South India is better developed than North India says CNN IBN
Yesterday, CNN IBN a news Channel, aired a programme on why South India is better developed than North India. By South they meant the four southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.
While the programme was credible and a lot of statistics were given about higher literacy levels and higher per capita income in the southern states, a certain bias was evident…against South India. As if trying to ‘balance’ out the findings, the anchor gave South India’s so-called ‘bad’ points. She disapproved of the Souths’ loyalty to their own languages and hinted that Hindi should be the national language. (This is an ongoing debate in this country and the speakers of Hindi consider that Hindi should be the national language to ‘unite’ the country rather than English. They have a colonial hangover. They find it difficult to accept that English is a global language today. Why don’t we stop feeling inferior about it?) In my opinion it’s best to use English to ‘unite’ the country and at the same time keep our distinct regional cultures and languages alive. I have written a separate piece on this, in a post titled multi-cultural-multi-racial-india on this same blog.
The anchor also considered South Indians ‘conservative’ where women were concerned as compared to North Indian women. There were no statistics given on this, simply a reference to the ‘Khushboo’ controversy, where there was a huge outcry when Khushboo, a film star, talked about practicing safe sex. This particular controversy was dug up by the anchor, to show the viewer how ‘conservative’ South India is, even though it is so highly developed! I found this attitude not only strange, but also a little stupid, as it is an accepted fact that North India is more conservative where women are concerned. There are historical reasons for this.
I felt that the CNN IBN anchor was biased and therefore wrote a letter to the channel in their feedback form. The letter in an abridged version is given below:-
Ref: Survey on Indian States
As you are a national channel please may I suggest to you a few things.
1) You cannot say that the south is being culturally (and linguistically) conservative. The reason is simple: The south has never tried to impose its culture and language on the north. Its the north who is doing it. In any case, why should one culture do this to any other culture? The Americans did it to the Red Indians…made everybody clones. Please understand that no race should dominate the other. I wonder if you know that if Hindi takes over, the regional language dies - as it happened to the regional language of Punjab - Gurumukhi. On the other hand, if you keep English, our regional languages and culture will thrive. In any case English is the language of the world.
2) Please do not say that the south is conservative where women are concerned. It is conservative compared to whom? The north? The north, where women are not safe, where the statistics show that fewer women are educated?
Tell me - do people from Tamil Nadu say that North Indians should speak Tamil? So why do North Indians say that Tamilians should speak Hindi? I am afraid domination like this never works. North Indians are not our rulers. They are one of us. You are one of us. We are one country. We have to respect each other’s religions, languages and culture.
Thank you
Regards,
Nita Jatar Kulkarni.
Note: I want to state that I do not consider people from any state in India to be superior or inferior to another state. People from each state have their good points. North Indians for example are more entrepreneurial as compared to South Indians. Plus, as an army officers’ daughter who has lived in almost all the states of India, my identity is more Indian than Maharashtrian.
Update January 2008: As the discussion in the comments has debated (rather hotly) the desirability of a national language I wanted to add that National language and Official language are two different things. India has no ‘National Language’ but it has several official languages, namely Hindi and English. In the states there are three official languages as the language of the state is included. This is according to the Constitution of India. An official language means:
…a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other territory. Typically a nation’s official language will be the one used in that nation’s courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a language (often indigenous) a legal status, even if that language is not widely spoken.
The term National Language means:
…a language which has some connection with a people. A national language may for instance represent the national identity of a nation or country. National language may alternatively be a designation given to one or more languages spoken as first languages in the territory of a country.
The term ‘National’ language automatically assumes a person’s ethnic origins, and claims to represent people from the same ethnic background. It is clear that in India there is no such thing…at least not yet. Not until we all inter-marry and become the same race. There are many countries in the world which have more than one national language and they are much smaller than India and less diverse!
Related Reading: Discrimination faced by people from the north east of India
Raj Thackeray’s MNS creating trouble for North Indians in Mumbai
Filed under: Culture, Development, India, Media, News, Politics, Racism, Television | Tagged: English, Hindi, National Language, Official Language
I got a comment on this article saying that as Hindi is closest to Sanskrit (?) and as Sanskrit is the mother of all Indian languages (sure!) - no discussion should take place on this issue! I am afraid I had to delete it as there is no harm in discussing these things. What is not good is violence and spam comments.
In fact, India should continue as it is now, where several languages are considered the ‘official’ languages of India. The government has taken this stand. CNN IBN might disapprove of it, as well as countless other citizens, but no harm comes from a healthy and reasonable debate. As long as facts are not distorted. If I am wrong in any of my facts, I am willing to stand corrected.
I dont know when we will come out of this discussion of North India and South India and start thinking of India as one country.Repeatedly I hear this and you know this is the main problem why britishers ruled us for so long as we were never united.
Coming to the language , I dont know why dont all Indians accept that it is our National language and not a langauge of North or south and we should respect it. Why dont we forget north and south and think Indias national language is Hindi and we should speak it.
Please forget North - South and think as an Indian.
An Indian
Sure Mr. Indian, but we are a democracy, aren’t we? So why Hindi? Because the most populous and the least developed states in India speak it? Would you my friend Indian agree to make Tamil or Marathi or Telugu the national language? It is so obvious that you are a north Indian - you speak as one. Hindi is your mother tongue and we don’t grudge you that. Believe me, we can be Indians and be united without exploiting each other. That’s what the British did. They united us but exploited us. I do not think that Hindi speakers should try to take the place of the British.
