Will English dominate India in another fifty years?
English is now the third most important language in India if one goes by the medium of instruction at upper primary level. That’s significant in a country of 22 official languages. Hindi is still way ahead which isn’t surprising as Hindi speaking states are more populated and even when it comes to the number of states, Hindi is a language which is spread across several states (in the north). Here are the figures for enrolment (from National University for Education Planning and Administration (NUEPA):
- About 50 percent of students at the upper primary level study in Hindi-medium schools
- About 8 percent study in Marathi medium schools
- About 6 percent of students study in English medium schools
More kids go to English medium schools than these figures show
It’s important to realise that these figures do not give the true picture as there are a huge number of unrecognized schools on the Indian educational landscape and many of these are English medium schools. A study in Punjab had revealed that about 26 percent of students of the total number enrolled study in unrecognised schools, and these unrecognized schools often have better infrastructure and facilities than government schools. This is probably true of other states as well and this means that our researchers and planners are “missing the visible but unseen in their analysis of the current enrolment and their plans to provide education for all.”
What I am trying to say is that English has far more followers that the government figures show.
Startling growth of English medium schools
According to government figures, enrolment in English medium schools (upper primary) is at an all-time high, having increased a sharp 74 percent in just three years – during 2003-2006.
The most dramatic increases are in the southern states. Only two Hindi speaking states (Punjab and Himachal Pradesh) show significant increases in enrolment in English medium schools.
- Andhra Pradesh – 100 percent increase (from 10.6 lakh to 20.9 lakh)
- Tamil Nadu – 17 percent increase (from 14.7 lakh to 17.2 lakh)
- Maharashtra – 12 percent increase (10.6 lakh to 11.9 lakh)
- Punjab (up by 93,000) and Himachal Pradesh – both 4 percent increase each
- Karnataka – 2 percent increase
- Kerala – 3 percent increase (from 2.4 lakh to 3.2 lakh)
Percentage figures for Gujarat were not available but the actual number of students studying in English medium schools has gone by 60,000 in the state. In Rajasthan the number is 30000 which isn’t a bad figure at all although lower than the states mentioned above. Other Hindi speaking states do not show significant increases.
One needs to keep in mind that certain states (North-East for example) which already have a high percentage of students studying in English medium schools will have slower or negligible growth in enrollment into English medium schools. I wonder if at least partly that is the reason why the Gujarat figures are low as well but I do not have confirmation of this. Then there are states where overall enrollment has decreased, and these states too will show a slower growth in enrollment into English medium schools. This has happened both in Kerala and Karnataka. In Kerala the reason for low overall enrollment is thought to be to because of negligible population growth but I am not sure what the reason is in Karnataka.)
Where the northeastern states are concerned, the growth figures would be negligible as English-medium schools already have a 90 percent share of total enrolment. In Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim enrolment in English medium schools is almost 99 percent!
In Manipur, Goa and Chandigarh, it’s about fifty percent, very high as compared to the rest of the states of India.
It is believed that even Jammu Kashmir has a high level of students enrolling in English medium schools but figures were not available.
Regional languages as medium of instruction on the decline
All regional language medium schools (including Hindi) are showing either a decline or a sluggishness in growth (2003-2006) in percentage terms. However when it comes to Hindi medium schools, actual numbers have increased due to a greater increase in population of Hindi speaking states.
The fall in enrolment in regional language medium schools is proportionate to the increase in English medium education.
Why do people prefer to educate their kids in English medium schools?
It’s very difficult to answer this question but I have some theories and you are welcome to add any.
- People feel that only English can help their kids do well in life because higher education in India is in English and all employers prefer people who speak English
- Some places have a larger number of good quality English medium schools than vernacular medium schools and parents want the best school for their child
- There is a loss of faith in government schools, most of which are not English medium schools
- A large number of Indians in urban areas see English as a good link language in a country where many languages are spoken. They also see English as a global link language.
- A large number of Indians think that English has become an Indian language and in fact we have developed our own version of English. They do not think of it as an alien language
- English carries with it some element of snob value and everyone wants to learn it to increase their social status
Why is there a slower growth in enrollment in English medium schools in some states?
- For some reason people there are not convinced about the economic benefits of English
- More people in the north of India see English as an alien language. This has a historical reason as the northern states bore the brunt the racism practiced by our then British rulers and the “rising of the nationalist movement in the 1920′s brought some anti-English sentiment with it.” Thus the local languages became emotionally associated with nationalism and patriotism and these feelings persist to this day
What does the future hold?
The language trends are clear to see. English is growing slowly and steadily. Even in the north which is a Hindi speaking bastion, states like Punjab and Himachal Pradesh are going against the trend there. I have no doubt that a day will come, perhaps sometime in the next 50 years, when all parents will want to educate their children in English medium schools.
Is this the end of the road for our regional languages?
I doubt it. In fact I have had various opinions on this on my language post. From what I gleaned from there is that the dominant regional languages will survive. Hindi has two big advantages: one, the maximum number of Indians speak it and two, Hindi speaking states do not make it compulsory for students to learn any Indian language except Hindi. Students in other states (except Tamil Nadu) have to learn two Indian languages compulsorily (in addition to English), and while one is their mother tongue the other is Hindi. This dilutes the effort spent on their mother tongue. Most people in non-hindi speaking states grow up learning 2 Indian languages plus English and often take up a foreign language as well. As they enter college, English is the medium of instruction and although Hindi is not compulsory anymore, a language other than English is compulsory for Humanities courses. Students who feel disinclined to start learning a new language like French often take Hindi as they are already proficient at it after having learnt it at school. And in any case, not all colleges offer the students the facilities of learning a foreign language like French or German. French and German are the most popular foreign languages although this is changing and students are showing a lot of interest in Chinese and Japanese.
(Photograph is copyrighted to me)
Related Reading: The language issue in India
Does language divide Indians socially?
The multiculturalism of India
The British and the Americans don’t like Marathi “chauvinism”
Nita, points 4&5 pretty much do it for me. Making any one Indian language compulsory is an idea doomed from the start.
English is the safest bet. It is:
(a) a neutral language, so no region can argue that their own language is being subdued in favour of another region’s.
(b) We have been ruled by the British for 200 years, so the language is no longer that “alien”, and as you have pointed out, we are developing our own versions of it.
(c) It’s a key to the world. One of the reasons outsourcing has worked so well for India is because a good number of educated Indians know English.
Having said that, I do believe we should work on preserving our languages. But that can be done only by offering more incentives, not by compulsion: we can offer scholarships for people choosing to study the local language, create more jobs that require that skill, give preference in state employment to people who know the local language, etc etc.
Being multi-lingual is a good thing. I believe Hindi-speaking states — like other states — should require/encourage learning another Indian language.
The more the merrier
SS
“I have no doubt that a day will come, perhaps sometime in the next 50 years, when all parents will want to educate their children in English medium schools.”
From what I have understood,everybody wants their children to be in English medium schools. It is only their economic-social background that prevents them from getting them admits in English medium schools.
Considering Andhra Pradesh’s low birth rates (compared to BIMARU), 100% rise in English medium is HUGE.
And personally, I believe mother tongue has to be taught to students, there is no better way to understand one’s culture than through language.
Let the kids learn any language which will help them survive in professional world, BUT make sure they don’t hate, despise, forget, be ashamed of their mother tongue.
English is surely being prominent in India and I think its not bad at all. But I have seen many people who studied in English medium abusing their mothertongue. They are many times ashamed of being born in place which is not English speaking. this is not an overstatement, but its fact.
And answer to title of the post is Yes, but fifty years is too much, I think it will take at max 25 years.
Great post, Nita!
I would simply love to see all schools become English medium schools that teach the mother tongue as a compulsory second language!
I agree that it would take only about 25 years or so. But English is never a threat to the mother tongue! English simply cannot be a threat to the mother tongue!
adding one more reason….
karnataka govt has banned most of the english medium schools
In kerala there was a huge outcry against converting all govt schools to english medium. they were arguing that children need to learn in own language and English is not required. Clearly the politicians were living in the past.
Well, one newspaper however counter argued and even exposed that many politician’s children were in English medium schools and the older ones in America doing their higher studies.
I think all govt schools also should be converted to english medium, as the only reason why ppl sent their kids to govt schools are coz they cant afford eng medium schools.
politicians = mainly the CPI
In the global village, English is necessary for communication and survival. But that does not mean, English has to be the medium of instruction in schools.One can study in the regional language or mother tongue and same time can develop proficiency in English. Choice of learning a language must be left to the individuals. Government need not to interfere in this.
Nice post. I need to think a lot before putting my son into English medium though. In Gujarat, it is now becoming fashion to send children in English school, even they know that school is not giving quality education and taking too much high fees.
Somebody should break the chain and reveal the hype.
Hi! good morning!
I like english and I think its good to have a predominant language to comunicate with all the world. BUT! we must keep our mother languages!
I saw in a documentary that many languages in the world are extinguished and many others are going to extinguish soon. They were saying that every time a language dies, dies also AN UNIQUE WAY TO SEE THE WORLD.
In my country, my mother language (Catalan) is in deep danger because the spanish is the predominant language. We, catalans, are putting big effort to keep our language survive but u know…at the end, the big fish eats the small fish…Just let’s hope we can save our mother languages!
It is very important, otherwise the risk of losing cultural richness its very high,
I think.
***Peace***
Snigdha, I think we think alike on many issues. Those points work for me too! And I agree with you whole-heartedly that force never works but I do think that the local language should be taught to all in that state from primary school itself. So at least those who are born and brought up in that state learn to speak the local language. If they come later, then the govt. can offer incentives to encourage people to learn local languages.
Nikhil N, yes the increase in AP is huge isn’t it. I wonder why there is such a huge increase there…maybe they are realising that many of their neighbours etc who have learnt English are doing well monetarily and want to follow their footsteps. However I think there are still people in India who do not want to educated their kids in Eng medium schools even if they can afford it. They have a fear that their kids will become westernized and forget Indian culture. I personally feel that finally its the home influence which counts.
Suda, ofcourse people should not be ashamed. But somehow even though I have heard of this, I have personally never met anyone who is ashamed of knowing their mother tongue. On the contrary I have met people who are very proud of knowing their mother tongue and in fact berate those who don’t! Er…aren’t you one of them too?
Raj, I agree that the local language should be made the compulsory second language in all schools in that particular state. That is one of the ways to ensure that people assimilate with the local population and live in harmony.
Ankur, I had heard of that but don’t know whether its working.
Xylene, there are people who want to take our country backwards. They have their own ways to tap the insecurities of the people so the can get elected.
OldSailor, I’ll give you an example of my parents. They are from marathi medium schools but my dad learnt English with a lot of effort and hard work. he said he used to stay up at night and read Readers Digest (when he was in first year of college) and well, being a brilliant man and academically a topper he suceeded. Even my mom worked very hard and did her post graduation and learnt English on her own. Both my parents are successful individuals. I know many success stories like this…at the same time I know many people in my dad’s batch and my mom’s batch who never learnt English, and well it wouldn’t matter but well, they are not successful in life (in my eyes) and this has made me draw this conclusion (do correct me if you think I am wrong) – that only exceptional people from vernacular medium schools rise in life and suceed but even below average people and average people from English medium schools succeed. English gives them a toe-hold, an advantage, Its a tool to the future.
Kartik, finally its the quality of school matters. But I am sure you can find a good quality Eng Medium school too and frankly money doesn’t matter. That’s what I believe. With my daughters, we struggled to pay the exorbitant fees of their school, but we gave up some of our own luxuries. Today we are proud of our girls.
Francina, its true languages are dying and becoming extinct at a fast rate. I too had read about that and I pray that my mother tongue (Marathi) never becomes extinct. Its sad to hear about Catalan. But why is it dying? Isn’t it taught in schools?
Well Nita, Catalonia its a country inside Spain, so we have both catalan and spanish as mother tongues. For example, in times of Franco (dictator, for 40 years i think) it was prohibition to speak catalan for example, for a long time that is been “persecuted” in different ways…
The language of the State so, its spanish, we are a minority, u know?
And also, the foreigners that come here, of course they learn spanish (and i understand ‘cos its more speaked, also south america,…so its more useful for them than catalan.)…Well, I would tell too many things maybe to explain you about this…so i thought about searching something in youtube,…
i found this:
thanxssssssss
Francina, thank you for that beautiful video. It touched my heart very deeply as I can identify with it. Here in India we are not looking for independence, all we are looking for is freedom of language but we are not taken seriously. Catalonia is just one country inside Spain. Here we are many Catalonias and all have a rich culture and language with their own scripts. It was the British who united the different kingdoms and it’s really sad that even after independence the states do not have the freedom to teach a language they wish except for Tamil Nadu which fought for its rights. – Nita.
Indians are getting better and better in English. It’s the language which united them and all other dialects and languages of India. So, English plays a good and constructive role here.
Visited this blog for the first time. Very precise and in depth observation.
I am an advocate of thorough teaching of Mother tongue. Maybe the medium may be English from ‘SURVIVAL” consideratuons!
Interesting post Nita. I have seen an MTV VJ asking opinions of its viewers in delhi, bombay and bangalore on the rise of English medium schools all over India. I thought MTV always twists facts (but its funny though) but surprisingly they had aired exactly the same info as your’s. AP, TN and Maharastra topped the list while north eastern states continued to report significant rise in enrollment to english medium schools. AP has English medium schools run by the State govt and I think it is the only state in India. I didnt exactly know when this bill on “medium on instruction in english” got approved in the state assembly.
Nita,
According to a study by the Tamil Nadu Education Department:
“There has been an increasing demand from the parents and public at large, who send their
wards to Government/Aided/Corporation/Panchayat Union Schools, for giving enough exposure in
English, so that the children should not have the feeling that they are less privileged for want of
initiation to English right from Std. I. To meet the challenges and competition from those of other
streams namely, Matriculation and Anglo-Indian, it’s high time that the parents’ requirement was
met with. It will be a grave injustice if the language rights are denied to those from socioeconomically
impoverished sectors. By not being offered English from Std. I, they are forced to face
a linguistic handicap, which in the long run would affect their prospects in life.”
So the state of Tamil Nadu has made the learning of English atleast as a second language compulsory right from Standard I to make sure that rural students are not at a disadvantage when compared to their urban counterparts.
Tamil Nadu, ofcourse, was the first state to realise that there would never, ever be a conflict between Tamil and English. English has only enriched the Tamil language and the state of Tamil Nadu in more ways than I can imagine! The same thing is happening with Telugu and Andhra Pradesh! Three cheers to the English language! In the not-too-distant future, there will be a standardised version of Indian English, just like we have Australian English, South African English etc.
// It was the British who united the different kingdoms and it’s really sad that even after independence the states do not have the freedom to teach a language they wish except for Tamil Nadu which fought for its rights.//
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for that comment, Nita! Thank you very, very, very much indeed!
At the same time, if states like Kerala and Karnataka feel that encouraging education in the mother tongue is the only way to save their languages from you-know-what, we should not oppose it. No language should be imposed on any state, not even English! But I do hope that Kerala and Karnataka encourage English. It is only going to help the children of those states in a global world!
Ravi,
It’s wonderful to hear that Andhra Pradesh is encouraging English medium schools, man! AP is a very cool state(despite the hot weather) and I regard Telugu as my father tongue!
Francina,
Thanks for that video link! Thanks to sports in Catalonia, like football (Barça is my favourite!) and the Spanish Grand Prix in Barça, I knew the shocking reality about linguo-nazism / linguo-fascism in Spain.
But don’t worry, Francina, the more the notorious Castillian linguo-fascists in your country try to oppress Català and other national languages of Spain, the more resilient your national languages will become! And being a part of a supra-national federation, the E.U. which has a high regard for Human Rights is only going to help the cause of Català and other oppressed national languages of Spain!
Molt de temps viure Català
YOU ARE GREAT RAAAAAAJ!
MANY THANXS!!!
India has a large population that is illiterate. Their children are out of education or starting in literacy.
They cannot hope to climb to education through English for many generations hence.
Anyone getting as much education as possible in the language they acquired as child does better than in a language that is learnt in school.
If India wishes to have all Indians well educated it will have to concentrate on languages its children learn in their mothers’ laps or on streets.
