By Express News Service

VIJAYAWADA: Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu emphasised the need to “preserve our rich cultural and linguistic heritage” and urged everyone to make efforts, individually and collectively for the same.The V-P made these remarks during the virtual release of the 100th book of the Vanguri Foundation of America on Sunday. The book titled ‘7va Prapancha Sahiti Sadassu Sabha Vishesha Sanchika’ is based on the 7th World Telugu Literary Summit organised by the Vanguri Foundation of America in collaboration with other Telugu cultural organisations in October last year.

Congratulating the editors, authors and publishers for dedicating the book to renowned singer  SP Balasubrahmanyam, Venkaiah Naidu called for more such initiatives to promote the rich cultural heritage. He also lauded the Vanguri Foundation for organising Telugu language conferences over the past 27 years.
Noting that the emergence of the internet and digital technologies provide new opportunities for the preservation and development of languages, the Vice-President called for making effective use of these technologies. “The day our language is forgotten, our culture will also disappear,” he said adding that our ancient literature should be brought closer to the youth.

The Vice-President urged the organisations working for the Telugu language to take up the responsibility of making the rich literary wealth of Telugu available to everyone. Stressing the need to make the traditional vocabulary accessible to everyone, he said that it is necessary to use existing words effectively and create new Telugu words in line with changing trends. The event was attended by representatives of the Telugu diaspora from all over the world, Telugu language enthusiasts and Telugu writers, including Vanguri Chitten Raju, founder of the Vanguri Foundation of America, and Vamsiramaraju, founder of Vamsi Arts Theatre.