Its a pathetic plot to further divide Indians by bringing in this “CUTE” crap that too by a national TV channel. I loathe things like this being discussed on WORLD WIDE WEB n baring our shameful reality to the entire world.
CNN IBN r u a masala channel by the way.
I swear I’ll never watch CNN IBN again.
Dear Nita Kulkarni:
How can you ever say that Sanskrit is mother of all Indian languages!! Don’t get offended but, I am surprised at your (& many others) sheer ignorance Nitaji. For your information, according to linguistics all the south indian languages Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Tulu, Kannada, & Brahui (spoken in Balochistan, Pakistan) & few handful of lesser known languages fall under ‘dravidian’ language group.
They are separate language group and very different from the Indo-European/Indo-Iranian/Indo-Aryan language groups. Sanskrit, Persian etc falls under Indo-Iranian sub-group && along with Latin etc falls under the very broad Indo-European language group.
Morphology, Phonology, Phonetics, Syntax, Semantics etc. define a language and which group it belongs.
I agree that Telugu (my native), Kannada, Malayalam have heavily borrowed Sanskrit vocabulary over the years and to lesser extent Tamil (my other native) also. Just by borrowing 1000 or 2000 Sanskrit words doesn’t put these languages in Indo-European category.
Setting aside all the diversity inside India, I have started learning Hindi out of my own interest, so don’t blame me a chauvinist etc.
Finally, I feel English is the bridge language not only inside India but with outside world too. Undoubtedly it is the “LINGUA FRANCA” and this very English has made me communicate with you. Awaiting your reply.
My mail id is pchandra1(at)gmaildotcom
P. Chandra
wow.. for once i have heard a really balanced remark from a person who is basically from the north but who understands the actual issues. I only can hope that there are more sane ppl like Nita in this country who can understand the real issues here than believing in stererotypes
1. I belive the reason why such issues flame such intense passions is basically because Indians living in one part of the country have asbolutely NO IDEA of what is happening in the other parts of the country. Our text books do a pathetic job of educating us, our dumb ass media and Hindi movies reinforce the WRONG and STUPID stereotypoes and we keep believing that.
2. I totally second the idea of making english the link language allowing every person in our country to speak freely his native tongue. This is very important if we need to keep the lights of tradition going on, since language is the cornerstone of any civilisation/culture.
3. The destruction of the local culture is a very ominous and serious side effect in a country like India if everybody starts speaking what has been magically and arbitrarily assigned as the national language (Hindi).
4. We need to understand that the cliche “Unity in Diversity” goes beyond the words. We are a country that is great because it is a mosaic strung together by the love of our great land. Why do we want to sow ill will and hatred based on false presumptions and notions
Jai Hind
All,
I think we need to travel more in this country to understand
each other better. There are so many good things about all
Indians and we will stop seeing the negative points once we
know them.
Shiva.
Be proud to call ourselves as global Indians. Thanks to our proficiency in English lest we would be fighting for Hindi,Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam,Kannada… and other native Indian languages not known to the outside world. In reality could Hindi alone carry us further in this highly competitive job market? And no wonder English has made us leaders. Hindi is all the more good communicative language like other Indian languages that confine to the respective territories of the people who live there. Be fair and let our children master English that has eventually made Indians proud, raising eyebrows all over the world. We are one- Indians
Thanks Nita for the excellent, concise and objective article. I am from Hyderabad (currently residing in the US), and I am fluent in both Hindi/Urdu and Telugu: both of which I use to communicate with, in the city. I don’t have absolutely any problem with Hindi at all, but it is the assumption of Hindi-speaking people to assume and assert that all Indians SHOULD speak Hindi and forget about conversing in regional languages that irks me to no end. I once went to one of my dearest (Hindi-speaking) friend’s home for lunch and one of his invitees randomly started spewing venom against southerners, unmindful that I was one… it was really disheartening and enraging to find that she didn’t really know how many states or languages are in southern India… except to group them all by the term ‘Madrasi’: uttered in a contemptuous manner like the N***er word used in the US in the very recent past.
If everybody were respectful of each others’ differences and highlight our similarities, India would be a better place and Indians respected: otherwise shame on us!
I want to thank all those who came here and wrote comments. I feel emotionally charged where this subject is concerned but do not meet like-minded people, or even people who want to discuss this subject objectively.
There is something I have to add:
Hindi has been made the national language arbitarily - as more than one person said. I agree that it is an imposition. The government thinks it’s done the rest of India a favour by allowing ‘official’ languages. The reason given by the government for making Hindi the national language is that the mother tongue of the majority of Indians is Hindi.
Now tell me, do we forcibly convert people to Hinduism because the religion of the majority is Hinduism? Is this our culture? Is this what our rich tradition and history have taught us?
Or is this what the invaders have taught us?
Also, I wish that my mother tongue Marathi is revived in Maharashtra. I know that there are people who are working for this. I keep telling my children to speak Marathi, read Marathi. My younger daughter told me,’Aai, everyone speaks Bumbaiyya Hindi now, which is a mix of Marathi and Hindi. Why do we need Marathi?’
That is what saddens me. Hindi has taken over the younger generation. They make do with an inferior Hindi. And speaking inferior Hindi does not endear themselves to the Hindi speaking lot. My elder daughter told me the other day, ‘Hindi speaking people look down on us for not speaking shudh Hindi.’