Indian middle class is least worried about illiterate Indians. It gobbles up Public funding in schooling that is corrupt from nursery school on wards.
Read “Begin removing bribes from Indian Education” at http://www.petitiononline.com/kilgraft/petition.html
Nita
What an interesting post. I am an ex-English teacher, in England, and English is my mother tongue. It makes me ashamed to read how much money and effort Indian parents put into educating their children in English where as here the language is ‘free’, but is not ‘developed’. The standards reached by the educated well-motivated Indian would put to shame most of the children in our schools here. The standard of literacy here is often embarrassing. (You can see this if you have ever read, for example, IMDb messageboards. The standard of discussion on the Bollywood message boards is in another league to that on the Hollywood ones – far superior.) If we also had to learn Hindi in order to get on in life we would be nowhere, an un-developing nation.
lekin … mai hindi mujhse sikhati hu. kyu? taki mai Shah Rukh sirf dekhna sakti hu, aur subtitles dekhna nahi! …. hmmmm… mujhe adhyapak ki zarurat hai!
Glad to read that Hindi is still a going concern. I hope to try it out in India one day. For now I will just have to carry on transliterating online!
That’s a very interesting angle Joss, something I didn’t think of…of how so many Indian students grow up learning 3 languages. We don’t realise that this is not the norm in other parts of the world and yes you are right, it is an extra burden but we are coping. That’s what people don’t realise. Those in India who are forced to learn 3 languages from childhood have an extra burden and it takes away effort from learning the mother tongue. Also where Hindi is concerned, maybe half of the population has Hindi as the mother tongue, but not half of India. The complete South (4 states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala), the complete north-east (8 states), the complete west (Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa) and 2 states in the east (Bengal and Orissa), and plus Jammu and Kashmir in the north – all of the people in these states have their own language. Most have their own script and culture which is very different and distinct from Hindi. Also there are other languages in India which are older and richer…telugu for example. bengali too is a very beautiful language. – Nita.
That one should get primary education through the medium of one’s mother-tongue sounds nice, but in a multilingual society may not always be practicable. Especially for the migrant population staying beyond the boundries of the state where their mother-tongue is the State language, it is not possible to achieve this goal. An En medium with mother-tongue as a second language means only mono-lingual population studies together and the migrants have to study an alien language per force. A complicated issue! But I feel that since we have made states on linguistic basis, it would be a nice thing to have an En medium with the State language being taught form the very beginning. The language teaching should be thoroughly revised with goal of enabling one to read the newspapers etc and write small letters and applications etc, without burdening him with prose & poetry and literature etc. All that must form the curicula of college education in the language for those pursuing study in that language. And if we can adopt one national script for all our languages, anyone staying away from his lingistic home-state can easily read newspapers, magazines etc in his mothertongue owing to his gounding in the script which remains the same all over India. Devanagari is best suited for the purpose and it has been suitably modified to depict all the Indian languages faithfully. It must be pointed out that DV should be accepted as an alternative script and over the years it might become acceptable as the sole script. We have made many experiments. One more deserves a trial at least!
No way can a single script be accepted!!!
If we want to try out a few experiments, we can as well split the country according to languages instead of trying out something as stupid as a common script!
Raj, I was shocked to read that person’s comment. I am glad you replied to it. I was in fact speechless at the audacity of the suggestion! And he actually admits that an Indian language other than Hindi is “alien” to Hindi speaking people! – Nita.
Devanagari cannot represent all Indian languages, neither can the Roman script, nor the Tamil script, nor the Telugu script nor any other script for that matter!!!
Thanks, Nita! You know how sensitive I am to this issue. Ofcourse, I know the strategy of these you-know-whos. That is why I would love to see Marathi go back to the Modi script, but that is for you Maharashtrians to decide among yourselves.
politicians are hypocrites they send their own children to english speaking schools and then play the language card with poor people trying to uplift their children out of poverty.
English language education should be made compulsory and like most good schools in this country it should be ENglish +HINDI(OR LANguage of the state)+third language(Ideally a classical language like Sanskrit/infact at the time of the raj u couldn’t go to oxbridge without knowing greek and latin)
Of course all this requires massive amounts of money and will probably take 20-30 years but we have to go down this route.
The Question is:
Will English dominate India in another fifty years?
The Answer is : NO…
It will never happen.. It never happened even when British ruled India and the Medium of instruction was English..
We understand Raj’s feeling about Devnagri script. So, Vinobaji, Kaka Saheb Kalelkar and all have to leave this issue. Its alright..
As Dr. Dayashankar and Dr. Nishth have said, all Indian languages should be made easy to write and spell.. We are not ready to change a little bit and that is the main problem, I think. Here in Gujarat, we have made a small change to write Gujarati easily. May be 50% of the mistakes of the students in writing, will be eradicated with this change.. But the wasted interest and old orthodox so called learned people oppose it ! Publicly they say that ‘Gujarati is dying’; but they don’t do any thing to make written language easy !
I would very much like to give an example, if any body is interested, as this applies to Marathi and Hindi too..
Only one change that we intend to apply can be seen in our Gujarati website : http://sundaymahefil.googlepages.com/
–Uttam and Madhu Gajjar-Surat-
A small correction. My dad studied in British India and he studied in a Marathi medium school so when you say that when the British ruled India the medium of instruction was English is not a fact. – NIta.
Nice thought provoking article Nita. Congratulations for bringing this up!
Well, people in India are majorly fascinated to Films and celebrities from various fields (maybe old king-peasant mentality still prevailing?). These films/people tend to use English more. Films use almost Hinglish and impose American culture. So does media (TV/Newspapers to name). People (mostly young guns) have started believing that English is the way to make your presence felt in upper class. How can we eradicate such feeling? I do not see 10 perfect Hindi words in a 10 word sentence on Zee News!!! Why?
Chirag, I too feel that we should maintain a purity of language but only to a certain extent. But at the same time a language is a living changing dynamic thing and one cannot control it. It is after all a means of communication…look at all the Hindi words that have got incorporated into English and we should all be proud of that! Maybe English words will become a part of the Hindi vocab and help grow the language.- Nita.
I think the point is not understood in its perspective. When I say alien it is not anything that is non-Indian. For a Tamil-speaking person, Hindi and all other languages are alien – & for a Gujarati spaeaking person, Bangla & other languages are alien. Perhaps the use of the word Alien has provoked this disgust & I am sorry for that. The suggestion for adopting a common script is not made by me, it is made by great thinkers like Vinobaji, Gandhiji & host of other visionaries. I am sure they were not stupid people. I have realised the utility of this sugeestions. Here, in Roha, a small town in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, we have several people speaking Bangla, Malayalam, Tamil etc. Their children are unable to read their mother tongues. If their mother tongues also use DV as an alteranative script, they would be able to read newspapers & magazines etc & remain in touch with their mother-tongues. The word alternative is emphasised. This would not divide the country, rather it would be conducive to integration of hearts & minds. It would make exposure of our countrymen to other Indian languages easier. The Marathis have done well to opt for DV & not Modi, I always give this example to my fellow Gujarati speaking people. I write my mothertongue Gujarati in DV script and I have found several people who have taken up this point. Raj doesn’t seem to know that DV has been modified to be able to depict all Indian languages, including the short e-o of the South Indian languages. Our scripts are such that any Indian script if suitably modifies can depict all other Indian scripts. What I have said is an humble suggestion, and has no political tones attached to it. I wonder why should be termed audacity!
Thank you for your comment. Certainly your this comment is humble in tone and sounds reasonable. I did feel the other one was audacious…well, anyway! On this blog I welcome all opinions and certainly yours is one point of view so no offense taken. I am sorry if I sounded rude but yes you are right I was taken aback by the word ‘alien.’ You see this has a history…a lot of Hindi speaking people are indignant when they hear that we from other parts of India feel that Hindi is alien, and the truth is what you stated in your first few lines. All languages from other parts are alien…absolutely right! However it is also a fact that many people do not see English as alien, and whether that is good or bad is another point. – Nita
Devanagari simply cannot represent the sounds of Tamil or Malayalam!!! Neither can the Roman script or any other script!
I don’t care about what people do to any other language in any other state!
I don’t care about what anyone said about any language or script!!!
In my state I (and other Tamils) will use only Tamil using the Tamil script!!!!!!!
I will use English because I want to!!!
I will learn French or Catalan or Czech or Armenian or Swahili or Japanese or Aymara or Toltec or Maori if I want to!!!
Nobody can suggest that I learn some language or use some script in my language!!!
If anyone wants to impose any language or script or anything else on me, then . . .
I am absolutely with you on this Raj. The idea that some government people or political leaders are making such kind of decisions to impose scripts and languages (they all say its for the common good don’t they!) is frightening for me. As long as Dr. Dhruv is simply giving an opinion and is nto a policy maker I am happy!
– Nita.
Thanks a lot, Nita!
What I don’t quite understand is only Tamils(and to a slightly lesser extent, the Bengalis) seem to be proud of their language. This attitude does baffle me
A few Maharashtrians at least…me for instance and Vivek K! – Nita.
I wholeheartedly agree! And Rajsaheb Thackeray!
Raj, I saw those smilies at the end but I cannot stand that man Raj T! I totally disagree with this methods and suspect his motivations. – Nita.
Well, everyone is free to feel proud of his or her mother-tongue. I have never said that a national script is to be imposed. Never should such a thing happen. That is the surest way to lead to a disintegration. Dear Raj, may I tell u that even the Tamil script – modified as for the granthakshar – can represent all Indian languages? I have studied Bangla, Malayalam & Urdu scripts in detail and have taken a rapid sojourn of all other Indian scripts. And what I suggested was to make at least a few issues of newspapers & magazines of all languages available in DV script for the benifit of the migrant population settled in other parts of the country. Don’t please get offended by that statement. And if u r proud of your language, let your countrymen know of your grand old literature by publishing that in a script which can be understood by the majority of the population. That will go a long way towards national integration. U will continue to use your own script, that is but natural. When have I even suggested that u drop it? I hope that clarifies my stand.
Nita, in my eagernes to calm down the passions aroused by the inapt use of the word alien ( when even u, who expect the comments to be polite chose to be so impolite as to refer to me not as Nishith Dhruv but ‘that person’) I overlooked a nice response by Shantanu Chatterji. Yes, an En medium with state language might be an answer. But r v equipped for that? How many teachers do we have who can impart education in En medium? Anyway, I am one of those who doesn’t consider En as alien. It is indeed a neutral language as far as India is concerned. And that is why here v r, Indians speaking diverse languages and yet talking to one another in En on this blog and many others like this one! But I don’t quite understand what makes Raj feel that only Tamils are proud of their language. Every one is proud of his or her language. But let us not loose sight of the fact that language is first and foremost a medium of expression & communication. Sense of pride attached to it should not be carried to fanaticism. It is just a chance that I am born a Gujarati speaking person. That language is natural to me, and I have utilised it for making me a nobler human being. Having been born and brought up in Maharashtra and settled now in an interior place, my language of daily communication with my patients and other people is Marathi and I consider that to be as much mine as Gujarati. That is not at the cost of my love for Gujarati, rather because of it.
I apologize again for my rudeness and I appreciate the fact that you have been impeccably polite. And I think one should let things take their course without policy interference. If the government had not interfered we would have had more people fluent in their mother tongue today because those from non-hindi speaking states would not have been burdened with 3 languages from standard 1. – Nita
Dear Dr. Dhruv,
I understand that you have good and patriotic intentions at heart. I appreciate the fact that you regard Marathi as your own along with Gujarati. I live in Tamil Nadu, but I consider Telugu as my own because I regard it as my father tongue though I can understand Telugu only to a certain extent. I also consider English as my own language almost as much as I consider Tamil as my own.
But certain notorious politicians are determined to wipe out all the national and official languages of India and impose only one language on others.I shall go to any extent, if necessary, to prevent this!
Taking pride in one’s own language to a great extent is not</strong fanaticism!
Imposing an alien language on the people of other states is fanaticism, linguo-nazism and fascism!
I am not a Tamil scholar, but the Tamil language and the Tamil script are very unique. As you would probably know, the meta language for Tamil is Tamil itself. Words and letters(from other scripts) can be integrated into Tamil but they have to be done in accordance with the rules of the language. Some Tamil scholars would like to keep the language as ‘pure’ as possible. I shall never oppose it as they are scholars who know much more about the language than I do. But personally, I would like to see a few more letters added to the Tamil script to correctly represent words and influences from English. I emphasise the word correctly because words from English can be and are written using the Tamil script, but they do not accurately depict the sounds.
This is true with almost any script and language. No script on Earth can accurately represent the “zha” sound that is represented by ழ in the Tamil script. Malayalam also has a unique letter for this unique sound. I don’t know much ‘pure’ Malayalam as the Malayalam spoken in Chennai by my friends has a lot of Tamil influences and words, but from what I hear Malayalam is similar to, yet very different from Tamil. I guess you know that the “zha” of Tamil and Malayalam is very different from the “djha” of Marathi, though Marathi also has a sound that is somewhat similar to the “zha” of Tamil and Malayalam. Ofcourse, one could just put in a new letter and say that it should represent “zha” or other sounds that are unique to different languages, but something so artificial and superficial would not be a natural evolution of our languages.
I don’t quite agree with your views that people living in other states should learn their mother tongue in a different script. I believe that they should learn it in the script of the mother tongue. Atleast as far as Tamil is concerned, the script and the language are inseparable.
I appreciate your desire to make the people of India aware of the varied literature in all the national and official languages of India. There are foreigners and Indians who read the literature in different languages in their own scripts. For those who cannot do this, translations are always available.
Ofcourse if someone wants to transliterate the works in any language to another script, they are welcome to do so. But it cannot be imposed on them! I hate and can never tolerate imposition of any kind! You know what imposition of different kinds is doing to India and other parts of the world. Imposition of alien things on others is the root cause of all the violence in India and other parts of the world! The filthy attitude of imposing things on others should not be tolerated by anyone!
My love for Tamil is different from your love for Gujarati. I do not mean to say that my love is better than yours, but it is a very different kind of love. It is something only Tamils will understand.
Nita,
I know that you do not like Rajsaheb Thackeray’s methods and that you suspect his motives. I don’t like his methods either. But if Abu Azmi thinks he can get away with violently imposing his language on the people of Maharashtra, I welcome Rajsaheb’s method of opposing it violently. Whether we like it or not Nita, only strength gets respected by strength in this imperfect human world!
ઉત્તમ્ભાઈ ગજ્જર,
I went through you site. You are doing a fabulous job of helping Gujarati children learn Gujarati. Keep up the good work! I wish you good luck, ઉત્તમ્ભાઈ!
Dear Nita & Raj,
I am greatly relieved because at last u have realised that I meant no offence and I mean none. When a foreign word is incorporated in a given language it automatically follows the rules of that language and there is nothing unique about Tamil doing so. The TM letter zha being unique to TM &, as u have rightly pointed out, Malayalam(with a slightly altered pronounciation), no other script could depict it thus far. Sometimes in the past, it was depicted as ष़ in DV. But now it has been decided to depict it as ऴ & that makes sense because ल- ळ- ऴ all happen to be lateral approximants. Even the short e & short o have been depicted in DV as ऎ & ऒ respectively. Now this is a reasonable attempt to make DV comprehensive and all-inclusive. It need not be considered as superficial & artificial. Raj, you remarked that u would like to include a few letters in Tamil script so as to be able to depict EN sounds. Should that be termed as superficial & artificial? I submit not. Ask any TM scholar who has studied modern linguistics & phonetics and he would tell you that any language can be depicted through any phonetic script after suitable modifications. TM cannot be and is not an exception. In the history of a language, the script & the language may have evolved together, but there never can be an inseparability about that. It seems you are unaware of the fact that all our national scripts(TM included and Urdu excluded) have been born of a single pan-Indian script – the Brahmi. When there was no press, the script would be taught by a teacher by his own hand-writing. The shapes of the letters written by different teachers and having minor individual variations extrapolated into shapes vastly different from the original over a stretch of time. These changes proceeded essentially locally and oblivious of what was happening in other parts of the country owing to clumsy means of communication. Add to that the limitations imposed on educating men of lower social strata. All this & several other factors led to a centrifugal development of our present-day scripts. That is why all the Indic scripts share several basic features. Also, Kokani has 3 scripts : DV, Roman & Kannad. Punjabi has 3 scripts : Gurumukhi, DV and Urdu. Kashmiri has 2 scripts : Sharada & Urdu. Sindhi also has 2 scripts : DV and an Urdu-like script. About 400 years ago, Gujarati was written in DV script. The GJ script has been derived from the cursive form of DV which is very similar to the Modi script. Sometimes back, it was a tradition to depict prose in GJ & Poetry in DV. So it is all right for you to stick to your own script, just as most others would do, but please do away with the illusion that TM cannot be depicted in any other script. In fact the granthakshar modification of TM script can depict HN, Malayalam script can depict BN and GJ can be depicted in Udiya script. That is the beauty of our Indic scripts. And I honestly fail to understand what it is in your love for your mother-tongue TM that is different from my love for GJ or Nita’s love for Marathi that only Tamils can understand!
