed on the challenges in developing scientific literature in
Urdu and their remedial measures. Dr
Gauhar Raza an eminent scientist from NISCAIR, CSIR and a talented writer of
Urdu talked about scientific temper. He differentiated between science and non
science. The meta question which differentiates between the two actually begins
with why and how. The questions beginning with why leads to religion, whereas
the questions beginning with how leads to science and scientific temper.
About forty
participants presented their papers on following theme (i) Content
development (ii) Reach and circulation (iii) Inculcating reading habit and (iv) Sharing
experiences. I presented my paper on astrolabe which was an effort in
developing popular science content in Urdu. The other notable papers were on
health by Dr Abid Moiz, Science in Urdu newspapers by Asad Faisal Faruqi,
Historical perspective of scientific writing in Urdu by Dr Mohammed Junaid
Zakir. During second day, a workshop on
writing popular science article in Urdu was conducted. Students of School of
languages, linguistics and Indology of MANUU also participated in the workshop.
Dr TV Venkateswaran of Vigyan Prasar, Dr
Gauhar Raza of NISCAIR, Dr Monika Kaul of Delhi University and Dr Seemin Rubab
of NIT Srinagar acted as resource persons and shared their skills and tips with
participants. The participants were then taken to the library to get resource
materials and write a popular science article and submit it for evaluation. The
articles were evaluated by me and all the participants received critical
comments and tips on improving their writing skills on the third day. The valedictory
session was chaired by Professor Mohammed Zafaruddin, the dean of School of languages, linguistics
& Indology and HOD department of translation. He emphasized on the need of
regularly having similar kind of workshop. He assured the cooperation and role
of department of translation in
developing popular science literature in Urdu. The department is offering a
very innovative masters program in Translation studies. After valedictory
session the participants were taken to Charminar, Makkah Masjid and Salar Jung
Museum.