It’s a no-win situation. As long as we continue to be dominated by the skewed policies of the government, non-Hindi speaking people will continue to suffer.
This comment was sent to me by email by C.Ratnam. It also adds to the point made by Mr. Joglekar about English being an elite language. As Mr. Ratnam says, the underpriviliged classes too can learn English.
My comments as under :
1. Hindi is the most popular language in our country- percentage wise Hindi is way ahead of any other language spoken in our country including English.
2. While attempts were made in late Nehruvian era to make Hindi as the official language- since then no one has ever made an attempt to declare Hindi as the official language.
3. Opposition to Hindi is more political presently and presently only paraochial and opportunist sections of society specially in Southern states raise bogey of Hindi imposition to score points over their political opponents.
4. A beginning has been made in Some Northern States who have alloocated funds for propagation of Tamil and other South Indian languages and this erxercise will gather steam in coming years if politics is kept out of language controversy by politicians who exploit whatever differences exist in our social fabric.
North-South divide is there and must be there but overall differences are mellowing and narrowing progressively due to the civilizational traits of Indians. The underlining quality of channels like CNN-IBN is to segregate present day situation from historical facts so that we again repeat historical wrongs of past. Talking hostory on CNN_IBN channel is like showing red rag to a bull. Any panelist attempting to bring in some semblance of truth and honesty in discussions is interrupted by the shrillness of co panelists and the anchor himself/herself. Ultimately there is a Farwa of Yes or No by the anchor but same panelist is calm and most obedient listener for many minutes for some one speaking most atrocious lies about our past, culture and nationhood.
5. CNN-IBN network is an offshoot of Pranoy Roy stable. It raises its ratings by sensationalising differences in our country rather than highlighting the factors that unite us. North-South divide, Aryan invasion, Dravidian-Aryan divide, Hindu-Muslim differences- Babri Masjid are its pet themes. Most of the panelists are same over past many years and they are given the facility of a selected audience. The anchors are intellectually deficient intent on just sensationalism and theatrical debates to entertain their audiences.
Mr. Sippy’s comments require a rejoinder.
1. CNN/IBN has nothing to do with Mr. Prannoy Roy and NDTV.
2. The whole point of Ms Nita’s article was that if we want to preserve the unique cultural fabric of India, we MUST preserve the “regional” languages.
Keeping English as the national language, the government language and the language of business (not to mention exports) and downgrading Hindi (except as a bazaar language in states where it is Not the mother tongue is the best way of ensuring this. Emphasis on English has the additional advantage that the presently backward groups can come up fast by learning English rather than Hindi (or even their own regional language). There are no so many jobs that require first a smattering, and then more and more English.
2. Saying that it is only a few persons in South India who object to Hindi as national language amounts to saying by implication that 200+ million persons are a neglible number. These people recognise that with Hindi (and English) to be learnt will in 50 years mean the death of their own languages.
3. Saying that a few North Indian states are taking steps to teach Tamil, is like saying that Hindi and Telegu are available in Colleges in America. Interesting, but totally irrelevant to the problem at hand.
Mr Sippy seems to be looking at the world from blinkered North Indian goggles!
JGK
===========
Where is the source of your claim that Punjabi is dead in punjab. Gurmukhi by the way isn’t a language its the alphabet in which Punjabi is Written, like Devnaagri is to Hindi.
I claim here that Punjabi is well and alive, and lots of people read write and converse in punjabi all over the world.
I agree to your point though, that there should be no national language
If you are a Punjabi living in India you know more than me. I gathered what I know from Punjabis themselves, scores of Punjabi families in fact. I lived in Delhi for a long time. I was told that they don’t speak Gurmukhi at home anymore…just Hindi. Only the older generation speaks Gurmukhi they said. That was how I reached my conclusion
wat states r in north india u r talking about as in south u talk about four.
I am speaking of the states which have Hindi as their mother tongue. If you mean the development statistics given by CNN IBN, then Punjab has been included. But actually here the issue is really not the development aspect, but the language aspect. That is what really bothered me - the attitude of the anchor. Her absolute conviction that South India was being a ‘bad boy’ because of the disagreement about language.
Rejoinder to Mr Krishnayas comments on my mail
I stand by my description of CNN-IBN network being an “offshoot” of Pranoy Roy stable- After all Rajdeep was an undergraduate in Roys NDTV for past many years- and his style even now rakes of his past association.
Next - Who is looking with blinkered goggles is evident from the statements of Mr Krishnaya and putting words in my mouth to justify his actions. Can any one find from my statement that I am against Regional languages? From Mr Krishanayas rejoinder I surmise that he wants to invent an imaginary critic of his regional biased approach.
If stating that differences between North And south are mellowing down and are restricted only to opportunist sections of society is “wearing blinkered google” than I am proud of these goggles and will wear them for ever.
When I state that regional languages of South are being encouraged and patronised in other states- Mr Krishnayya counters this by comparing teaching of Regional languages of South in Rest of Indian States with teaching of languages in America. Is America in India or does the gentleman think that states other than south Indian States are as alien to south as America?
