According to a recent debate in the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of the Indian parliament, the 196 Indian endangered languages mentioned in UNESCO’s Atlas of World Languages in Danger did not even feature in the country’s 2001 Census of India Report.

The Indian languages in the ‘danger zone’ are spread across the country, from the far north in Jammu & Kashmir to Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and the North-east in Assam and Manipur. In fact, of the five Indian languages already declared extinct by the UNESCO atlas, three — Ahom, Andro and Sengmai — belonged to the North-east, while Rangkas and Tolcha were spoken in Uttarakhand

Many of these languages sound exotic today, but they will not even be heard of in a few years’ time. When that happens, a vital connection of the Indian people with their rich cultural history will be gone forever.

For more read: http://www.dailypioneer.com/242724/Centre-pays-lip-service-to-languages-facing-extinction.html