Sindh Adabi Board scheme for world class literature in cold storage
KARACHI: The Sindhi Adabi Board’s (SAB) schemes to translate world class literature in to three languages – English, Urdu and Sindhi — have failed to materialize and neither has it been able to get off the ground an FM Adabi Radio Channel nor bring 500,000 pages of Sindhi literature online as planned.
The board has two important schemes — the Improvement of Facilities and Addition (IFA) of SAB 771 and 772 at a cost of Rs 60 million – which was approved by former minister of education Dr Hamida Khuhro in February 2006. One of the reasons why these schemes are the cold storage is that the secretary of the board has been changed.
According to the board’s records for these two IFA schemes, 46 books of world-class literature were to be translated into Sindhi, Urdu and English. These included a wife range of works such as those of contemporary philosopher Will Durant, Boris Pasternak’s masterpiece ‘Dr Zhivago’, Fyodor Dostoyevskii’s ‘Brothers Karamazov’ in addition to Milton, Homer, DH Lawrence and Winston Churchill.
The FM Adabi Radio was meant to promote Sindh literature, history and music with senior broadcaster and former director of Radio Pakistan Hyderabad Inayat Baloch. Sources said that under these two schemes there were meant to be an auditorium with 350 seats, new offices for the chairman and secretary of the board, a committee room with 25 seats, a display center and a museum gallery with at least 422 main scripts.
The second part of the scheme included an electronic Sindhi-to-English dictionary and 500,000 pages of Sindhi books online. But these plans seem far fetched as the board has not even been able to publish its quarterly literary magazine ‘Mehran’ for nine months.
The pension budget of the board’s retired employees has been spent on paying the salaries of its present employees and seven million rupees are said to be have been withdrawn from the board’s account.
When Daily Times had on Sept 17 contacted the board’s present secretary, Aijaz Mangi, for comment he said he was not able to talk as he was on his way from Mithi to Hyderabad. The next day he parried questions by saying that he would answer them when he returned to Karachi.
The SAB is the only government institution to promote Sindhi literature. It is located at Jamshoro near the University of Sindh. The board was established in March 1955 and since then it has published more than 400 standard books in Sindhi, Persian, Urdu, Arabic and English. The board has published research on contemporary creative literature as well. Some of the names who have been associated with it include officer H. T. Lambrick, Prof. Dr. Annemarie Schimmel, Dr. H. I. Sadarangani, James Burnes, E. B. Eastwick, Henry Pottinger, Mirza Qaleech Beg, G. M. Syed, Pir Ali Muhammad Rashdi, Miran Muhammad Shah.
The board has also published folklore and children’s literature, including anthologies of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, Sachal Sarmast, Khalifo Nabi Bux Laghari, Miyoon Shah Inayat, Hamal Khan Laghari, Makhdoom Talib-ul-Maula.
Source: Daily Times
Date:10/6/2007
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