Dear Dr. Dhruv,
I cannot do away with my “illusion” that Tamil cannot be depicted in any other script. This is because as a Tamil and a Truth seeker(which is also represented by the motto of our country), I believe that it is the truth!. What you believe in is an “illusion”, or in other words, the reality. Nita knows the difference between the reality and the truth(is it correct, Nita?
) I am not going to change my view about my language even if the most learned Tamil scholar on Earth or anywhere else in the universe or even God, if (S)He exists, appears before me and tells me that I have to do away with my “illusion”. Please don’t ask me to change my views which I believe are the truth as they are about my language!. It is going to cause unpleasantness in this healthy debate(except the initial suspicion, ofcourse) that we are having on this post.
As I have said earlier, I did not say that one script cannot represent another language or cannot be modified to represent another language. I myself use the Roman script to represent Tamil sounds sometimes but I know that it would be superficial and artificial. Even if all the languages in the world had a common script as an ancestor, something like the cave paintings, they have evolved naturally over the ages due to several reasons, which ofcourse you are aware of. It is not good to tinker with the natural evolution of languages and scripts just as it is not good to tinker with the evolutionary laws of Nature. Ofcourse, slight modifications will be made to aid them in their evolution. You can take the modifications made to our languages to suit the printing press or the typewriter as an example. These minor modifications only enrich the language and help it to evolve naturally, but any drastic change will have an adverse impact on society which must be avoided.
Well, I guess anyone can understand the difference between your love for Gujarati and Nita’s love for Marathi and my love for Tamil from your comments and mine. To put it simply, you feel that your languages are a part of society and any change made must be accepted for the greater good. On the other hand, as it can be seen from my comments, I feel that my language is a part of myself! So I will never,ever accept anything that is imposed on me or my language! Change, if any, will have to come from within me! That is the simple difference, dear Doctor!
A true Tamil cannot be separated from his/her language! Similarly, the true Tamil language cannot be separated from the Tamil script!
Raj, I agree you have a greater love for Tamil than I have for Marathi. Also this debate about language is not something I can participate in due to my ignorance of these matters.
Dr. Dhruv, everyone has a right to their view. One view cannot be more right. Also as far as I know something can right theoritically but the reality on the ground is often different…people’s feelings, emotions and the pure love they have for their language.
Dear Dr. Dhruv,
I have been following this thread with considerable interest, but because I was not sure where you were coming from, I refrained from jumping into the fray. What made me change my mind was your statement to Raj:
//I honestly fail to understand what it is in your love for your mother-tongue TM that is different from my love for GJ or Nita’s love for Marathi that only Tamils can understand!//
With all due respect for your obvious knowledge and insights into matters of language, may I humbly submit, as a Maharashtrian living in Gujarat who considers both the cultures equally his own (with all their respective shortcomings), that you never will understand. Both our communities share one fault – a lack of cultural pride. Unlike the Tamils and the Bengalis (and indeed most other non-North Indians), who have it in abundance.
If you consider the political dimensions of language (which, in modern times, are important whether you like it or not), then script (which is otherwise irrelevant) becomes an integral part of the personality of the language, a matter of its cultural identity, and thence of cultural pride. Therefore I would, like Raj, oppose any move to orthographically homogenise India – especially if this is sought to be done through the script primarily associated in most minds with that despicable symbol of language imperialism – Hindi.
Regarding “[making] DV comprehensive and all-inclusive”, the initiatives have all been taken by “Madrasis” (i.e. non-Hindiwalas), including the Malayalis who do have their own script. The Hindi imperialists have either resisted or been deliberately tardy in even adopting them. For example, it is more than 80 years since Marathi evolved a symbol to represent the essentially English vowel sounds “a” and “o” as in “fat” and “sob”. Gujarati was quick in adopting them, although their status in spoken Gujarati remains somewhat ambiguous. The Hindi imperialist swine took 50 years to reluctantly accept the symbol for “o”, and continue to resist it for “a”. So we have innumerable banks all over the country whose names in the mandatorily imposed Hindi read “baeenk of…” (until 40-50 years ago they read “baeenk aaf…”). The really ironical part of it is that the banks which are guilty of such illiteracy include Bank of Maharashtra (hamereku chalenga!).
Another example. Look at all the railway station name signs in Maharashtra: Why do they have to carry the same name twice in Devanagari? Most of the time it is identical. And even when it is not, why does the Hindi form have to feature at all? Take the case of Thane. In Marathi both the “tha” and the “na” are hard (taalavya). In the Hindi version they become soft (dantya). Well, we all know that the Hindiwalas consider the hard ta-tha-da-dha-na as uncouth sounds, even though they exist in their language. So let them keep their opinion to themselves. Why on earth should Thane be written in two ways in Devanagari? Why should it not be ONLY and EXCLUSIVELY in the Marathi form, with the palatal forms of both the consonants.
Why should ळ not be imposed on the Hindi alphabet? And how DARE they change our ळ to ल?
In short, if Devanagari is to be made all-inclusive, the process should begin with the imposition of all the necessary modifications on the script AS USED IN HINDI. This form of the script MUST be taught MANDATORILY as “standard” to Hindi children right from the nursery school level. It MUST feature in any and every presentation of the so-called Hindi alphabet. Any Hindiwala even mildly protesting or so much as raising an eyebrow about this must be flogged in public.
Only after all this is in place, and Hindi imperialist opposition to it conclusively annihilated, should we “Madrasis” even BEGIN to THINK of THINKING to THINK of Devanagari as a common script for India.
Dr. Dhruv,
Going back to your earlier comment, I agree that Gandhi and Vinoba were visionaries and selfless individuals. Can you honestly say the same of B G Kher and Morarji Desai, the two self-serving hypocrites who got the undivided Bombay State (now Maharashtra and Gujarat) into a royal mess by ousting English in an indecent hurry (even the UP and Bihar politicians and bureaucrats did not do that) and, by giving undue importance to Hindi, diluted the importance of Marathi and Gujarati to a level so low that even the people to whom these languages are mother tongues now look upon them as stepmothers?
English is now the third most important language in India if one goes by the medium of instruction at upper primary level.
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This was the first line of the article !! And how much we have digressed? ! This is good, I like such comment spaces- they have a potentil to become THINK TANKS.
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WE have to accept the undeniable fact that we are a country so diverse that ONLY English unifies us. The above discussion unequivocally proves it.!
It is a sorry state of affairs , which none of us likes.
BUT IT IS THE FACT.
Why?
All public and private sector transactions ( except for very small communications to public at large) are in ENGLISH.
Anywhere you go for job. What language is used for interviews? ENGLISH.
There is a great outward trend in most of Indian families to go to FOREIGN! – Mostly English speaking countries.
Why go so much away? Here itself – ALL 38 responses and mine 39th (!) too ARE in ENGLSH.
My dear friends, if English unifies us. let her do it. And can we stop it either too? Can any one of us deny this fact?
My point is –
Our mother tongues have a role to play in our families, our socieities and our cultural pursuits. It is this particular sphere , in which they have a chance to flourish and blossom. So a part of our personal lives may be dedicated to nurture that process for retaining our rich cultural heritage.
If we do not do this in our mad rush for prosperity, our languages may degenerate like Gujlish OR Hinglish.
The silver line is – Blogging in regional languages.
This powerful platform will one day oust print media; because, It is FREE; It is fast; it is interactive ( Like this lively discussion) and last but not the least – it attracts intellectuals who have a cultiral taste. Onus lies on this class of people – US – to do this service to their communities.
And that is where, I like Nishith bhai’s initiative of Devnagari. I as a Gujarati would like to know the richeness of Bengali OR Tamil languages and translate their wondeful creations in Gujarati. This could be a bit easier than knowing a NEW script. e.g I can read Nishthbhai’s Gujarati in Dev Nagari – But any Gujarati writing in Roman is simly disgusting.
So, Devanagari can play this role in bringing us nearer for cultural pursuits.
For science, business, management and Govt. Transactions English can not be and will never be substituted. And let us not feel guilty aboout it OR think that ir is a British Legacy and a slave thinking.
Because ….
Language is JUST a tool for interaction; for warmth and effectiveness of expression. If English can do it best, let it do. I like English very much, because it has opened up the vast treasures of knowledge, which simply can not be made available in Gujarati .
But I would like to write a story OR a poem in Gujarati !
Vivek,
Is the Marathi phoneme ळ as in सकाळ the one that sounds somewhat similar to the Tamil phoneme ழ and the Malayalam phoneme ഴ when pronounced?
Nita,
Thank you!
But I do not want to claim that my love for Tamil is greater than your love for Marathi. It’s just a different kind of love, about as little as or as much as the difference between the reality and the truth 
But hats off to you! This post on English as the medium of instruction has managed to bring out the best in all our national and official languages including English.
As સુરેશભાઈ જાની said, only English can unify us and ensure that our languages thrive in the modern world! English is also the only language that can help us take our rightful place in a globalising world!
The Brits can pat themselves on the back now
Sureshbhai,
//ONLY English unifies us…It is a sorry state of affairs, which none of us likes.//
Please don’t claim to speak on behalf of all of us. If the alternative to English is Hindi, give me English any day.
Besides, why do you think that one has to sacrifice one’s own language in order to learn another? As a Gujarati who is apparently fond of literature, you would be aware that people like the late Umashankar Joshi, the late Manubhai Pancholi (Darshak), and among present day litterateurs, Madhu Rye (to mention just three names that immediately come to mind) are known equally for their excellence in Gujarati and English. Pradeep Khandwala, a former director of IIMA, a grandson of the late Kanhaiyalal Munshi and an outstanding poet in English, also knows excellent Gujarati.
And why are you averse to learning a new script along with a new language? That makes you no different from those Hindi speakers who don’t want to learn another Indian language because they can get away with knowing just Hindi.
Raj,
Sorry I can’t read the Tamil or Malayalam graphemes that represent your phoneme, but if you mean the one that is transcribed as “zh”, the answer is yes.
Raj,
I notice you have also referred to the Marathi ळ in your note to Dr. Dhruv. Please note that this particular phoneme also exists in Gujarati, Oriya, Konkani, Kannada, Marwari, Mewari, Malavi (the last three appropriated by Hindi as “dialects”), Kannada and probably Telugu.
Vivek,
Yes, I meant the phoneme that is represented as “zh” by us. But I never knew that the phoneme represented by the Marathi ळ exists in so many languages! Thanks for posting this very useful information.
Dear Raj,
I must repeat that I have never mentioned anything to be imposed. And Sanjay, I am entirley in agreement with u that Hindi-wallas have refused to admit these letters. They have been devised by South Indians because only they will be familiar with sounds and suggest the best orthographic representation. Yes, I also find it strange that the boards in Maharashtra will have the same word written in the same script and yet with different letters. That is exactly the difference between a national language and the national script. The boards in our country should have the names written in the local script, of course, and also in the Roman and the DV. This DV should faithfully reflect the local language. तमिळनाडु will be Hindi, but तमिऴनाडु would be Tamil written in DV. I am for the latter state of affairs. As I have said, ल-ळ-ऴ are all lateral approximants and hence somehow related to one another. That is why Hindi which doesn’t have the sounds of ळ-ऴ uses ल to depict them and We in Maharashtra & Gujarat use ळ which is the nearest we can get to the unique ऴ. Besides, Nita, there is really no need to remind me that every one has a right to his or her view. I think we r all mature enough to understand that and I don’t think I have at any point in the on-going discussion ever questioned anyone’s right in this regard. I am putting forth my views and my question about Raj’s greater or different love for his mother-tongue was an honest querry for which I have not found an answer yet. Shall get back later as I have an emmergency call.
Dear Sanjay,
The last was a hurried answer to a hurriedly read comment by u. A national script has to have a pool of all the sounds of all the national languages – I mean those sounds who have found an orthographic representation in our languages in their own scripts so far. But a given language when it is depicted in this script will use only those letters which are necessary to depict their sounds the way it does in its own traditional script. It would be imprudent for example to make a Tamil student learn the घ-झ etc since they are not used in Tamil. They might become familiar with them later but even then would not need to use them while writing Tamil in that national script. Similarly, a Hindi speaking student need not learn ळ which he doesn’t need in his language. A Bangla speaker need not learn ऴ. In the khadi boli of Hindi, ऐ is pronounced as ऍ hence they need not use ऍ. In Bangla the inherent vowel of the mulakshar is ऑ and hence they have not devised any trick to reepresent this vowel. They would write हट & pronounce it as हॉट. In Marathi, the tradition is to place h in a jodakshar last hence they write जान्हवी(jAnhavi) whereas all others would write जाह्नवी(jAhnavi) so in such a case the names written in the 2 languages Hindi & Marathi would be wrotten with different spellings eventhough the script is the same. Again, Nagpur would be written as नागपूर in Marathi & नागपुर in Hindi owing to the special rules of spellings in Marathi. Such discrepancies do exist but may be solved by deliberations. I don’t think we are not proud of our cultures. I can understand if a person prefers not to adopt a national script even as an alternative script, I appreciate that there are sentiments attached to this. When I initiate discussion about this with my fellow-gujaratis, I encounter a similar sentiment. But at least if we realise that an alternative Indian script can also faithfully depict our language, it would be a boon. Dear Raj, what I am hinting at is a change from within & not by imposing. U have used the word ‘must be accepted’ as my view – that must is your own interpretation. I have neither used the word nor meant it. And that too, not an overhowl, but a simultaneous alternative co-existance. Anyways, Nita’s article was basically on a different topic and may be we have dragged too far on a separte issue and I take the blame on my shoulders since I first mentioned this! But I really enjoyed it and would continue to talk on this & other topics as long as I feel I am not unwelcome!
Dear Dr. Dhruv,
There is no such thing as the national script! You are not going to get the change that you want from within us! So anything, even a suggestion is an imposition! My national scripts will always be the Tamil and English scripts! And boards in Tamil Nadu will be only in Tamil and English! You are welcome to present your views here but would you accept it if I say that boards in Gujarat must be in Gujarati, Roman and Tamil? If you want to create unpleasantness on this post, then I am ready for it!
Dear Dr. Dhruv,
I am only a guest on this post like you. Please stop suggesting what I should do with my language or the boards in my state. You are welcome to forget your language completely in favour of one that is imposed on you, but please don’t suggest that others should do the same!
What you are suggesting is not language imposition as such but script imposition, which will never be tolerated by me!
Dear Dr. Dhruv,
If you want a simulataneous alternative co-existance, then first do that for Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati using the Tamil script and add the Tamil script(after suitable modifications) to the boards in the states that use Hindi, remove Devanagari Hindi from the boards in Gujarat and Maharashtra, add the modified Tamil script to those boards. Then I will think of adding a third script to the boards in my state.
I am curious to know if the govt of India imposes Hindi on any non-hindi speaking state or not.
Now regarding the issue, yes, English will dominate India in the coming 50 yrs. Here, i will not give you a reason for it but a example that may help us to understand ”why only English”
European Union is composed of different countries , which are almost of the size of Indian states. Another similarity is that all states have different languages and also like India, some states (countries) have also common languages. We have a more than comparable population in all our states on an avg as compd. to EU nations.
Now, in each European country, even smaller countries like Czech Rep. the ppl obtain their highest degree in all courses in Czech lang. Of course, they learn other lang. like English etc. n then in jobs as well they need mainly Czech n also sometimes English, German etc. to speak with Foreigners.