No questions asked as Mr Krishnaya represents and speaks on behalf of 200 + individuals! ( with or without blinkers )
Anyway while mailing this statement I am hoked to same CNN_IBN network where leading panelists from South and audiences in Bangalore are interacting at Infosys campus. I hope Mr Krishnaya has been watching the same. At least a few members of audience and a few panelists numbering 7-8 have been talking about their affinity for Hindi (tragically for a Bazari language to quote Mr Krishnaya). I hope the gentleman deducts these half a dozen South Indians from 200 + he claims to represent. Finally Mr Krishnaya should be informed that nearly all the South Indians who are present in our city and so many other Indian cities speak fluent “Non Bazari” Hindi and in many cases outperform North Indian brothers in speaking “shudh” Hindi. How will Mr Krishnaya describe this phenomenon - without bothering about “blinkered” visions of North Indians !
L.T.Sippy
I must add something here. If there are non-hindi speaking people turning to Hindi, that is exactly what South Indians want to prevent because it can means a neglecting of the mother tongue. If both Hindi and the mother tongue can survive alongwith English, it would be an ideal situation, wouldn’t it? Unfortunately this is not happening and I fear that in 50 years or so people will forget their mother tongues and alongwith it their regional cultures.
I read an interesting article recently which said that in Pakistan there is resentment about the imposition of Urdu. Apparently, the regional languages there have suffered greatly. If this is so, it is indeed very sad.
par is the central issue of the superiority of south over north…that is nothing but crass sensationalism…I think the issue to be discussed is the CNN IBN airing such a view…pure TRP gaining tactics…we Indians are so attracted to these things like a moth to a flame…
free expression is not for Indian mentality…people are too insecure for frank comments or accepting them…including me…
Ms AV,
Please refrain from making personal remarks about me or anyone else on this forum. You are welcome to your views but any personal remarks will be edited out.
Ms ps, the word you used is ‘dialects’. That says a lot.
Thank you.
Its interesting to take part in this discussion.
I am basically from Tamilnadu and lived about 10 years in Hyderabad and presently working South Africa. My little experience with Indians abroad shows me that we, as Indians, feel not that we are from the same country. Though in the vision of others, we are understood to be Indians but not amongst us. We stand divided among ourselves. If only, the leaders of the Independence era had not been visionary like the young african nations, we would have divided into many countries and we would have no longer have remained as Indians. I may sound a bit a harsh. But it’s the reality.
An Andhrite feels a Tamilian is his rival abroad…The North Indian feels that South Indians are not supposed to be working with them…there is a big gap between the minds. We are still hanging on one statement UNITY IN DIVERSITY because of the incapability to divide from India. If History is recalled, we could see that Punjab and Tamil Nadu are never happy being a part of India. Kannada and Tamil Nadu cannot sail together. Sikkim feels threatened being a part of India. J&K is a never ending problem.
Well, where we stand now? Thank God for the huge population and the consequences of it. The Indians living in India cannot think of anything except survival, the competition, and their own problems. If the population of India had been 1/3rd of the present population, there could have been genocides in India and India could have turned out to be a subcontinent of poverty, underdevelopment and so on…may be it would have turned out to be an Africa…
The caste problem is still there in India as severe as tribalism in Africa. There is poverty in India as comparable as to Africa. There are extremist groups of all kinds present in India as many as in Africa. There are naxalites, fundamentalists of all religions, terrorists, corruption and communal leaders.
The only difference between Africa and India is that we understood and faced the competition and the technology of the developed world whereas Africa is still trying to resolve its infights.
What will be the situation of India if once it reaches a sophisticated status, once it becomes ” A DEVELOPED WORLD”?
What will be the threat posed by the existing diversities? How severe will they act if they exist?
What would be the state of mind of the linguistically divided states and the extreme fundamentalistic groups when India becomes a DEVELOPED NATION?
These are questions one must answer.
How exactly India defines her aim and meaning of a DEVELOPED NATION? Of course, India can not think of becoming a DEVELOPED in the lines of America or Europe.
Ofcourse we will always remain as one country. We will not survive otherwise and each region knows this. And I believe one day we will overtake some of the developed countries in terms of development.
If there are secessionist movements today it is only because they feel their diversity is not being taken into account. It is important for us to acknowledge this diversity and work with it. There is no point in being hypocritical and pretending that we Indians are the same all over. Let’s face it: We are not the same. That is why a Tamilian and a Punjabi feel so different from each other. They are different! So let’s not blame ourselves for feeling different. How can we feel the same when we are not?
I think it’s amazing that we are all together today. Look at Europe. It got split into small little countries because of the language and culture differences. And today, amazingly they are uniting again, under the flag of EU. It makes economic sense.
I whole heartedly agree with the author that the regional languages should remain in India. Take any book on India, the first thing you would see is, how multi-cultural, multi-racial pluralistic society India is.
As for the question, why don’t the Tamils learn Hindi, as a Tamil my answer has always been this: If we have the necessity to learn it, we will. Emotions aside, why do we learn a language? To communicate with each other, so dont bring your bimaru politics in this issue.
And I find it odd that some North Indians, specifically U.P bhaiiyas, think that not speaking Hindi is un-Indian and amounts to treason. There are countless Tamils, Malayalees, Kannadigas and Telugus who lost their lives for Indian freedom. They are still are loosing lives at our border for our freedom. We pay the same tax that you do and we are as patriotic as any Hindi speaker.
For any non-Hindi speaking Indian, there is no incentive to speak Hindi. For him, Hindi is as alien as English. So learning English makes much more sense rather than learning Hindi.
