A 3-Day International Conference on “Voices of India and Beyond: Sustainability, Mobility and Technology” was jointly organised by Centre for Applied Linguistics and Translation Studies, University of Hyderabad, Department of English, Maulana Azad National Urdu University and Centre for Languages and Multicultural Communication, Woxsen University in academic collaboration with Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysuru, Indian Council for Social Science Research and Institute of Eminence, University of Hyderabad.
The first day (on 28.08.2024) of the conference was held at Maulana Azad National Urdu University, second day (on 29.08.2024) at Woxsen University and the final day (on 30.08.2024) was held at the University of Hyderabad. The 3-Day Conference had 110 delegates from different academic institutions from India and Abroad.
The conference has attempted to bring multiple voices to be heard and has been successful to bring voices from various places like, from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Spain, France, Japan to name a few. The three-day conference had 66 paper presentations in 15 parallel paper sessions, 2 “Meet the Author” sessions, 6 plenary lectures on different areas ranging from multilingualism, technology, AI, language disability, Translation Practices, Language Policies in Global South, Language Development and Sustainable Development, Decolonialisation, to visibility of gendered voices in public sphere. These lectures have been delivered by distinguished scholars from India and beyond, viz. Prof. Panchanan Mohanty, Dr. Tania Hossain, Dr. Pedro Alvarez Mosquera, Dr. Promod K Sah, Prof. G. N. Devy, Prof. Farhat Hasan and Prof. Girish Nath Jha.
These plenary lectures apart, we have had 5 panel discussions on Literature and Translation Studies, NEP, Mobility and Sustainability, AI, Language and Genetics, Technologies for Language Documentation, and Empowering Communication with Individual Disabilities. In addition to all these technical sessions, the conference also has Inaugural and valedictory sessions. There have been lively and spirited deliberations all through these three days.
The third day of the conference was held at the University of Hyderabad on 30th August 2024. In the forenoon session, two sessions, one on-site presentation and one online presentation were conducted. Eight papers were presented in these two sessions. This was followed by a plenary lecture by Prof. Promod K Sah from University of Hongkong on “Decolonising Multilingualism: Rethinking Medium of Instruction Policy and Linguistic Citizenship in South Asia”. The first panel discussion on “Technologies for Language Documentation” was chaired by Prof. Girish Nath Jha, Chairman, Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminologies. The panelists were Prof. Shailendra Kumar Singh, Department of Linguistics, North Eastern Hill University; Prof. Rajesh Kumar, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras, Dr. Mendem Bapuji, Assistant Professor, Linguistic Research Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, and, retired Prof. L. Ramamoorthy, Department of Linguistics and Language Technology, Central University of Kerala.
In the afternoon session, a panel discussion on “Empowering Individuals with Communication Disabilities: Bridging Linguistic Theories and their Practical Interventions” was chaired by Dr. S. B. Rathnakumar, from CALTS, University of Hyderabad. The panelists included Prof. S. P. Goswami and Prof. M. B. Priya, All India Institute for Speech and Hearing, Mysuru; Dr. Udit Saxena, GMERS Medical College & Hospital, Ahmedabad; Prof. G.S.Patil, Ali Yavar Jung National Institute of Speech & Hearing Disabilities, Secunderabad; Dr. Gish Chacko and Dr. Aparna Ravichandran from MAA Institute for Speech and Hearing, Hyderabad. This was followed by two plenary lectures, the first by Prof. G. N. Devy on “The Great Transition Facing Human Languages”, chaired by Prof. Jyotirmaya Sharma, Department of Political Science, University of Hyderabad. The second plenary lecture was delivered by Prof. Farhat Hasan, Department of History, University of Delhi, on “Women’s Voices in the Public Sphere: Gender and Memory in the Nineteenth Century India”. Prof. Sajjad Shahid, Aga Khan Foundation, Hyderabad chaired this session.
The final session of the conference was the Valedictory session. Dr. Dipak Morey Tryambak, CALTS, University of Hyderabad welcomed the guests. Prof. J. Prabhakara Rao, Dean, School of Humanities, University of Hyderabad presided over the function. Dr. Sriparna Das, CALTS, University of Hyderabad gave a brief report on the 3-day Conference. Prof. B. J. Rao, Vice Chancellor, University of Hyderabad was the Chief Guest of the function. Prof. Shagufta Shaheen, Dean, School of Languages, Linguistics and Indology, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad was the Guest of Honour. Prof. Syed Imtiaz Husnain, Maulana Azad Chair Professor, MANUU and Advisor of the Conference gave his remarks on the conference. Prof. Girish Nath Jha, Chairman, CSTT, New Delhi delivered the valedictory address titled “Requirements for Educational Technology in India”. The conference ended with the formal vote of thanks proposed by Prof. S. Arulmozi, CALTS, University of Hyderabad.