This to my mind is missing in Indian states. Can i do engg. , medicine in Tamil, Bengali, Oriya etc ?
That’s why we need English. I don’t know all the reasons as to why we cud not bring our lang. to this level. Anyways, this is the truth.
Raghav, we are even more diverse than the countries of the EU. The reason we have not maintained our mother tongues as well as the EU is clear. Now just suppose that Hindi had never been taught in Maharashtra (right now it is compulsory from standard 1 even for students who study the state board in marathi medium)….all those came to work here from other states would have had no choice but to learn Marathi for 2 reasons. 1) locals would not understand hindi 2) all schools would have marathi compulsory and hindi as an optional subject. In this scenario Marathi would have grown and flourished. I don’t understand why short-sighted states like Karnataka (who are against English medium schools) do not understand that it’s not English which will kill the mother languages, but Hindi. You have given an excellent example of the EU where no language is forced upon people and mother tongues are thriving.- Nita.
The second last line written regarding kARNATAKA by you IS VERY IMPORTANT.
Well, Nita i did not understand your point that Hindi will kill all other Indian mother languages more so than English.
If i have analysed your point correctly, then i would say that Hindi as well as English will kill other mother tongues and at a later stage English will kill Hindi.
From my little experience with my rich relatives (cousins) living in the upper-strata of society of posh South Delhi,i saw they hardly spoke Hindi, their mother tongue. Infact, their parents have encouraged them so much that even at home they converse in English. Anyways, this trend is slowly taking over theupper middle class as well. What next? I don’t know.
Well, it does seem so that English is the enemy isn’t it. But it would be interesting to know whether those people know their mother tongue well or not…and what are the reasons for them to be better at English rather than at Hindi, their mother tongue. Could it be that Hindi is not their mother tongue? Could it be that they are Punjabis? Mine is just a theory Raghav and I wish there could be a research study to analyse the reason as to why people prefer to speak English rather than their mother tongue. I have a feeling that one will come up with some surprising reasons. – Nita.
In TN we have a 2 language policy_ Tamil And English.Tamil is thriving despite the importance given to English.
I assure u, Raj, that I am not offended by u expressing your genuine feelings. And this discussion is not unpleasant as far as I am concerned. For the benifit of your co-countrymen visiying your state, it would be benifit if the names of public places and tourist plces are written in the script most widely understood across the country, including the Southern states. The South has produced emenent Sanskrit scholars. And most educated people are aquainted with the DV script. That is the only reason for me mentioning it as national script. You may of course disagree. And yes, if Tamil or any other script is acceptable to a majority of the educated Indians as most widely known, it would certainly claim that place. It is though DV that people would be able to know the correct names of places etc in the other states. Gujaratis keep on writing मलयालम् when they could write मलयाळम्, they keep on writing तमिलनाडु when they could easily write तमिळनाडु or better still तमिऴनाडु. We keep on writing सौरव when even the Bengalis depict the name as सौरभ in their script. That is due to our penchant for the Roman script. Anyways, I would be the first one to welcome if boards in Gujarat are written in Tamil or any other script, if for nothing, at least as a gesture of goodwill. And I’ll stop this discussion on that point. We shall concentrate nore on the medium of instructions.
Well, these ppl are punjabis and my cousin’s speak 70% English n 30% Hindi even when they think they are speakin g hindi. They understand simple punjabi or popular punjabi phrases. Anyways, their parents are in a much better state as they express themselves well with 3 lang. in question.
But they remind me of Pandit Nehru, who was much more comfortable expressing himself in English as he got educated in elite English universities.
In case of Nehru it worked positive for the country but in the time to come i don’t know what our ppl will make of it.
May be at the end of the day for most ppl, a language is as good as the money it helps you earn.
I think the
Dear Dr. Dhruv,
It is not a question of getting offended or causing unpleasantness as neither you nor I would not want to do such things. I am suggesting what you suggested from my point of view. Since you want to be benefitted when you visit my state by reading the names of places in a script that you are most familiar with, I too would like to be benefitted when I visit my fellow countrymen in every part of the country by reading the names of places in a script that I am most familiar with. If you add the Tamil script to all the name boards across the country, I will gladly do the same with your script in my state. And a Bengali and an Assamese would do the same in their states if you can add the Bengali script to all the name boards in the country, and so on. But if you cannot add all the national scripts to the name boards in the Hindi states or Gujarat or Maharashtra, neither will we! You will have to give up your idea that others have to adjust to accomodate you if you cannot do the same. Expecting such a thing would be called despicable double standards!
The script that is most widely understood by tourists is the Roman script and not Devanagari! So you already have the most understood script for tourists on the nameboards in most states, I am sure.
Please do not tell me that “educated” people in India do not understand the Roman script! I would be shocked to hear that statement from a medical doctor! You do not understand, good Doctor, that the Sanskrit scholars in my state use the Tamil script to learn Sanskrit. Here is proof from the wikipedia:
The Tamil script (தமிழ் அரிச்சுவடி tamiẓ ariccuvaḍi “Tamil alphabet”, or வட்டெழுத்து vaṭṭeẓuttu “rounded writing” is an Indic script that is used to write the Tamil language. With the use of special diacritics to represent aspirated and voiced consonants not represented in the basic script, it is also used to write Saurashtra and, by Tamils, to write Sanskrit. (Emphasis added)
Devanagari maybe your national script but Tamil is my national script and Bengali is the national script of Bengali speakers and Ahomiya speakers and so on.
If you want to suggest that there should be only one national script, then you are no different from those who want to impose one language on others, in other words, you would be regarded as a script imperialist or a script fascist or a script nazi! I am 100% sure you would not want to be called that since as a medical doctor, the hated practices of nazism and fascism would go against your Hippocratic Oath!
Dear Doctor, I too, have things(it may not be as noble as your profession though) to do in real life just as you have to perform your noble duty of saving your patients’ lives. So I agree with your view that we should put an end to hypothetical situations and their reciprocations with this and discuss other things.
By the way, dear Doctor, you are the first medical doctor I know of who has such a deep knowledge about scripts and langauges. I whole-heartedly appreciate the efforts you must have put in to learn so many things about the other national languages and scripts of our country. I had a good discussion, I must say, even if we take into account the mutual suspicion with which we regarded each other. I hope you take part in other discussions on Nita’s wonderful blog. I am absolutely sure your knowledge of medicine would be handy in several posts.
Dear Dr. Dhruv,
Also about the script of Sanskrit, I would add a few more lines here, all from wikipedia:
The Grantha script was used to write Sanskrit in the Tamil-speaking parts of South Asia until the 19th century. Scholars believe, that the Grantha script was used to write the first Vedic books in 5th century.
The Bengali script (Bengali: বাংলা লিপি Bangla lipi) is a variant of the Eastern Nagari script also used for Assamese and Bishnupriya Manipuri. The Bengali script was originally not associated with any particular language, but was prevalent as the main script in the eastern regions of Medieval India. The script was originally used to write Sanskrit.
With a few additional characters, the Gujarati script is also often used to write Sanskrit.
Scripts used for Sanskrit include Kannada in Kannada and Telugu speaking regions, Telugu in Telugu and Tamil speaking regions, Malayalam and Grantha in Tamil speaking regions.
Before the colonial period there was no standard script for Sanskrit, which was written in whichever script was familiar to the local populace.
So your reasoning that just because the South has produced eminent Sanskrit scholars over the ages does not support your argument that Devanagari should be accepted by others who never used the Devanagari script to write Sanskrit in the first place!
So going by your own reasoning that since the South(I will also include the East) produced many eminent Sanskrit scholars, I would request you to ask the Hindi states to add the Tamil, Grantha, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali and Malayalam scripts to the boards in Hindi states. Then Tamils, Malayalis, Andhras, Kannadigas, Bengalis will ask their states to include another script to the boards in their respective states.
Also, dear Doctor, think of the amount of paint that would be required to add another script to the boards in so many states. These days, many boards are prefabricated in not-so-inexpensive metal. Don’t you think that it would be a better idea for the state governments to spend the money on educating the people as we still have not eradicated illiteracy in our country? And also because the notorious central government seems to be so reluctant to let the states get their rightful share of taxes like the service tax? But instead spends a lot of money on imposing one particular language and script on the people of states who do not speak that language? And education is supposed to be a service! But the central government does not want to give the rightful share of the service tax to the states(including the Hindi states, ofcourse) to educate the people! What a terrible shame!
Besides, good Doctor, do you not think that it would be a better idea to teach English either as a first language or a second language(only in the Roman script, of course) to all people so that more students can take up medicine? Almost all of the modern medical texts are written in English(if you exclude the students who go to Russia and other CIS states in droves to study medicine). Our country is desperately short of doctors, especially in rural areas where we need them the most. If only more people in our country were literate in English so that they could take up medicine and do well in it! So the only answer for the states who are denied their rightful share of taxes is to educate the people in English, using the Roman script, ofcourse! That is the only way in which India can develop! I don’t know what would hapen to our country if, instead of taking advantage of the English language, which is a national and official language of India(by extension, the Roman script also becomes a national and official script of India!), people try to impose their languages and scripts on the people of other states. Please God, save my beloved country!
Dr. Dhruv:
//…it would be benifit if the names of public places and tourist plces are written in the script most widely understood across the country…//
From the overall context of your comment, and of your ongoing dialogue with Raj, I assume you are making this point in support of Devanagari. If my assumption is wrong, you need not read my comment beyond this point. If it is right, please read on…
The important question is, HOW did Devanagari achieve this hallowed status. Is it because of its association with Sanskrit in some fragments of time and space across India? NO. It is because of the association of the script with Hindi — the language of homogenising cultural imperialism — that has been sought to be rammed down our throats over the last six decades (helped along considerably by its also being the predominant language of cheap, popular, third-rate films catering to the least common denominator of intelligence and taste, setting the benchmark of a “national” culture).
Therefore, even if people do think (which I don’t) that we need a common script, should such a thing actually transpire, the choice MUST NOT ON ANY ACCOUNT be Devanagari. Rather, I would strongly advocate Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu or Kannada. Or else Uchen (“Tibetan” — used right across the E-W Himalayan stretch that includes India, Bhutan, Sikkim, Ladakh, Nepal and Tibet) or Yige (the script of the Balti language). Or even Tulu or Meitei, for the revival of which scripts dedicated scholars have been striving in recent decades. Or an ancient script like Brahmi or Kharoshthi (“Gandhari”).
And which ever of these options we go in for, it must be made mandatory only for Hindi speaking people — the self-styled “national” Indians — and their fellow-travellers (i.e. boot-lickers): the Maharashtrians and the Gujaratis. The rest of the Indians are, of course, “Madrasi”, i.e. “pradeshik”, i.e. not “national”, i.e. “anti-national”. The “nationals” will, I am sure, come up with a Final Solution for them.
PS: Please note that the above is written by a person who sincerely believes that languages are primarily for speaking, and that script is not integrally linked with language. Nonetheless, to the extent that in modern times script is (politically) considered to be part and parcel of the cultural identity of language, let us deal with the issue in strictly political terms.
The bottom line of a political agenda for script in India, therefore, should be the annihilation of Hindi imperialism. Adopting the Roman script can achieve that, but it will not hurt the imperialists as badly as the imposition of a “Madrasi” script will.
I wanted to stop this discussion in favour of other important topics, but Raj & Vivek have compelled me to at least give a short reply.
Raj, u have only supported my point that any language can be written in any other script as far as India is concerned. Again, adding another script to the boards applies to new boards that may come up in future and at the time of renovation of the old boards. About the medium of instructions, just go back to the comment I began with. ” it would be a nice thing to have an En medium with teaching of the State language from the beginning” and that should clear your doubts about my views regarding that. If we have a state language medium, then English must be taught from the beginning and let us make an all-out effort to reach out to places where adequate no of teachers are not available. I do not subscribe to the theory of this so-called Hindi imperialism killing our other national langauges. And I also do not subscribe to Nita’s views that we are killing our mother-tongues because we are teaching Hindi from the beginning. But yes, I do believe that Hindi need not be taught as a second language. After all people already pick up the language from the bollywood etc! No need to make them gulp down the Hindi literature etc. Besides, I would never ever think even for a moment that just because Raj or Others who share his views about the script are parochial or pradeshik or anti-national! They have a genuine view point and I respect that. So I don’t think such an outburst by calling names like national travellers & boot-lickers is called for when we engage in a serious discussion. I have absolutely no problem with the Roman script being made such an alternative national script. Scholars have already created such a Roman script that can depict all the orthographically represented letters of all our languages. I believe ( I am not sure though ) that all of them have been unicoded too. At least that would make us conscious of the correct spellings and bring us closest to the correct sounds. Raj, if I remember correctly, the Tamil zha is depicted as la with three dots below l. But I’ll sure confirm & get back to u. Of course, u may be already aware of it.
A minor correction to Raj’s comments. The Gujarati script is not used to write Sanskrit as such, but Sanskrit quotations are often quoted in a newspaper & magazines etc in the Gujarati script. Besides, for doing so, the Gujarati script doesn’t need any modification as it is a direct daughter of the DV script and has all the characters parallel to those of DV. The relation between DV and GJ is somewhat like that between the first & the third Roman alphabets or that between the second and the fourth alphabets. Besides that, Raj, what I suggested applies to all the Indians. And if we cannot adopt a common national script, it would be absolutely a welcome step to display the names of public places etc in all our national scripts even if that becomes unweildy, just as we do on our currency notes. We must take care to use DV script such that it accurately reflects the local spellings – That means the display should be in all scripts & not all languages.
Dr. Nishith Dhruv,
I beg to mildly differ with you regarding your statement to Raj that the Gujarati script is not used to write Sanskrit. I have personally seen, with traditional vaidyas in Junagadh and Bhavnagar, 18th-19th century Ayurvedic manuscripts in Sanskrit using the Gujarati script. What was particularly interesting is that in some of them the script also had “shirorekha” (header line) as in Devanagari.
It is largely true that, barring a dozen or so letters (a, i, ee, ka, kha, cha, ja, jha, pha, ba, bha), Gujarati letters are similar to Devanagari, and the only ones that are distinctly different are ‘kha’, ‘ja’, ‘jha’ and ‘pha’. Thus there is considerable mutual comprehension possible between the two script (of course for the Gujaratis, not for the Hindi imperialists, who are determined not to understand it). In fact one may say that Gujarati is a cursive form of Devnagari.
You would also be aware that the Gujarati script has a lot common with Modi (used as an alternative script for Marathi from the mid-13th to the mid-20th c.) and Kaithi (used from 16th to nearly the beginning of the 20th c. for administrative and legal documents in Bhojpuri, Magahi and Maithili).
The similarity between Gujarati and Modi can perhaps be explained by the geographical contiguousness of the areas where Gujarati evolved and Modi was invented. That between Gujarati and Kaithi could be due to the influence of the Jain religion, though if that were the case, Kaithi should have been in evidence very much earlier than the 16th century.
Historically and culturally, the Halar region (Jamnagar district) has more in common with Kachchh and Sindh than with the rest of Saurashtra and Gujarat, and the script used for both Kachchi and Halari until almost the mid-20th c. was Devanagari rather than Gujarati.
One of the interesting present-day outcomes of this historical symbiosis between the Gujarati and the Devanagari scripts is that modern Gujarat has officially ordained Devanagari as an alternative script for writing Gujarati. Fortunately, the people of Gujarat at large are not aware of this, otherwise they would eagerly embrace this opportunity to demonstrate their loyalty to the “national” (i.e. Hindi) cause. And the Hindi imperialists would derive considerable satisfaction out of the “Gujjus” using “their” (i.e. the Hindiwallah’s) script, and thereby appropriating Gujarati as a dialect of Hindi.
I have always wanted to learn another European Language. I tried German. Pretty tough, I must say. But the fact that a huge population speaks only this language, makes me happy! For what reason, I dont know.
Destination Infinity.
I have already said that Gujarati & Modi are very similar, they are just cursive form of DV : realtin betwen 3rd Roman alphabet to the first etc. GJ is born from DV. That is what u saw in the manuscripts.