How is English the world language? Population? Then Mandarin takes the cake. Fastest growing?… pray tell me on what basis.
We learn English not to bridge the divide between Indians, but for better career opportunities. For H1s and IT positions abroad(most particularly for the south Indians).
If Hindi provided the same financial opportunities, you’d all be clamouring to take classes.
This is most evident at how people all over the world have recognised the importance of learning Chinese to do business with China, but no one seems to be rushing to learn ANY Indian language for profitable purposes.
Also, your argument that English rather than Hindi permits you to maintain your ‘regional’ identity is wrong. Walk to a college, and notice how there are two distinct groups, one that speak much better English, but falter at any Indian language, and another that prefers the regional language.
Thankfully my identity is of a melting pot called Mumbai, where I talk to diversified friends in Hindi, which although isn’t my mother tongue, makes me feel more Indian.
Dear Mr. English,
The term world language refers to a language spoken all over the world. Mandarin does not qualify.
Ofcourse, I agree with you that we learn English for better career opportunities.
Also, I did not say that English makes you retain your regional identity. I said speaking one’s regional language helps maintain one’s regional identity.
As for these two groups of people that you speak of I have this to say: Very often you find that a group in college which speaks a regional language belong to one region. A group which speaks English usually includes people from different regions. I am comfortable with both Marathi and English but if I am with people from different regions I speak English even if there is a Maharashtrian present.
Ofcourse, there are groups which are more familiar with English than their regional language. I do not want to go into the reasons as to why they have neglected their mother tongue. All I want to say is that these people are as ‘Indian’ as anybody else. Don’t forget that both Jinnah and Nehru were more comfortable with English than their regional language but they were very much Indians.
I believe that the test of being Indian is love for your country, not speaking a particular language. I believe that if a person is corrupt(black money), unproductive (work-wise) or indifferent to environmental issues then this person is very ‘unIndian’ in my eyes.
Interestingly, Switzerland has as many as four national languages (German, Italian, French and Rumantsch) as people from different stock reside here. English is used as a link langauge. No language is forced upon people. As the German part is economically better developed, people scramble to learn German so they can get better jobs.
If one just left it to people, if one gave them freedom of choice, then automatically they would try to learn the language of a state that was economically ahead.
@Vijai
“An Andhrite feels a Tamilian is his rival abroad…The North Indian feels that South Indians are not supposed to be working with them…there is a big gap between the minds. We are still hanging on one statement UNITY IN DIVERSITY because of the incapability to divide from India. If History is recalled, we could see that Punjab and Tamil Nadu are never happy being a part of India. Kannada and Tamil Nadu cannot sail together. Sikkim feels threatened being a part of India. J&K is a never ending problem.”
How did you reach the above conclusion? If it was personal experience or something, then I believe more of your personal attitude problem. Anywhere I have been to, I have found Andhrites and Tamilians getting along well, simply because both of them share one common trait - don’t understand Hindi..
The strength of individuals, culture, nation or language depends on the economy. Before india took the path of liberalisation important investments and investors were Hindi speaking people that is the reason why most investments went to North India and learning Hindi is important. Knowing Tamil or Telugu is of great economic value. After india initiated economic liberalization, the capital is invested in places where they get best returns and hence quality of workforce is very important so TamilNadu and AP is good. So knowing and speaking English makes better economic sense than knowing Hindi.
English Language is famous because it is used by the most economically powerful country in the world USA. Don’t trust your politicians who say Tamil is great, Hindi is great , Telugu is great. The language is great by economic sense it makes for people to learn that language.
Hi Saravanan. I am not at all surprised by what you have described. Hindi speakers are often arrogant about their language and this is creating deep resentment amongst those who have pride in their own culture and identity.
hey nita amazing points u have brought out ……..
Your suggestion about an artificially constructed language seems interesting, but usually languages evolve and are not made. Therefore this seems unworkable.
As for Tulu being the language, I think the criteria for a link language should be the vocabulary, history, literature and overall richness of the language. In this case Telugu will win hands down.
Frankly to me it doesn’t matter whether a language is ‘foreign’ or ‘imperialistic’. I had mentioned this in my original post. If I have an objection to Hindi, it is not because it belongs to ‘different’ people, but because I am absolutely convinced that forcing any one single Indian language down people’s throats (compulsory teaching of Hindi in schools) kills regional language and culture…eventually.
You do not agree to this. Well, I respect your opinion. You are entitled to it.
Time will prove me right. A few more generations and Indians will speak only Hindi and/or English. The Hindi lobby will win because they are the majority in parliament.
It’s a sad thing for India’s rich culture and diversity of languages. We are heading for a pan Indian identity. Do read ‘Being Indian’, a book by Pavan K Varma. He is ofcourse all for Hindi. He thinks it’s a very good thing that all Indians will eventually have this pan-Indian identity. Naturally, we will all relate to each other far better.
My blog has points and links to various issues involved in the case of Tamil Nadu and Hindi and popular misconceptions - check it out if you want to:
vetri-vel
soth india is more developed than north
south india has good culture.
mainly 4 langauges are spoken telugu,kannada,tamil and malayalam.
of all these telugu,tamil and kannada are more ancient.
even in tamil theer are lots of sanskrit words.all south indian languages
are pure langauges but by invansion of aryans many sanskrit words
enetred soth india.
Telugu is widely spoken among dravidian langauges with more than 15 crore
telugus across the world.
