From Odia to Marathi: Ratnagiri collector's journey of overcoming language barriers

Lakshminarayan Mishra has been serving as collector of Ratnagiri since last year. Before joining as the district administrator, he had worked as chief executive officer (CEO) of Ratnagiri Zilla Parishad. Ordinary citizens feel free to interact with him because he speaks fluently in Marathi.

Ratnagiri: Many non-Marathi speaking IAS officers posted in Maharashtra generally are hesitant to learn the language. But, Ratnagiri district collector Lakhminarayan Mishra is an exception. He hails from Odisha and got his earlier education in Tamil Nadu.

Still, he has a mastery over languages like Hindi, English and Sanskrit. But, he can fluently talk in Maharashtra’s official language Marathi also. He respects the Marathi language and prefers to use it in routine official work.

He interacts in Marathi only

Lakshminarayan Mishra has been serving as collector of Ratnagiri successfully since last year. Before joining as Collector, he had worked as chief executive officer (CEO) of Ratnagiri Zilla Parishad. Ordinary citizens feel free to interact with him because he speaks affectionately and fluently in Marathi. His image is that of a calm and quiet officer and he interacts with every visitor in Marathi only. To learn the language, he extracted some time from his hectic schedule.

Mishra's mother tongue is Odia. As he is educated in Tamil Nadu, he knows Tamil very well, too. He proficient in Hindi, English and Sanskrit also. When he was appointed as an IAS officer in Maharashtra, he had to speak and understand Marathi.

Whenever IAS officers are appointed, they must learn the official language of that state. Not only this, they need to pass the examination in that language. Within a period of four years of appointment, IAS officers need to pass the test in the official language.

Amazing experience to learn Marathi: Mishra

When asked about the experience of learning Marathi, Lakshminarayan Mishra told that, in whichever state one is appointed, one must learn the language of that region. A person can know the problems in that region and solve them if he knows the official language better. 'It was an amazing experience for me to learn Marathi," he said.

Marathi language is very affluent: Mishra

Mishra, while praising the Marathi language said that initially the language seems difficult to understand, but it is very beautiful. "I have worked hard to learn Marathi. Besides, I got the chance to work during two or three elections and so I got ample opportunity to speak in Marathi. I also used audio-visual medium and read a lot in Marathi. I took special efforts to pass the tenth standard Marathi test," he informed.

He further said, "I quite like Marathi historical movies and I compulsorily interact with people in Marathi."