Dr. Nishith N Dhruv,
They are very similar visually, but while Gujarati is a “paripUrNa” (comprehensive) script, fully equipped for all the demands that the language makes of it (and I daresay adaptable to future demands), Modi has the basic flaw that it eliminates the distinction between “hrasva” and “deergha”, which severely limits its utility for grammatically correct Marathi. This means that the person using it must be adequately well-versed in the language to compensate for its inherent limitations while reading or writing it. It is something like using shorthand: the steno must be competent enough in “standard” language to produce a typescript from his/her notes. Imagine the disastrous consequences of a learner being taught Marathi through the Modi script!
As an interesting aside, this important difference between the Gujarati and Modi scripts flies in the face of the cultural sterotypes regarding both Gujaratis and Maharashtrians. Traditionally the Gujarati is supposed to have a purely functional, “chaalshey” attitude towards things, while the Maharashtrian is considered excessively fussy about details that don’t substantively matter
.
Against this background, it is interesting to learn that there is now a move afoot, among a group of young designers and linguists (in that order!), to revive Modi with the necessary refinements to make it suitable for 21st century use. The designers’ interest is understandable in the context of calligraphy, but what could be the motivation of the linguists, I wonder.
Dear Vivek,
The so-called old gujarati script was nothing but the hand-written form of DV script pripr to the days printing press made it possible to fix the shapes of letters in a precise mould. Hence it contained both the i-I & u-U forms. But if you notice the Gujarati writing of people of those times, they prdominantly if not exclusively used the deergh I & hraswa u forms. Hence no wonder if Modi had only one form of i-u. The modern linguists of the Gujarati language have unanimously opined that the hraswa & deergha forms have ceased to exist as separate phonemes. And hence some of them have advocated the use of the deergha form of I as its vowel sign follows the spoken order and the hraswa form of u as its vowel sign doesn’t impinge on the succeeding letter. Obviously, there is an on-going debate which has generated lots of heat! I am aware that DV is an alternative script for GJ and in fact am trying to make them realise that. I am all for accepting DV for my mother-tongue Gujarati and don’t subscribe to this theory of Hindi imperialism. I give them the example of my state language Marathi, which is written in the DV script and yet has developed independently from Hindi. In spite of teaching of Hindi being compulsory, hardly any Hindi literature has come from the state of Maharshtra or Gujarat. Given this fact, I don’t see how teaching of Hindi has posed any roadblock to the flourishing of these State languages. But I do believe, we would do well to reduce the burden of teaching Hindi and make more efforts to teach English instead. Those wishing to learn Hindi or any other Indian language can do that using private classes or other resources. I totally disagree that DV has become a hallowed script because of Hindi. And if we cannot accept it as an alternative script in which to display names on boards on public places, it is better to opt for Bangla or any of the South Indian Scripts or better still the Roman suitably modified, instead of the others which are known to a very limited no of people in our country. As for the Halar region, I myself hail from Jamnagar and the halari boli of a few communities like Bhatias and Bhanushalis is related to Kachchhi, rest all speak Gujarati & everyone wrote in the cursive form of DV everywhere in Gujarat. The Gujarati script as we know it today has an existance of barely 250 years or so. It is interesting that the two of us having interest in the scripts & knowledge about them have come to hold such diametrically opposite views! Just because Marathi is written in DV has anyone ever claimed that it is a dialect of Hindi? So I don’t think Gujaratis should fear that if we adopt the DV script Gujarati will be considered a dialect of Hindi! Kachchhi at present uses Gujarati script but nobody considers it to be a dailect of Gujarati!
//The modern linguists of the Gujarati language have unanimously opined that the hraswa & deergha forms have ceased to exist as separate phonemes.//
True. And this is typified by most contemporary writing practices. However, Many well-educated Gujaratis still follow the distinction between hrasva and deergha, especially in tatsama words. (The notable contradiction in modern Gujarati is that between “gujarAt” as per the traditional custom still followed by most people, and “gUjarAt”, as insisted upon by Navjeevan Press and the Gandhians).
In Marathi, the distinction between hrasva and deergha has more or less vanished in speech, but it is still meticulously observed in writing. Of course you do often see illiteracies such as AshirvAd instead of AshIrvAd, upahAr instead of upAhAr (for a snack), and even in word elements which have nothing to do with Sanskrit (such as -pAsun instead of -pAsUn). But by and large it is not so widespread (nor was in the past) as to justify its formal elimination which we find in the Modi script.
//…hardly any Hindi literature has come from the state of Maharshtra or Gujarat…//
Not true. Two names that immediately come to mind in serious literature are Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh and Prabhakar Machwe. And there would be many more, both from Maharashtra and Gujarat, which I cannot instantly recall. After all these are the only two non-Hindi states which meekly submitted to Hindi imperialism, led by their intellectuals. Even if you go through the Constituent Assembly debates, most of the non-Hindi support for Hindi as official language came from the members representing the Marathi and Gujarati peoples.
Incidentally, according to Wikepedia (not the most reliable of references, I agree), “The earliest known document in the Gujarātī script is a handwritten manuscript dating from 1592, and the script first appeared in print in a 1797 advertisement.” If this is correct, it has considerably more antiquity than you suggest, and yet not enough to warrant for its being the source of Modi (mid-13th c.).
As to the rest of what you say, we could argue till the cows come home and not reach an agreement. My views on this are radically different from those of 99% of all Maharshtrians and Gujaratis. So let’s agree to disagree. I will, however, just make one point — when a rikshawala or a paanwala in Pune or Ahmedabad responds in Hindi (with an obviously local accent) to a request or a query made in the local language, what does that signify?
Anyway, as an aside, since you are yourself from Halar, I would like to confirm with you my received information about the Halari Panchanga. I am told that, as with the Kachchhi, the Halari New Year falls on Ashadh Shuddha Beej. When I tried to find out (in the context of Kachchh) the reason for this unusual arrangement, distinct from all other lunar calendars of India (whether amanta or paurnimanta) I was told that it was an Islamic influence — the importance attached to the sighting of the moon — and that to eliminate the uncertainties attendant on this, the Kachchhis, and following them the Halaris, adopted Beej as the New Year’s Day. Is this true?
Vivek, today at a shop called Foodlands the sales girl who is a native maharashtrian spoke to me thrice in hindi after I spoke to her thrice in marathi. Then I lost my patience and gave her a lecture. I told her that it was because of people like her, who are ashamed to speak in their own mother tongue, that hindi speaking people are reluctant to learn the local language. I told her that it was because of her that goondas like Raj T are flourishing. Luckily she kept quiet, followed me throughout my presence there, continuouslly making small talk in marathi! – Nita.
Dr. Dhruv,
Sorry I missed your last sentence:
//Kachchhi at present uses Gujarati script but nobody considers it to be a dailect of Gujarati!//
As a matter of fact many Gujaratis DO consider Kachchhi to be a dialect of Gujarati (or a mix of Gujarati and Sindhi), just as many Maharashtrians arrogantly consider Konkani to be a dialect of Marathi (despite Konkani having now been included in the VIII Schedule), and both communities consider the languages of tribals in their respective states as being heavily corrupted versions of the “pramANa bhAshA” — whatever that may mean.
I completely agree with Vivek’s views. I am sorry to say that Maharastrians and Gujaratis seem to be sounding the death knell of their own cultures and languages by willingly accepting Hindi imposition on themselves. Whether Dr. Dhruv is aware of it or not, the notorious language fascists in our country would like to believe that their language is the only “language” and all others are “dialects” of that “language”. They may succeed in making the Gujaratis and Maharashtrians allies in their evil designs to kill all the national and official languages and scripts in out country but they cannot do the same with the people of other states!
Let us take an example of a country(the former U.S.S.R) where one language and script (Russian and Cyrillic) were forcefully imposed on others. All the statements given below are from wikipedia:
In 1940, the Uzbek language was forcefully switched to Cyrillic script under Joseph Stalin. Until 1992, Uzbek almost everywhere continued to be written using the Cyrillic alphabet, but now in Uzbekistan the Latin script has been officially re-introduced, although the use of Cyrillic is still widespread. The deadline in Uzbekistan for making this transition has been repeatedly changed. The latest deadline was 2005, but was shifted once again to provide a few more years.
Already education in many areas of in Uzbekistan is in the Latin script, and in 2001 the Latin script began being used for currency Since 2004 official websites have switched over to using the Latin script when writing in Uzbek. Most street signs are also in the new Latin script.
After the Estonian War of Independence, the Estonian language became the state language of the newly independent country. When the Soviet Union occupied Estonia in 1940, the status of the Estonian language changed overnight. In the second half of the 1970s, the pressure of Russification and bilingualism intensified. The Russian language was termed as ‘the language of friendship of nations”, and was taught to Estonian children as early as in kindergarten. At the same time teaching Estonian to non-Estonians was considered unnecessary. During the Perestroika era The Law on the Status of the Estonian Language was adopted in January 1989. The collapse of the Soviet Union led to the restoration of Republic of Estonia’s independence. Estonian went back to being the only state language in Estonia.
In October of 2006, Nursultan Nazarbayev, the president of Kazakhstan, brought up the topic of using the Latin alphabet instead of the Cyrillic alphabet as the official script for Kazakh in Kazakhstan. A Kazakh government study released in September 2007 said that Kazakhstan could feasibly switch to a Latin script over a 10 to 12 year period, for a cost of $300 million. The shift to the Latin alphabet is seen both as a way of furthering Kazakhstan’s decolonization project and more deeply integrating the country into the global information economy.
Before 1929, Turkmen was written in a modified Arabic alphabet. In 1929–1938 a Latin alphabet replaced it, and then the Cyrillic alphabet was used from 1938 to 1991. In 1991, the current Latin alphabet was introduced, although the transition to it has been rather slow. It originally contained some rather unusual letters, such as the pound, dollar, yen, and cent signs, but these were later replaced by more orthodox letter symbols.
Tajiki is currently written in the Cyrillic alphabet in the former Soviet Union, although it has been written in both the Latin alphabet and the Persian alphabet in certain parts of its history. In the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic, the use of the Latin script began in 1928, and was later replaced in the 1930s by the Cyrillic script. In Afghanistan, Tajiks continued to use the Persian script, which remains in use among Afghan Tajiks today. In more recent developments, Tajikistan has announced that once certain conditions are met, it will switch its alphabet from Soviet influenced Cyrillic script to Persian script thereby forging closer cultural ties with the Persian speaking nations of Iran and Afghanistan.
Kyrgyz is written in modified Cyrillic (Kyrgyzstan) and modified Arabic (China) scripts. A Latin script was used between 1928 and 1940 in Kyrgyzstan. After Kyrgyzstan gained independence in 1991, there was a popular idea to return Kyrgyz language back to the Latin alphabet, but this plan has never been implemented.
During the years of Soviet occupation (1940–41 and 1945–91) the policy of Russification greatly affected the Latvian language. Through these periods many Latvians and Latvia’s other ethnicities faced deportations and persecutions. A massive immigration from the Soviet republics of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and others followed, largely the result of Stalin’s plan to integrate Latvia and the other Baltic republics into the Soviet Union by means of Russian colonisation. As a result, the proportion of the ethnic Latvian population within the total population was reduced from 80% in 1935 to 52% in 1989. In the Soviet Latvia, most of the immigrants who settled in the country didn’t learn Latvian. Today, Latvian is the mother tongue of more than 60% of the country’s population.
After the re-establishment of independence in 1991, a new policy of language education was introduced. The primary goal declared was the integration of all inhabitants into the environment of the official state language, while protecting the languages of Latvia’s ethnic minorities.
Lithuanian has been the official language of Lithuania since 1918. During the Soviet occupation (see History of Lithuania), it was used in official discourse along with Russian which, as the official language of the USSR, took precedence over Lithuanian.
So, as can be seen from all the above examples, language and script imperialism of the central government of the U.S.S.R. was one of the main reasons that led to the eventual break-up of the Soviet Union. If the notorious linguo-nazis in the central government of India(and the Hindi states) along with the Gujaratis and Maharashtrians want such a thing to happen to India, then I have nothing to say!
Raj, I heard something similar happened in China too…but the homogenisation was so complete due to Mao’s rule that now very little information is available about the other languages. Also all languages except Chinese are relegated to a lower status, like that of a dialect. Punjabi too is dying, but somehow no one agrees with me. Anyway a 50 years from now someone reading this blog will call me prophetic. – Nita.
Raj,
It is interesting that your Wikipedic research did not yield the most notable instance of a language in the former USSR which actually had its own script — Georgian — that survived the Russian efforts to impose Cyrillic.
Other than Latin and Cyrillic (which is a derivative of Greek) Georgian is the only indigenous European script to have survived into modern times. The south-eastern part of the USSR was historically in the Perso-Arabic zone of cultural influence, so it is natural that they should have Perso-Arabic scripts. But Georgian is uniquely European.
Nita,
In which part of Brihanmumbai is Foodlands located? Of course my question has little relevance when I remember the episode you recounted several months ago of the supermarket near your place where the owner had instructed the staff not to speak Marathi.
In Mulund — a Kirit Somaiya and BJP stronghold — I get by equally well in Marathi and in Gujarati. Somaiya himself speaks excellent Marathi, and his wife, as you may know, is Marathi.
What I have always found most interesting is that in Matunga, with its heavily Tamil, Kannada and Tulu identity, the shopkeepers are always happy to speak in Marathi — and this is a pre-SS phenomenon, nothing to do with intimidation.
I am talking of the same supermarket, it keeps happening there. However I get these episodes on a regular basis all around Mumbai…in D-Mart and Shop-rite. Even in normal shops. But the foodland people are the most stubborn. And shoprite is in mulund. – Nita.
Raj,
I have in recent days had more than one occasion to assert that there is no really inherent or intimate connection between language and script. Your essay on the Soviet Union gives me an opening to elaborate what I was saying.
Until as recently as the 17th-18th (even early 19th) century, a vast majority of people in the world had no use for scripts. It was only priests and merchants — and the scribes who were in their service — who needed to know writing. For the rest of the people language was all about speaking. Literature was largely oral (which is why such a large proportion of the older literary traditions in almost all languages of the world are so dominated by verse — it was easier to remember and recite.
Of course the orthographic fate of most languages was sealed long before literacy became widespread. In Europe in particular, if the language was primarily used by congregation owing allegiance to the Church of Rome or one of its splinters, its script was Latin. If the congregation was allied to one of the Eastern (i.e. Orthodox) churches, the script was Greek or its derivative, Cyrillic (there were other scripts too, but they were in the Asian realm). Thus, by the time literacy became widespread in Europe, Latin and Greek/Cyrillic were the two major flourishing scripts (with isolated exceptions such as Georgian).
In Asia, with the exception of Turkey, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philipines, which adopted the Latin script, and the Islamic world west (but not east) of India, which had used Perso-Arabic for centuries, continued to do so. Thus, in modern times, Asia has the richest diversity of scripts anywhere in the world.
It is always possible (and would be practical) to have a common script. But when the motivation behind such a move is to erase heterogeneity and to impose uniformity as determined by someone with imperialist and hegemonistic designs, such ideas must be resisted firmly, insultingly and if necessary violently.
Vivek,
I searched for Georgian but I realised that Georgian survived script imperialism. Was it because Georgian was the first language of Iosif Vissarionovich Jugashvili a.k.a Joseph Stalin?
Nita,
I would request you to keep giving your lectures (just be a bit sterner) to Maharashtrians who feel ashamed to speak their own national language in their own state! I would even request you to ask them to speak in Marathi to those from other states who do not want to speak Marathi! Once when I visited a tourist spot in Karnataka, I tried to speak to a salesboy in a combination of broken Kannada and broken English. The chap understood that I was a Tamil from my Kannada words and in his eagerness to sell me his goods, he replied in pretty good Tamil. I told him to speak in his language as I wanted to pick up some Kannada during my short stay in Karnataka. You should have seen the surprise on his face! But I did manage to pick up a few Kannada words from him
Also, this might be a bit off-topic, but I guess you must have thought that I was a Communist sympathiser(atleast initially, till I made it crystal clear that I am a social democrat and also from my views on the PRC). I guess from all my comments on this post, you would have realised that I can never be a Communist sympathiser!
Corrigendum: In the last but one paragraph above, I have missed out part of a sentence.