Even tamil is next widely spoken to telugu with abt 8 crores across the world.
kananda and malayalam have 5 crore population to their credit.
telugu is sweetest langauge among dravidian langauges.tamil is ancient.
south indians watch only their movies.
today telugu and tamil movies collectively bring more revenue than hindi films.
telugu movies are released in andhra,chennai,karnataka,bangalore,orissa,
mumbai,pune,usa,uk,canada,malayasia,singapore,uae,
muscat,dubai,australia,newzealand.even tamil movies are released acrooss the world.
telugu and tamil movies have national stars like chirajeevi,rajini kanth,kamal
haasan,nagarjuna etc.
if one north indian langauge is made national langauge and one north indian
langauge is made ancient(sanskrit).tamil is made ancient in the same way make telugu as national langauge.
as hindi is widely spoken language in north it is made national language.
in the same way telugu is widely spoken among dravidian langauges.
so make telugu the 2nd national language of india
well going dude ramesh!!! before you decide telgu as the second national language I would suggest you to consult with some tamil speaking people. They might have diffreent opinions.
As for the north indians there is no such efforts to take over south by spreading their language. so guys cool down!! thats not going to happen. I am form north and I have never seen a discussion anywhere among the people regarding hindi as a national language. I mean who cares if somebody is learning hindi or not? how come it benefits me if some people learn hindi? and everyone has a choice to speak what ever language he/she wants to… I speak hindi and I love it ….who knows how many words are there form sanskrit and how many from arabic or persian..and plz don’t bring up the issue of cultural and racial superiority it reminds me of Nazis…
I am surprised to read that Punjabi language is dead. Punjabi is the most widely spoken language in Sub continent. 60% of people in Pakistan speak punjabi and a large number speaks in India. Punjabi music has realy helped punjabi language in last few years. How come we can have so much popular punjabi music all over the world if punjabi language is dead.
Punjabi is the 2nd biggest language in Subcontinent after Hindi/Urdu.
I am actually not talking of Pakistan.
Also, I should have said the Punjabi language is declining, not dead. In any case, this is my personal opinion and definitely not based on any statistics. Therefore I accept that there are those who have other opinions. I am also very open to be convinced that the Punjabi language is thriving and Punjabis speak Punjabi at home (not Hindi) but for this I need statistics.
After humbly worshipping at the feet of Nitaji for writing this amazing column, I must say the following.
First of all, thank you Nitaji for such excellent, unbiased opinion.
Whereas some people here are truly expressing unbiased opinion, most others offer extremely prejudiced comments masquerading as fair/unbiased remarks. This is much like the Fox News Chaneel here in USA trying to promote themselves as “fair and balanced” when they are really republican cronies.
Anyone that thinks the country must officially adopt this language or that must ask themselves two questions:
1. Is this fair for all Indians?
2. Will this be useful for progress?
English is the only lang that passes both tests. Hindi fails both. It fails the first question because many people already know hindi as it is their mother tongue, but the others have to learn it (now everyone must learn english other than their mother tongue, so this is fair). How exactly will Hindi help in progress? Without english, the country cannot compete in a global economy. India is doing so well today only because most indians are very good at english.
Again, my humble thanks to Nitaji for this post. Will continue visiting your blog. I’m now a fan.
First of all your article was talking abt the differences in cultures. But in reply people start talking about languages. Now everyone should agree that english is the only global language. And it is taking control over other regional languages including Hindi. Most people in cities now speak in Hinglish or in pure english. As you can see the most spoken language in India is Hindi (more than 500 million). wiki list of states population
Where other languages stand below 100 million separatly. Hindi is becoming popular or you can say it is reviving just because of Bollywood and Tv serials. Now why south india is conservative as compare to north india then you have to understand a little bit of history. As invaders attacked and ruled over northern india those people adapted themselves and culture was influenced by arab, greek, mongolian and mid asian cultures. Also the theories about aryan invasion is also not completely correct. Why we people belive in same god from north india to south india like lord shiva. The most sacred place for shiva is Varanasi (kashi) is in north india. Still the same lingas are worshipped in south india in same form. So whats the difference? nothing actually….
“I personally belive Sanskrit is the only language which can represent all aspects of India and also is fair to everybody. I know many southies would be ready to counter me saying..sanskrit has nothing to do with dravidian languages, but they are wrong. I am a linguist and have great interest in dravidian languages and sanskrit.
I know that sanskrit’s underbelly has a lot of dravidian root words, and also vice versa”
As I said, Sanskrit or Hindi or Marathi it does not matter. And as for your linguistic proof, a simple answer would be Sanksrit is a part of Indo-European language stream while Dravidian is not.
“Infact I think the southerners would fair better in sanskrit than the northerners”
Seriously, the point is, we DONT need another language to learn, if we want to learn one more, we will very well learn Hindi, I want to speak my language, and I dont want to learn another to be in the Union.
“Also sanskrit is a very advanced language in all senses. we all who are informed enough know that it is the only language in the world with an unambigous structure.”
Again, irrelevant. I’m not going to learn a language coz its very advanced. I learnt tamil to talk to my neigbours, I learnt Hindi to talk to the Northeners, and English for the Non-Indians. But its the choice I made.
“It is our historical language.
It is the literary language of our civilization.
It is the language of our scriptures.
It is the language in which our great thinkers thought.
