<span style="color: #222222;">Manipur Governor La. Ganesan said that Manipuri language, one of the 22 scheduled languages under the Constitution of India, with its own script is regarded as the most advanced of the Tibeto-Burmese languages spoken in India.<br />''</span><br />''Speaking at the ceremony of 12th Manipur State Award for Literature held at Imphal this afternoon, the Governor said that in the fast changing global environment, with English becoming the international language, languages with lesser number of speakers are being wiped out and languages with more speakers are pushing out the smaller ones. He said, it has been assessed that one language or dialect is becoming extinct every two weeks in the world.<br />''<br />''He said that for a language with a limited number of people speaking it, Manipuri and its sister dialects face tremendous challenges for its survival for posterity. So, the richness of Indian literature is mainly contributed by the works in the different Indian languages, many of which await translation to either English or other languages.<br />''<br />''<span style="color: #222222;">The Governor conferred the 12th Manipur State Award for Literature on Beryl Thanga, a 65 year old writer, for his book ' Ei Amadi Adungeigi Ithat' a novel published in the year 2015. The awardee was selected for the year 2020 by a Board of Eminent persons set up by the Government. The Award presentation ceremony was also attended by Chief Minister N. Biren Singh and other ministers.</span><br />