After “…Perso-Arabic for centuries,…”, instead of “continued to do so.”, it should read
“the vast majority of countries had several dozen languages, each with its own script, which continued to be used”.
I agree with you, Vivek. I do realise that scripts evolved out of the necessities in different regions of the world. In ancient Egypt, papyrus would have required a different type of script from the clay tablets that were used in ancient Greece and the palm leaves that were used in ancient India. Infact,now we already have a common script for the whole world, the Roman script!
But since script imperialism is a part of the strategy of the language fascists to impose one language on others, it should be resisted by any means!
Raj,
About the survival of the Georgian script, the same thought occurred to me, but I don’t know. I don’t think so. I have never seriously researched the subject.
Even my awareness of the existence of the script came under rather comic circumstances — from the label on a bottle of beer I bought at the Ostbahnhof in (the then) East Berlin, way back in the mid-1970s. (BTW it was good beer, almost as good as the best Czech beer and cheaper than the cheapest East German or Polish beer)
.
I recently discovered this brilliant blog that provides me the infos about India I was looking for. My best compliments, Nita.
As many commentators here, I think that both the local language (a richness + identity that cannot be lost) and English (planet global language) should be taught to kids in schools as early as possible. So they should be compulsory, in some way, since early childhood.
If both taught as mother-tongues – wherever possible – it would be even better. As an Italian mother tongue, I learned English with *a lot* of toil between 15 and 25, not many people having the time, money, will, background etc. to do that (including many Italian friends of mine). I wished so much I had been taught English from childhood (it is well known that during earliest childhood one can easily learn several languages at the same time, not just two).
Favouring these two languages (local mother tongue + English) could though mean dooming Hindi as a common national language, after some time. Have no idea if Indian government, politicians, Northern India etc. are willing to accept that (or if Hindi is now in a better position, as an Indian global language, vis-à-vis English) .
My best regards
Thanks Man of Roma. True what you say, the government will not like that Hindi loses its favoured status in favour of English and mother tongue because there is an idea amongst some people, particularly in the government, that it is anti-national to have English as the uniting language. I do not agree with this as I think of it as a colonial hangover and I accept English as a part and parcel of India…almost like an Indian language even if it is an adopted one.
About Hindi becoming a global language I cannot feel for it as for me Hindi is an alien tongue. To me English is not alien and nor is my mother tongue Marathi. There will be no greater thrill for me than to see Marathi becoming a global language but I guess that is just me dreaming! But anyway, I will be satisfied as long as Marathi thrives in Maharashtra, as long as the local people in Maharashtra respect their own language and people from other states who come here respect it too, even if they don’t learn it. – Nita.
ராஜ் (Raj / రాజు్),
It appears that its being Stalin’s mother tongue did not help. See the following site:
http://rustaveli.tripod.com/language.html
And here’s the pertinent paragraph from it:
“During the Soviet era, the Communist authorities made several attempts to abolish the Georgian language as the state language in Georgia, which led to massive protests and revitalized Georgian nationalist sentiments. Georgian dissidents, especially Zviad Gamsakhurdia and Merab Kostava, campaigned under the slogan “ena, mamuli, sartsmunoeba” (language, fatherland, faith) that placed major emphasis on the Georgian language as a rallying point for the Georgian nationalism. In April 1978, the power of Georgian nationalism was revealed when thousands of Georgians took to the streets to protest the Soviet government’s decision to remove Georgian as the official state language of the republic. Facing escalating demands, the government decided against removing the disputed clause and effectively acknowledged its defeat. Currently, Article 8 of the Constitution declares Georgian as the state language of Georgia and the Georgian and Abkhaz languages on the territory of Abkhazia.
Nita,
WRT your response to Man of Roma, I agree wholeheartedly, except with your last six words, “even if they don’t learn it.”
They MUST learn it if they are from Hindia.
I like the getting rid of colonial hangovers thing. I think it is wiser to concentrate on what can make India happier, richer and powerful (without any other world war pls lol).
So you are from Maharashtra. Wow. Mumbay has been my dream city and first contact with India. I had my honeymoon there 35 years ago…..
All the best, Nita
Vivek,
I would like to spell your name in Marathi and Gujarati but I am not sure if I would get them right. Based on my limited knowledge of those two national languages of India, I am not sure which of the following is the correct spelling of your name:
विवेकसाहेब खादपेकर / વિવેકભાઈ ખાગપેકર, विवेकसाहेब खदपेकर / વિવેકભાઈ ખગપેકર, विवेकसाहेब खाडपेकर / વિવેકભાઈ ખાડપેકર, विवेकसाहेब खडपेकर / વિવેકભાઈ ખડપેકર
I don’t know if all of them are incorrect ways of spelling your name. I know you would like to be called just as Vivek, but I want to make absolutely sure that I am writing your name in Marathi
Thanks for that link. I guess the Georgians love their language and are very proud of it and that is what helped the Georgian language survive the language imperialism during Soviet times.
[By the way, I am a teetotaller, so I know almost nothing about the different types of beer
(I don't smoke either) ]
ராஜ் (Raj / రాజు్),
The correct form is विवेक खडपेकर / વિવેક ખડપેકર. I am surprised by your first option. It is a very North Indian interpretation, which is also illustrative of something I always crib about — their reticence with the “hard” (“cacuminal” or “retroflex” — I wrongly said “palatal” in an earlier comment) versions of ta, tha, da, dha, na, despite having them in Hindi. So in my surname, according to the Master Race, ड becomes द.
Our P&T department also did that to Tendulkar’s (the cricketer, not the literary giant who passed away recently) name on the stamp they issued in his honour. Typically, like a good loyal-Indian Maharashtrian, he did not protest. Nor did the SS (MNS was not around then).
If children of a southern state should learn hindi, so should the hindi speaking learn a non hindi language.
I feel, it is always better to leave it to the children to decide what the third language should be. If you want you can restrict it to a non-hindi language.
No one is revolting today because hindi is the official language today but, you cant compel anyone to learn what you want!
you can write an epic long story on this…but what’s the point when you keep promoting to the outside world as if hindi is the only language existing in India.
THIS IS HAPPENING to a large extent! North Indians are unfortunately driving their own languages to extinction.
South Indian languages will flourish I guess because of the growing inclination towards Carnatic music(which is only in south indian language compositions mostly, telugu and sanskrit) all over the world.
विवेकसाहेब खडपेकर / વિવેકભાઈ ખડપેકર,
Thanks a lot for the clarification about the correct spelling of your name in two national languages of India, Marathi and Gujarati.
I apologise for using the wrong spelling of your name in one earlier comment. I assure you that, unlike certain people, I did not mean to murder your name. I tried to transliterate it from our national (and international) script, Roman. Also because of the fact that in my national script, Tamil, we have two graphemes ட and த that are used to represent different phonemes – the first one is ‘soft’ while the second is the ‘hard’ one.
I am shocked to hear that the “national” snail-mail department
murdered the name of Sachinsaheb 
I hope no one ever does that to one of the truly national icons of India, Vijay Dhondopant Tendulkar.
I am glad to see everyone talking of the national languages & national scripts! I have been brought up by my father to see and understand the cultural & linguistic diversity of our country. Raj had remarked that we started of with suspicions. Well, I had none & have none about my fellow-Indians. I totally agree with Raj that if North Indians wish South Indians to learn Hindi, they must reciprocate by learning one of our great South Indian national languages. I had myself learnt Malayalam because most of the nurses we had were Malayali speakers. Of course, now for the last 24 years that I have left Mumbai & settled in a remote place in Maharashtra, I have lost touch with the language. But as far as the educated people are concerned, English has already become a link language. As for the migrants settling in smaller towns & places, a vast majority have no option but to send their children to local schools whichever may be the medium of instructions. Here in Maharashtra for instance they grow up in Marathi medium schools or English medium schools where Marathi is of course compulsory. The parents, barely literate in their own mother-tongues also pick up Marathi conversation after staying for a few months or years depending upon their language skills. They should be treated with patience. Besides, what should be the language teaching for those whose mother tongue is not Marathi is also something that deserves thinking. I feel that it is sufficient if they are taught the skills of writing reasonably correct Marathi for everyday use like writing applications etc. It is futile to expect them to write an essay or something like that. Besides, insistance on talking in Marathi with a non-Marathi who can’t speak Marathi need not be stretched too far. ( please read all other national languages in place of Marathi! ) People differ vastly in aquiring a language. And exactly in what manner do you expect the non-Marathi to respect Marathi, if not learn it? And if you expect them to learn Marathi as a must, to what extent? Friends, these are points to be considered with a spirit of tolerance. My brother-in-law Raja is a Tamil whose parents had settled in Vadodara. He was educated in Gujarati medium. He still makes mistakes when he talks Gujarati. Is it not natural? Should it offend any Gujarati? They have shifted now to Bengluru. Even after staying for so many years in Vadodara, his mother is unable to speak in Gujarati. A simple loving housewife. I see no reason for anyone in Gujarat taking any offence against that. Please note that this is from a person who had no chance to learn Marathi in his school, & yet having settled here in Roha was helped in picking up Marathi by all. They spoke to me sometimes in Hindi, soetimes in Marathi, as did the patients. And within 3 years I became reasonably fluent in Marathi. Now I see to it that all my communications to the Panchayt office, I write in Marathi. I may be making a few grammatical mistakes here and there, but that is understandable. I think that is the only way things would proceed in our country. A few migrants not speaking in the local language cannot pose any threat to that language.
Dr. Dhruv,
You mentioned that it is not easy to pick up or learn languages. So why should there be a three language policy, and that too ONLY for some states? The compulsory three language policy of some states is the greatest shame of the Indian education system! If people from other states want to learn their mother tongue, they can do so at home or take it up as an optional subject. I have a Malayali friend who is settled in Chennai. He studied in a Tamil medium school where he also learnt English as a second language. But he is equally fluent in Malayalam as he speaks his mother tongue at home and his parents taught him how to read and write Malayalam.
As long as I live in my state, I do not want to learn a third language just because it is the wish of someone. I see no reason why I should waste my time in learning a third language when there are so many more important things to learn. At the same time I will learn any language if I want to, even if that language happens to be a foreign language! If I move to live in another state, I will make a conscious effort to learn not just to speak, but also read and write the national language of the people of my host state as soon as possible.
I love the video on Catalonia, as everyone in India except the Hindians are Catalonias. An alien language is imposed on us. We don’t control our own taxes. By any objective criteria, we are nations, but not countries.
I agree, unfortunately, that Marathi is unlikely to become a global language. Sorry to say this, but it’s because Marathis haven’t tried hard enough. They haven’t even done a good job of preserving Marathi in Maharashtra. Earlier this year, I spent 5 days in Mumbai, went to several places including shopping malls, and I did not hear a single word of Marathi. Everyone was conversing in Hindi instead of the language of the land. That’s why we Southies think of Maharashtra as North India. Even in places like Pune and Nashik, I believe Hindi is on the rise. Correct me if I’m wrong.
On the other hand, I believe Tamil is becoming a global language. Okay, it’s still spoken by only a small population, and we cannot compete with Hindi or Spanish in terms of numbers. But the number of countries with a Tamil presence is phenomenal (our brothers from across the Palk Straits are partly responsible for it). Tamil has quite a major presence in the cyberworld, and I’ve heard that it has the second largest online presence of any language in the world, behind only English.
I believe this is the merit of guarding our language fiercely from Day One and not letting it play second fiddle in our own land.
In my opinion, there are only four Indian languages which qualify as global. Hindi (due to official government policies and sheer numbers), Tamil (due to Tamils’ love for the language and eagerness to take it wherever they go), Bengali (because it enjoys national language status in a neighboring country), and Punjabi (due to its vast presence in the UK and Canada). Slowly, Telugu and Malayalam are becoming global languages, due to the global spread of the Telugu and Malayalee diasporas.
I wish for a Marathi linguistic renaissance. I really do, even though I’m not a Marathi. I feel sad to see the language of the Marathi land playing second fiddle int he capital of the Marathi land.
Coming back to the original point of this blog, I think English will become more and more important in India as the north wakes up to the realization that English is the language of the world.
ராஜ் (Raj / రాజు్),
Please leave out the “साहेब”. I find it embarrassing.
Vivek
Vasanth,
//…Marathi is unlikely to become a global language…//
I don’t think any Maharashtrian hopes or expects that it will become one. What some of us are beginning to worry about is whether it will even survive as a state language in Maharashtra.
Indian people that I have met in person or seen in the media share the same accent when they speak Enlish. Is this just a coincident due to my limmitted experience or is it a phenomenon? If a fact, is it significant to the inter-relation of Indian languages? (In the Chinese case, Cantonese speakers and Mandarlin speakers have different accents when they speak English.)
Gugin, the english accents are widely different…whether bengali or tamil or maharashtrian…but I guess foreigners may not be able to distinguish it. It’s like foreigners might think the chinese all look alike or Indians look similar, or we think white people look alike… – Nita,
Guqin, I find the English accents quite different too. I can make out if someone is a Tamil, Malayalee, Punjabi, Bihari or UPite or Bengali by his accent. I find the Malayalee accent most easily identifiable. The Tamil accent is quite a flexible accent and is not so easily identifiable. Among Chinese, I’ve observed that Cantonese have their own unique accent, but I didn’t know that was the case for the other dialect groups.
Dear Raj,
When did I ever talk in favour or against 3-language policy? Yes, the policy was designed by our leaders with noble intention. But after 60 years if it is felt the policy has done mor harm than good, we can easily do away with it. If u go back to my comments, I have said clearly that Hindi – about which all this love-hate relationship is about – need not be taught. Those who wish to learn it can take help of other sources. So why did u have to repeat that in bold letters I don’t understand. I do understand the feeling of hurt and injustice behind that & believe me, sympathise with u & all others who feel that way. But I have great faith in you youngsters of India. I am sure you will engage your North Indian brethren, young like u, in conversation such as this and , explain your practical, sentimental and genuine problems to them. A review can be made, new directions given. But all this can be done without being inimical and revengeful – & least of all violent as suggested by Vivek. And my suggestion of a common script was for the benifit of all as I see it, no imperial motivations or imposition was ever attached to that. Hindi anyways is not my mother-tongue. But if a state like Gujarat desires to teach Hindi, it need not be considered shameful. That has historical reasons. Long before the British empire, there was a contact between Hindi & Gujarati. You will find several traditiona folk songs ( the duhas in particular ) have Hindi couplets mixed with Gujarati ones. May be that is because of interactions and the travels of saints like Meerabai. My great grand-father had written several Gujarati books and amongst them I found a book of poems written in Hindi! All this when no schools taught Hindi as such.
Dr. Dhruv,
//My great grand-father…//
Would I be right in assuming that you are referring to the amazingly versatile and multifaceted Acharya Anandshankar Dhruv?
If yes, two queries:
1. Did his association with Gandhi lead to a formal attachment with the Gujarat Vidyapeeth?
2. Was he in contact with Acharya Dharmananda Kosambi (D D Kosambi’s father)? I have a dilettante’s curiosity about DDK’s life and work, and any links, however tenuous, would be of interest. Perhaps DDK’s brief association with BHU coincided with Acharya Dhruv’s pro-vicechancellorship?
//…least of all violent as suggested by Vivek//
I have often advocated “violence” in the context of the fight against Hindi imperialism. Let me make it clear that violence does not have to mean physical violence alone. It can also mean the act of imposing one’s values on others, especially in inequitable power equations, however they may have been worked out.
Thus, the way I see it, even the moral high ground gained by doing “good” work can — and often has — become the platform from which violence was committed. The work of religious missionaries among the “heathen” almost everywhere, that of the Gandhians in the tribal belt of Gujarat, and of the Vivekananda Kendra people in Arunachal — all of these include elements of violence as I define it. Even emotional blackmail, a tool resorted to very effectively by Gandhi through his several fasts, is violence. While I do condemn these I see nothing wrong with them when all other reasonable methods, based on rationalism and appeal to conscience fail. Since Hindi has been violently imposed on the rest of us, and the Hindiwallahs have not kept their part of the bargain regarding the three-language formula, and have now got to a point where they would like to crush Marathi, Kannada, Assamese etc. in their own respective homelands, I see absolutely nothing wrong with countering violence with violence — including the more conventional physical violence.