The various ancient works in medicine, philosophy, science, math and literature were written in it.
In short it represnt the essence of our civilization.”
So tamil, telugu, kannada is not historical?? Why do they call tamil as classical then?
Scripture? How many even know “the” scriptures?? I dont. And hindus does not follow the scriptures black and white.
Great thinkers?? You are reading too much between the lines. It was the pseudo superior mentality of a tribe. I know great thinkers in regional languages. Thiruvalluvar for example.
Regional languages represent the essence of Indian civilization, not some dead, godly language like sanskrit. If its not for the superior mentality of some people Sanskrit wouldve survived.
“English can sure serve as our link language but it can never represent India’s soul”
And you say, by teaching another non native language, it will represent India’s soul? Ridiculous.
I believe that foreign investment should not be allowed in Indian Media. Becuase then it makes the media biased and that is the biggest harm to the Nation’s democracy and security.
I don’t think any of the western countries like US, France or Britain will allow some forign companies to own the stake of the media in their countries. Now, if India will try to do the same it will be called anti democratic move. Why is that????
Nita ,
I quite like yr attitude & if only every Indian could have this kind of an attitude & look at each other on par our country would a developed country by now. Every race , every region has some characteristics which makes them more proficient in some fields & less proficient in some others . If we could understand our strengths well most of the job is done. Seriously , tired of this never-ending debate on language . We , Indians should brush these things aside & start thinking about marching forward .. We have enought talent across the country to make it big .
SANSKRIT……….AND ONLY SANSKRIT……IS THE MOTHER OF ALL LANGUAGES AND THE USAGE OF IT CAN BE FOUND IN A TIME PERIOD AS ANCIENT THAT HISTROY DARE NOT PEEK INTO IT!!!!!!! SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL, SANSKRIT HAS LED THE DEVELOPMENTS IN THE GREATEST CIVILIZATION IN THE WORLD…….THROUGH SANSKRIT, HAVE COME THE MOST MODERN, MOST SCIENTIFIC AND ENLIGHTENED THOUGHTS IN ALL FIELDS, THAT MANKIND HAS EVER BEEN ABLE TO ACHIEVE.
THE GREAT VEDAS, UPANISHADS AND OTHER SHASTRAS ARE PROOF ENOUGH FOR THIS.
Sanskrit is not the mother of all languages.It belongs to the indo-european language family.There is no proof to say that sanskrit all languages of the world evolved from sanskrit.What is the “GREATEST CIVILIZATION ” on you are taking about? Are you refering to INDUS?? in that case its not Aryan/Sanskrit…
Well after reading all these facts i can see even though india is becoming more financially strong day by day but people mind are getting insecure at the same rate. Let me ask what diference it makes if one speaks hindi and other speaks tamil or malayalam at the language main purpose is to comunicate if both person can comunicate what ever it means then whats the problem. And the end of the day even though hindi is our national language still people prefer english like born americans. So what i feel every one have the right the speak thieir own language. And north south bullshits which i been hearing for long time i feel is just a wastage of time and its completly mental illnes of people who thinks. why cant people spens that time is some productive stuff instead thinking who is better south or north. At the end of day we are all indias and this logic. out side india say in europe there is ahrdly any difference between indians and nigers.
so guys respect ur country men. if north indian or south indian say we are supierior then best way of answering is go to hell!!!!!!
simply SOUTH IS THE BEST.. THESE ARE FIVE STAR PEOPLE WHOM I HAVE LOTS AND TONS TO SAY ABOUT…THIS SPACE IS LESS ENOUGH TO WRITE
AND A SHOCK FOR NORTHENERS
I M A NORTH INDIAN CAME TO TAMILNADU IN 2004
All,
After reading all the views i think the blog started nicely as South/North India development disparity but now it looks more of a Hindi hatred site.
Also, please bear in mind all Hindi speaking people are not arrogant just like not all the Tamils, Telugus, Kannadigas etc. after staying in several states i feel there are exceptions everywhere.
Anyways we all know there is no end to this discussion and we speak the language as per our requirements and there is no need to feel insecured our be over protective about any particular language.
Cheers!
Vicky, this is not a Hindi hatred site. If you find a single hate remark please bring it to my notice and I shall delete it. We are all having a discussion here and all opinions are welcome, including yours.
All hate mail is deleted promptly. Abuse mails are sick and hatred against any community is bad. However if a particular community feels that another community is being racist towards them and they give examples they are welcome to say so- politely.
In fact most of these comments have added to my knowledge. I am grateful to the commentators for sharing with me their knowledge and their feelings. If you do not like to discuss this issue, it is your wish.
Good post. I fully agree that nobdy in India should be forced to speack/adaopt Hindi unless they want to. Why would a Tamilian try to learn/Speak in Hindi while being in Tamilnadu when is own mother tongues has rich heritage and is 1000s of years old. Don’t the northies think it would be an insult to even expect that Tamilians should speak in Hindi when in Tamilnadu.
I remember reading an article long time back by Swaminathan Ankeleshwar Iyer…how the so called anti-india dravidian parties(from TamilNadu) of the fifties and sixties were responsible for the current economic boom? They are to be credited for stopping a proposed one language formula (only Hindi) and suggested English to remain as the link language that was accepted by Nehru. Today the big talk about IT, BPO etc would not have happened otherwise.
What I feel important is it is good if people want to learn or speak hindi, but never force any one. You can suggest it instead. I guess many south people today speak better hindi along with sanskrit.
i feel no mater if ur south indian or north indian after all we all are indian. Outside india we all are same. I remember my punjabi friend faced the victim of racism in germany because of his turban on the other hand other Indian without turban is left alone. Although this doesn’t prove anything, what I mean to say is love ur countrymen.
if israeli thinks like indians do u think today they have any existance? I live in Israel and for them north and south doesn’t matter what matter is love for their nation.
So only thing I say is that every language is beautiful no matter Hindi, Punjabi or Tamil, Malayalam.
and i suggest north and south people to please read indians geography.
north indians people please for god sake dont call any thing below delhi as south.
south people please see there is east india west india and central india.
I am writing this because one israeli told me why indian people are so stupid that they dont even know their geopgraphy u can imagine how bad it feels.
Well, my ardent feelings regarding the North/south india discussion are bit towards south. Most of the south indians are amiable and they mix up with eveyone no matter which part of india they hail from, may be it’s because of increase in literacy level.
I observed many times when North indians mocked and were Sarcastic towards South indians, They ill treated the south. Even i was ill treated. North indians are more belligerent towards south indians. On a whole we are Indians, we have to remember it.
The literacy level of the north i think should be increased to much extent.
May be, regionalism hinders the development of the Country.
i just want to comment on what vikas_israel has said, he quoted that “Outside india we all are same.”
sir, even in India we are same………….
Maintain Unity and Make India Prosperous.
one good idea would be to speak Hindi if ur a native hind speaker when u are in Hindi speaking areas and speak English(or the language of the region ur in IF u know that language) when ur outside Hindi speaking areas. the same can be done for other areas. Tamil speakers could speak Tamil in tamilnadu and English elsewhere else(or the language of the region they are in IF they knew it). saves everyone a lot of trouble and prevents any ill feelings.
Ps:
as for the post my mr srinivas Iyer
“It is our historical language.
It is the literary language of our civilization.
It is the language of our scriptures.
It is the language in which our great thinkers thought.
The various ancient works in medicine, philosophy, science, math and literature were written in it.
In short it represent the essence of our civilization.”
historical in what way?….historical in the north Indian regions and historical Only after around 1500 bc.there are equally historical languages all over India
It was the literary language of the regions that were in north India. certainly not south India. Tamil has a literary tradition as much long as well as copious
“scriptures”? well ask a normal Indian if he knows the “scriptures”. nope. and how come only the Vedas are called the “scriptures”? Hinduism is NOT exclusive to the Vedas. There are many many more aspects of Hinduism that pre-date the Vedas and have their origin in the Indus valley civilization. Siva, himself is a god of the Indus valley civilization co-opted into Vedic Hinduism.Not to mention most of the goddesses found in Hinduism nowadays(there were no goddesses in the Aryan culture)
“great thinkers”? u should have said “some of the great thinkers” cos to say “its the language of our great thinkers” would be tatamount to saying that there were no great thinkers outside the Sanskrit speaking people. That comment seems ethnocentric.
there are many a great thinkers who never spoke Sanskrit but wrote living philosophies and literary works that survive to this day
and finally, Sanskrit is a dead language now. no use speaks it in day-to-day life.
so Sanskrit is not “in shot a representation of the essence of our civilization” but a part of the essence of our civilization
In future telugu is going to national level language because
there 20 crores people speak telugu all south india have speak
telugu language thats why telugu is the national language
not hindi.
Nat, your experience touched a chord in me. I have similar experiences in Delhi where I lived for several years. Because I had spent a certain part of my childhood in Africa and had never been able to pick up Hindi very well, I found it very difficult to communicate with people in Delhi. The experiences had hurt me and I guess I just buried them as it is not possible to change the attitude of the people which has been given an official sanction by the government of India. But deep in my heart those experiences developed in me a certain resentment. Now even though I speak Hindi much better, I only speak it to those who do not understand English. I think I am a moderate, I am willing to converse in Hindi with people who genuinely do not understand English but I am very stubborn about it when I meet English speaking people. In any case even today I cannot express myself properly in Hindi, I can do it in Marathi and English.
Why just yesterday a young college girl insisted on speaking Hindi with me (I know her). She spoke Hindi I replied in English. She looked at me strangely!
Well i agree with you Nita about people reaction in Delhi. I am orginally from kerala i bought up in punjab. Right from the childhood i heard the tag of people calling me madrassi. Well initially it dint bothered me much. But as i grown older i started to develop dislike toward people of that region. i belive its normal physcology and i tried to make international friend whihc i felt more comfortable in dealing with.
But i made a point to speak better punjabi than punjabi people which i do and i proudly say .
And today i live with different people with different race and religion in different nation but i feel more comfortable here like a home . And i aways wonder if other nation people can respect indians whats matter with north people respecting south or vice versa u can say sometiems. I meet many indians here in israel i speak to them isppective of thir caste and place they comes from. But if i feel some one is showing attittude then i treat them like visitor. that means u come here for vist finsih ur work and get lost. Many israeli sometimes appreciated my this bevaiour because they feel if ur country men treat u like shit then better to treat the same way.
If you see today Indian growth. South played majour role in IT.
North indians have done pritty good job in business.
So both region have played major role in indias sucess.
Microsoft chairman bill gates said south indian people are second most smartest poople in world aftre chineese