Dear Dr. Dhruv,
I wanted to type only some sentences in that comment in bold letters, but in my hurry, I did not use the “strong” and “/strong” coding words in the correct places, so the whole comment got posted in bold.
I am not being inimical or revengeful, Doctor. I have always benefitted from the two language policy of my state, which is the best part of the education system in my state. The right to teach only our national and official languages, Tamil and English as compulsory languages in Tamil Nadu was obtained at a great cost, and we will never, ever give up that basic Human Right! I shall go to any extent, if necessary, to safeguard that precious Human Right!
But I can empathise with those who are forced to learn an unnecessary language in their own homeland. I can empathise with those who feel that their national and official languages are under threat in their own homelands due to the violent imposition of a language that is totally unnecessary in their homelands. Therefore, I completely agree with the views of વિવેકભાઈ.
You mentioned that Gujarati and Hindi have historical and cultural links. In the same way, long, long before the days of the Europeans in India, the Tamil and Malayalam kingdoms (Chera, Chozha, Pandia and Pallava) have had historical and cultural links not just with the Romans, but also with the Chinese, Japanese and South-East Asians. So we feel that the Roman script is very much a part of our homelands and culture. We are proud of the fact that our ancient culture was enriched by its peaceful contact with those ancient cultures. So I would wholeheartedly welcome it if the governments of Tamil Nadu or Kerala decide to teach Japanese or any South-East Asian language as an optional subject in our schools!
Guqin,
Please don’t be offended as I have left out the Chinese language in the last sentence of my comment, though the Tamil kingdoms have had historical and cultural contact with the Chinese as well.
The only reason why I left it out is because I am not sure if there is a language that can be called Chinese. I know that there is a script called Chinese in modern and traditional forms, but I am not sure about a language. Correct me if I am wrong.
ராஜ் (Raj / రాజు్),
// I know that there is a script called Chinese in modern and traditional forms, but I am not sure about a language. //
While Guqin would, of course, be able to explain this more authoritatively, I think you are basically right. The way I understand it, China has a common script that has been around for the last 4000 years, used for all the languages of China, of which the four major ones are Mandarin (850 mn. speakers), Wu (90 mn.), Min (80 mn.) and Cantonese (50 mn.), followed by many more with fewer than 50 mn. speakers. These are distinct and mutually unintelligible languages. The beauty of the Chinese script is that it is ideogrammatic, i.e. each grapheme represents not a phoneme but an idea. Thus, to take a hypothetical example and apply it to common indian languages, if the ideogram for “girl” is “!@&” it will be understood as “girl” in all the languages, but will be pronounced in them in entirely different ways, e.g. “mulgi” in Marathi, “chhokari” in Gujarati, “selvi” in Tamil, “ladki” in Hindi and so on.
Many times our friends, while talking about Hindi “imposition”, forget (Rather want to forget)…that most of the people in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bengal,Orissa etc learn Hindi with their own interest, and because it adds so much to their lives…………..It’s true that Hindi is taught in schools in these states…but it in noway forces them to speak Hindi in their daily routine….
We have scene many examples on this blog as well……..on another post a bengali fellow (i forgot the name) told that he loved Hindi, and willingly learnt it..and not due to any imposition
Hindi is among the rare languages on earth which has wonderful ability to spread due to it’s beauty and richness
Moreover much before the “imposition”……..Hindi was spreading….why on earth Mahatma Gandhi and Subhash chandra Bose learnt Hindi….were they forced to learn?
Mahatma Gandhi was biggest supporter of Hindi as national language….and he worked a lot for this purpose..in fact i believe Mahatma Gandhi was first one to advocate Hindi as the national language of india
http://www.answers.com/topic/mohandas-gandhi
http://aadityaongandhi.blogspot.com/2007/09/relevance-of-constructive-programme-of.html
Mahatma Gandhi was the biggest supporter of not dividing British India into India and Pakistan. But the notorious politicians and their stooges hated him for that. Now they want to portray him in a wrong manner as a linguo-fascist! What a shame!
Hindi has always been forcefully imposed on others by certain notorious criminal politicians and their stooges, leading to violent opposition by people throughout the country:
“The book The Constitution and Language Politics of India gives a detailed picture of the language controversies that engulfed the country during the first few years of independence, at times threatening the very unity of India. The book attributes the root cause for it, to the constitution itself which crowed Hindi in Devanagari Script as the sole official language of the Union Government. English, which was the official language till India gained independence was abruptly to give way to Hindi. Some Hindi fanatics were prepared even for bifurcation of the country. The calamity was averted by a 15 years lease given to English in the constitution, but the problem itself remained.
“The book gives reasons for the agitation against Hindi which continued unabated till it reached a climax in 1965. An act of Parliament allowing English to continue as official language even after 1965 pacified the people to some extent. The book quotes a judgement that English is not a foreign language but very much an Indian language. The crux of the issue, the editor says, is that while Hindi has the support of the constitution, English continues at the courtesy and pleasure of the Parliament and adds that a permanent solution lies only in suitably amending the constitution.
“The book is topical, informative and relevant as the Parliament is likely to discuss some amendments to the constitution in view of the report already submitted to the Government by the Statute Review Commission.
“The book is written in an easy readable style which is likely to be of particular interest to politically and linguistically conscious people. ”
Protest against Hindi imposition
In 2006, the Vedike held the “Anti Hindi-imposition conference” at Yavanika, Bengalooru, on September 14, which is celebrated as Hindi Divas (“Hindi Day”) in the Central government institutions in India. The aim of the conference was to discuss plans for countering what the Vedike calls as the imposition of Hindi on Kannadigas and the Central Government’s Rajbhasha policy.
The conference was attended by K. Rajkumar, Ashok Doddameti, and chaired by T. A. Narayana Gowda. According to the Vedike, Hindi is being imposed on Kannadigas through the Administrative System, the Education System, and Media and Entertainment
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS
Preliminaries
The institutions and non-governmental organizations, signatories to the present Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights, meeting in Barcelona from 6 to 9 June 1996,
Having regard to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights which, in its preamble, expresses its “faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women”; and which, in its second article, establishes that “everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms” regardless of “race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status”;
# Having regard to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 16 December 1966 (Article 27), and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of the same date which, in their preambles, state that human beings cannot be free unless conditions are created which enable them to enjoy both their civil and political rights and their economic, social and cultural rights;
# Having regard to Resolution 47/135 of 18 December 1992 of the General Assembly of the United Nations Organizations which adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to National, Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities;
# Having regard to the declarations and conventions of the Council of Europe, such as the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, of 4 November 1950 (Article 14); the Convention of the Council of Ministers of the Council of Europe, of 29 June 1992, approving the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages; the Declaration on National Minorities by the Summit Meeting of the Council of Europe on 9 October 1993; and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities of November 1994;
# Having regard to the Santiago de Compostela Declaration of the International PEN Club and the Declaration of 15 December 1993 of the Translations and Linguistic Rights Committee of the International PEN Club concerning the proposal to hold a World Conference on Linguistic Rights;
# Considering that, in the Recife, Brazil, Declaration of 9 October 1987, the 12th Seminar of the International Association for the Development of Intercultural Communication recommended the United Nations Organization to take the necessary steps to approve and implement a Universal Declaration on Linguistic Rights;
# Having regard to Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization of 26 June 1989 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries;
# Having regard to the Universal Declaration of the Collective Rights of Peoples, Barcelona, May 1990, which declared that all peoples have the right to express and develop their culture, language and rules of organization and, to this end, to adopt political, educational, communications and governmental structures of their own, within different political frameworks;
# Having regard to the Final Declaration of the General Assembly of the International Federation of Modern Language Teachers in PÈcs (Hungary) on 16 August 1991, which recommended that linguistic rights be considered among the fundamental rights of the individual;
# Having regard to the report of the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, of 20 April 1994, concerning the draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which assesses individual rights in the light of collective rights;
# Having Regard to the draft Declaration of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, approved at session 1278 on 18 September 1995;
# Considering that the majority of the world’s endangered languages belong to non-sovereign peoples and that the main factors which prevent the development of these languages and accelerate the process of language substitution include the lack of self-government and the policy of states which impose their political and administrative structures and their language;
# Considering that invasion, colonization, occupation and other instances of political, economic or social subordination often involve the direct imposition of a foreign language or, at the very least, distort perceptions of the value of languages and give rise to hierarchical linguistic attitudes which undermine the language loyalty of speakers; and considering that the languages of some peoples which have attained sovereignty are immersed in a process of language substitution as a result of a policy which favours the language of a former colonial or imperial power;
Considering that universalism must be based on a conception of linguistic and cultural diversity which prevails over trends towards homogenization and exclusionary isolation;
# Considering that, in order to ensure peaceful coexistence between language communities, a series of overall principles must be found so as to guarantee the promotion and respect of all languages and their social use in public and in private;
# Considering that various factors of an extralinguistic nature (historical, political, territorial, demographic, economic, sociocultural and sociolinguistic factors and those related to collective attitudes) give rise to problems which lead to the extinction, marginalization and degeneration of numerous languages, and that consequently linguistic rights must be examined in an overall perspective, so as to apply appropriate solutions in each case;
In the belief that a Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights is required in order to correct linguistic imbalances with a view to ensuring the respect and full development of all languages and establishing the principles for a just and equitable linguistic peace throughout the world as a key factor in the maintenance of harmonious social relations;
Hereby declare that
Preamble
# The situation of each language, in view of the foregoing considerations, is the result of the convergence and interaction of a wide range of factors of a political and legal, ideological and historical, demographic and territorial, economic and social, cultural, linguistic and sociolinguistic, interlinguistic and subjective nature.
# More specifically, at the present time, these factors are defined by:
# The age-old unifying tendency of the majority of states to reduce diversity and foster attitudes opposed to cultural plurality and linguistic pluralism.
# The trend towards a worldwide economy and consequently towards a worldwide market of information, communications and culture, which disrupts the spheres of interrelation and the forms of interaction that guarantee the internal cohesion of language communities.
# The economicist growth model put forward by transnational economic groups which seeks to identify deregulation with progress and competitive individualism with freedom and generates serious and growing economic, social, cultural and linguistic inequality.
# Language communities are currently under pressure from dangers arising from a lack of self-government, a limited population or one that is partially or wholly dispersed, a fragile economy, an uncodified language, or a cultural model opposed to the dominant one, which make it impossible for many languages to survive and develop unless the following basic goals are taken into account:
# In a political perspective, the goal of conceiving a way of organizing linguistic diversity so as to permit the effective participation of language communities in this new growth model.
# In a cultural perspective, the goal of rendering the worldwide communications space compatible with the equitable participation of all peoples, language communities and individuals in the development process.
# In an economic perspective, the goal of fostering sustainable development based on the participation of all and on respect for the ecological balance of societies and for equitable relationships between all languages and cultures.
# For all these reasons, this Declaration takes language communities and not states as its point of departure and is to be viewed in the context of the reinforcement of international institutions capable of guaranteeing sustainable and equitable development for the whole of humanity. For these reasons also it aims to encourage the creation of a political framework for linguistic diversity based upon respect, harmonious coexistence and mutual benefit.
Hindi Imperialism.Though spoken by more Indians than any other language, Hindi covers less than half the populace and is the mother tongue of only four states—Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh (Nehru’s as well as Prime Minister Shastri’s home). The officialization of Hindi has long been fought by non-Hindi regions, chiefly four southern states to which Hindi is as foreign as Tex-Mex; they are Madras (which speaks Tamil), Andhra Pradesh (Telu-gu), Kerala (Malayalam) and Mysore (Kannada). Anti-Hindis accuse the Hindis of being out for political gain. In any case, should Hindi become the exclusive official tongue, thousands of civil servants, who do not understand Hindi but get government clerical jobs through their knowledge of English, would be totally adrift.
Fortnight ago, an anti-Hindi rally in Madras denounced the “imposition of Hindi” as “discriminatory tyranny.” Other southerners even charged “Hindi imperialism,” and a Madras political party planned to spend Republic Day in mourning. Last week in Bengali-speaking West Bengal, trucks bearing license plates in Hindi were ordered off roads on the plea that cops were unable to read them—obviously a deliberate and calculated harassment of Hindistate shipping.
Desk Piles. To spread Hindi, the government is spending $2,100,000 this year. Committees have been appointed to translate legal and technical terminology into Hindi, a task complicated by the fact that one English term often comes out as a cumbersome and exotic train of several Hindi words (“telephone exchange,” translated literally into Hindi, is “house of the distant voices”). Such bureaucracy by doublespeak is hardly apt to speed India’s snail-slow governmental machinery, which at a time of increasing national difficulties needs just the opposite. Desks of West Bengal bureaucrats are already piled high with letters from opposite numbers in Uttar Pradesh, which they cannot read, much less answer, since the senders in dutiful obedience to the new law failed to attach English translations.
Hindi chauvinism
RAMACHANDRA GUHA
`Under the British, English had emerged as the language of higher education and administration. Would it remain in this position after the British left? The politicians of the North thought that it should be replaced by Hindi. The politicians and people of the South preferred that English continue as the vehicle of inter-provincial communication.’
I HAVE recently been reading the debates of the Constituent Assembly of India. These are a treasure-trove; invaluable to the scholar, but also well worth reading by the citizen. Among the topics debated by the Assembly were federalism, minority rights, preventive detection — topics that were contentious then, and continue to be contentious now. However, by far the most controversial subject was language: the language to be spoken in the House, the language in which the Constitution would be written, the language which would be given that singular designation, “national”.
On December 10, 1946, effectively the first day of business, R.V. Dhulekar of the United Provinces moved an amendment. When he began speaking in Hindustani, the Chairman reminded him that many members did not know the language. This was Dhulekar’s reply: “People who do not know Hindustani have no right to stay in India. People who are present in this House to fashion a Constitution for India and do not know Hindustani are not worthy to be members of this Assembly. They had better leave.”
The remarks created a commotion in the House. “Order, order!” yelled the Chairman, but Dhulekar then moved that “the Procedure Committee should frame rules in Hindustani and not in English. As an Indian I appeal that we, who are out to win freedom for our country and are fighting for it should think and speak in our own language. We have all along been talking of America, Japan, Germany, Switzerland and the House of Commons. It has given me a headache. I wonder why Indians do not speak in their own language. As an Indian I feel that the proceedings of the House should be conducted in Hindustani. We are not concerned with the history of the world. We have the history of our own country of millions of past years.”
The printed proceedings continue:
“The Chairman: Order, order!
Shri R.V. Dhulekar (speaking still in Hindustani): I request you to allow me to move my amendment.
The Chairman: Order, order! I do not permit you to proceed further. The House is with me that you are out of order.”
At this point Dhulekar finally shut up. But the issue would not go away. In one session, members urged the House to order the Government to change all car number plates from English to Hindi. More substantively, they demanded that the official version of the Constitution be in Hindi, with an unofficial version in English. This the Drafting Committee did not accept, saying that the foreign language could better articulate the technical and legal terms of the document. When a draft Constitution was placed for discussion, members asked for a discussion of each clause in Hindi. To adopt a document written in English, they said, would be “insulting”.
Under the British, English had emerged as the language of higher education and administration. Would it remain in this position after the British left? The politicians of the North thought that it should be replaced by Hindi. The politicians and people of the South preferred that English continue as the vehicle of inter-provincial communication.
Jawaharlal Nehru himself was exercised early by the question. In an essay of the late 1930s, he expressed his admiration for the major provincial languages. Without “infringing in the least on their domain”, said Nehru, there must still be an all-India language of communication. English was too far removed from the masses; so he opted instead for Hindustani, which he defined as a “golden mean” between Hindu and Urdu.
Like Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi thought that Hindustani could unite North with South and Hindu with Muslim. It, rather than English, should be the rashtrabhasha, or national language. As he saw it, “Urdu diction is used by Muslims in writing. Hindi diction is used by Sanskrit pundits. Hindustani is the sweet mingling of the two”. In 1945, he engaged in a lively exchange with Purushottamdas Tandon, a man who fought hard, not to say heroically, to rid Hindi of its foreign elements. Tandon was Vice-President of the All India Hindi Literature Conference, which held that Hindi with the Devanagari script alone should be the national language. Gandhi, who had long been a member of the Conference, was dismayed by its chauvinist drift. Since he believed that both the Nagari and Urdu scripts should be used, perhaps it was time to resign his membership. Tandon tried to dissuade him, but, as Gandhi put it, “How can I ride two horses? Who will understand me when I say that rashtrabhasha = Hindi and rashtrabhasha = Hindi + Urdu = Hindustani?”
Partition more-or-less killed the case for Hindustani. The move to further Sanskritise Hindi gathered pace. One can see this at work in the Constituent Assembly, where early references were to Hindustani, but later references all to Hindi. After the division of the country, the promoters of Hindi became even more fanatical. As Granville Austin observes, “The Hindi-wallahs were ready to risk splitting the Assembly and the country in their unreasoning pursuit of uniformity.” Their crusade provoked some of the most heated debates in the House. Hindustani would not have been acceptable to South Indians; Hindi, even less so. Whenever a member spoke in Hindi, another member would ask for a translation into English. When the case was made for Hindi to be the sole national language, it was bitterly opposed. Representative are these remarks of T.T. Krishnamachari of Madras:
“We disliked the English language in the past. I disliked it because I was forced to learn Shakespeare and Milton, for which I had no taste at all … (I)f we are going to be compelled to learn Hindi … I would perhaps not to be able to do it because of my age, and perhaps I would not be willing to do it because of the amount of constraint you put on me. … This kind of intolerance makes us fear that the strong Centre which we need, a strong Centre which is necessary will also mean the enslavement of people who do not speak the language of the Centre. I would, Sir, convey a warning on behalf of people of the South for the reason that there are already elements in South India who want separation… ., and my honourable friends in U.P. do not help us in any way by flogging their idea (of) `Hindi Imperialism’ to the maximum extent possible. Sir, it is up to my friends in U.P. to have a whole-India; it is up to them to have a Hindi-India. The choice is theirs… .”
The Assembly finally arrived at a compromise; that “the official language of the Union shall be Hindi in the Devanagari script”; but for “15 years from the commencement of the Constitution, the English language shall continue to be used for all the official purposes of the Union for which it was being used immediately before such commencement”. Till 1965, at any rate, the proceedings of the courts, the services, and the all-India bureaucracy would be conducted in English.
In 1965, attempts were made to introduce Hindi by force, sparking widespread protests in Tamil Nadu. In 1967, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) rode to power in Tamil Nadu on the back of these protests. Wisely, the Union Government extended the use of English in inter-State communication. But from time to time, the chauvinists of Hindi try to press their case. In his previous term as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mulayam Singh Yadav wrote a letter in his language to the Chief Minister of Kerala, E.K. Nayanar. Mr. Nayanar replied in his language. It was a brilliant riposte: for while Hindi was not widely spoken in Thiruvanthapuram, in Lucknow, Malayalam was not known at all.
Hindi against India
RAMACHANDRA GUHA
FORTY years ago this week, the DMK leader C. N. Annadurai wrote a letter to the Prime Minister protesting against the imposition of Hindi over all of India. Back in 1949, the Constituent Assembly had chosen Hindi as the sole national language, or “rashtrabhasha”. The Constitution, which ratified this, came into operation on 26 January 1950. However, non-Hindi speaking States were given a 15-year “grace period”, when English would be used along with Hindi in communication between the Centre and the States. That period would end on January 26, 1965; hence Annadurai’s letter.
In fact, Southern leaders had been exercised about this question for quite some time. Back in 1956, the Academy of Tamil Culture passed a resolution urging that “English should continue to be the official language of the Union and the language for communication between the Union and the State Governments and between one State Government and another’. The signatories included Annadurai, E. V. Ramaswami `Periyar’, and C. Rajagopalachari. On Rajaji’s part this represented a certain change of mind; for he had once been a vigorous proponent of the `rashtrabhasha’ himself. However, the organisation of the campaign was the work of the DMK, which through the 1950s organised many protest meetings against the imposition of Hindi.
Problematic caveat
The then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was sensitive to the sentiments of the South; sentiments shared by the North and East as well. In 1963, Nehru piloted the passing of an Official Languages Act, which provided that from 1965 English `may’ still be used along with Hindi in official communication. That caveat `may’ have proved to be problematic; for while Nehru clarified that it meant `shall’, other Congressmen thought it actually meant `may not’.
As January 26, 1965 approached, the opponents of Hindi geared up for action. Nehru they could trust, somewhat; his successors, not at all. For the new Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, was himself strongly for Hindi, as were his senior colleagues Morarji Desai and Gulzarilal Nanda. Ten days before January 26, Annadurai wrote to Shastri saying that his party would observe the day of the change over as a `day of mourning’. But he added an interesting rider; in the form of a request to postpone the day of imposition by a week. Then, said Annadurai, the DMK could enthusiastically join the rest of the nation in celebrating Republic Day.
Now the DMK had originally stood by a `secessionist’ platform; it wanted a separate State of Dravida Nadu. However, over the years it had softened this demand, seeking only greater autonomy for Tamil Nadu. A party conference in 1963 had formally dropped the secessionist plank. And now here was Annadurai urging Shastri to allow the DMK to celebrate Republic Day, thus to show that they were as patriotic as anybody else.
You can speak Tamil or English and yet be a good Indian, argued Anna. No, answered New Delhi, the only good patriots are those who speak (and write) Hindi. Shastri and his Government stood by the decision to make Hindi official on 26 January. And, in consequence, all hell broke loose.
There are some good books on the `official language’ controversy, such as Robert D. King’s Nehru and the Language Politics of India and Mohan Ram’s Hindi Against India. However, the events of January-February 1965, when the debates came to a head, are best recalled by excerpts from this newspaper itself. Naturally, The Hindu followed these events very closely indeed.
On January 27, there was no issue of The Hindu; but over the following week the paper devoted hundreds of column-inches to the anti-Hindi protests. In towns and cities all over Madras — as the state was still called — students boycotted classes. In numerous villages bonfires were made of effigies of the Hindi demoness. In railway stations and post offices, Hindi signs were removed or blackened over.
The headlines in one day’s The Hindu tell part of the story:
Total hartal in Coimbatore
Advocates abstain from work
Students fast in batches
Peaceful strike in Madurai
Lathi-charge in Villupuram
Tear-gas used in Uthamapalyam
The bulk of the protests were collective: strikes, bandhs, processions, boycotts and dharnas. But there was one form of protest that was individual and disturbingly so: the taking of one’s life. On Republic Day itself, two men set themselves on fire in Madras. One left a letter saying he wanted to sacrifice himself at the altar of Tamil. Three days later, a 20-year-old man in Tiruchi killed himself by consuming insecticide. He too left a note saying his suicide was in the cause of Tamil. These `martyrdoms’, in turn, sparked dozens of more strikes, processions, boycotts and dharnas.
Scale of protests
The scale of the anti-Hindi protests surprised even its motivators. Their intensity, meanwhile, alarmed the Centre. Soon it became clear that the ruling Congress party was split down the middle. On the last day of January, a group of prominent Congressmen met in Bangalore to issue an appeal to `the Hindi-loving people not to try to force Hindi on the people of non-Hindi areas’. The hustling of Hindi in haste, they said, would imperil the unity of the country.
These Congress dissenters included S. Nijalingappa (Chief Minister of Mysore), Atulya Ghosh (the boss of the Bengal Congress), Sanjiva Reddy (a senior Union Minister), K. Kamaraj (the Congress President). But on the same day, they were answered by the top ranking Cabinet Minister Morarji Desai. Speaking to the press in Tirupati, Desai claimed that by learning Hindi the Tamil people would only increase their influence within India as a whole. The Congress leaders in Madras, he said, should `convince the people of their mistake (in opposing Hindi) and get them around’. Desai regretted that Hindi had not been made official in the 1950s itself, before the protests against it had crystallised.
Placed in the hot spot was the Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri. His heart was with Hindi zealots like Desai; his head, however, urged him to listen to other voices. On February 11, his hand was forced by the resignation of two Union Ministers from Madras. The same evening the Prime Minister went on All India Radio to convey his `deep sense of distress and shock’ at the `tragic events’.
Assurances
To remove any `misapprehension’ and `misunderstanding’, he said he would fully honour Nehru’s assurance that English would be used as long as the people wanted. Then he made four assurances of his own:
`First, every State will have complete and unfettered freedom to continue to transact its own business in the language of its own choice, which may be the regional language or English.
Second, communications from one State to another will either be in English or will be accompanied by an authentic English translation.
Third, the non-Hindi States will be free to correspond with the Central Government in English and no change will be made in this arrangement without the consent of the non-Hindi States.
Fourth, in the transaction of business at the Central level English will continue to be used’.
Later, Shastri added a crucial fifth assurance — that the All India Civil Services Examination would continue to be conducted in English rather than (as the zealots wished) in the medium of Hindi alone.
The Prime Minister’s speech served both to calm down the anti-Hindi movement and to maintain the unity of the nation. But it came too late to save his party’s reputation in the Tamil country. For the protests of January-February 1965 helped establish the DMK as the coming party in Madras politics. Two years later, under Annadurai’s leadership, it comfortably won the Assembly elections. The Congress was wiped out; ever since, it has remained a feeble force in the state. Not for the first (or indeed last) time, linguistic chauvinism has carried with it a massive political cost.
The Stalinization of Hindi
I was a small kid then. I used to love Marathi saint poetry. Profound, I would say. Then came the blow. I was talking to a fellow friend who is a Maharashtrian, about a Shivaji story that I had read in a little book I had received from my grandfather for my birthday. My grandfather makes it a point to gift people books, and that too in Marathi. So there I was, telling him how the beauty of the daughter-in-law of the Subedar of Kalyan struck Shivaji. Another buddy, whose mother tongue was Hindi sauntered up, and started listening. The words flew out of my mouth as if I had written that story myself; as if I had learnt it by heart. Suddenly…
“Abe, Hindi mein bol!” (Hey, speak in Hindi!)
“Kaiko?” (Why?)
“Hindi rashtra bhasha hai, pata nahi?” (Do you not know Hindi is the national language?)
“So to hai.” (True, true…)
Note added by me. Hindi is NOT the only national language!
And the rest of the story continued in Hindi. But the passion was lost. I was no longer wallowing in Shivaji’s time. It sounded like a textbook lesson. I became a Hindi proponent. I figured, if this is what it takes for India to be united, so shall it be.
“Janani janmabhoomishca svargaadapi gariyasi.” (Mother and motherland are higher than heaven.)
Given this, there I was, torn between a choice for my country, and my mother tongue. I chose nation, in the nationalistic spirit that had been imbibed in me by all those books that my grandfather used to hand down to me.
Then I came to Singapore, and suddenly, I was no longer in Hindi heartland. This was Eelam, the Tamil hinterland. It was an experience. I still speak little, almost no Tamil. But being bang in the middle of the heartland of each of these languages has put things into perspective beautifully.
“The constitution provides for 16 national languages.”
The words hit me like a hurricane. All those years, all the years where I suppressed my mother so that I could puff my chest in being a nationalist were a waste. A teenager then, I felt cheated. I felt like I wanted to go on a rampage, to get back all the years that I had neglected my mother. I was bitter.
Welcome to the present.
Switzerland is a multilingual country. Main languages are German, French and Italian. German — 63.7%, French — 19.2%, Italian — 7.6%.
Singapore is a multilingual country. Main languages are Chinese, Malay and Tamil. Chinese — 76%, Malay — 14%, Tamil — 7%.
If this were the case in India right now, everyone would have been forced to speak Hindi. Fortunately, the Hindi-speaking population amounts to only 40% of the country’s population. But with the low incidence of family planning in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, it’s just a matter of time before we are overwhelmed with a Hindi-speaking majority in India.
I read this, and I was seething with anger. If the Swiss can do it, why can’t we? Why does there have to be one uniform language for a country to be successful? There isn’t just one culture in India. There isn’t just one religion in India. Then what is the need for a single language?
I figured, if I spoke Marathi and English, I would be as good as the one who spoke Hindi, because I have one national language and one official language. I felt vindicated by the presence of the Tamil-speaking population around me.
There was this new bugbear though, Hindi-speakers from India who had come with me expected me to converse with them in Hindi. I used English, not because I was bitter about Hindi, but because I had made a vow that I would prefer English as an official language. Then…
“Saala angrez ki aulaad.” (Damned son of an Englishman)
“Angrezo ka kutta/naukar” (Englishman’s dog/servant)
I can stand that. There is no shame in speaking some language that is, by the constitution, the official language of the country. And I used to derive some pleasure by looking at these hypocritical Hindi speakers. Wear trousers and sneakers. Watch western films as against Indian films. Play western games as against Indian games. This is classified as being progressive and speaking English is suddenly labeled as being a faithful dog to the Englishman? Shame. I do not know if this has aggravated my situation with Hindi, but I am sure that this is fascist, and I am opposed to it.
Western clothes are worn because they are ‘more comfortable’. Western films are more profound. Indian actors know not how to act. [This might be true. Bollywood has hit rock bottom.] Western games get you recognition. This is true too. How many national level kabaddi players do we know?
So, why do these people not realize that Hindi is a concentrated behemoth, which disintegrates to the point of incomprehensibility at the fringes of its heartland? Why do they not realize that only a few people in northern India do their business in Hindi?
Why is taxpayer money being burnt on a language that is not going to take us anywhere? Why are non-Hindi people paying for government software to be ported to Hindi? Does that mean that non-Hindi speaking government officials have no scope for progress?
For long, we have been tricked and have had Hindi rammed down our throats. Hindi fascism has to be fought. For the sake of the sea of literature that exists in the other 15 national languages and which simply cannot be lost.
I will give my grandson a Marathi nationalist book to read too and I hope that he will be able to read it.
Hindi is NOT the national language of India!
According to the Constitution which came into force on Jan 26, 1950, English was to be the official language of the Central government for 15 years. NOW, ANY LANGUAGE ACCEPTED BY A STATE OF INDIA AS ITS OFFICIAL LANGUAGE WOULD BE A NATIONAL LANGUAGE.
FOR THE PAST 21 years, I have been under the impression that Hindi is the national language of India. Just a couple of days back I realised that India does not have a national language. I felt ashamed. How come I did not know this? Thank God, I am not alone in this. My friends are also under the impression that Hindi is the Raashtra Bhasha of India. Also, I can safely conclude that more than half of India’s population is under the same impression. Oh, come on, India!
But now it surprises me to hear that India never had a national language. This explains why India attached importance to each of its constituent languages. I do not know who first put this thought in my mind. There is one very interesting fact about the languages of India. Though India may boast of being home to many major languages of the world, this abode of languages, ironically, does not have a national language of its own. According to the Constitution of India, any language, accepted by a State of India as its official language will be given the status of national language. In India, no language is accepted or spoken by the States unanimously. Even Hindi, the language spoken by most people, is unable to attain the status of national language as it is does not fulfil the condition laid down by the Constitution of India. Though Hindi is spoken by a large number of people, only ten States of India have accepted it as their official language.
Article 343 of the Constitution declares Hindi as the official language of the Un-ion of India. English remains the additional official language. It is the authoritative legislative and judicial language. In fact, one could say that English is the official language of India for all practical purposes. For many educated Indians, English is virtually their first language though a large number of Indians are multi-lingual.
Then what is the difference between national and official language? The national language defines the people of the nation, culture and history. The official language is used for official communication. While the national language can become the official language by default, an official language has to be approved by law in order to become the national language. All languages spoken in India, starting from the language spoken by the most people to that spoken by the least are our national languages. This is because all of them define the people of this nation, culture and their history, collectively. India has no legally-defined national language; it has only 18 official languages according to the Constitution. There is a special provision for the development of Hindi under Article 351, though.
According to article 351, “It shall be the duty of the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language, to develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India and to secure its enrichment by assimilating without interfering with its genius, the forms, style and expressions used in Hindustani and in the other languages of India specified in the Eighth Schedule, and by drawing, wherever necessary or desirable, for its vocabulary, primarily on Sanskrit and secondarily on other languages”.
This section is the most shocking section of the constitution that is causing all the problems in India.
The Constitution of India came into existence on January 26, 1950. It said that Hindi and English would be the “official languages” of the Central government of India till 1965 (for a period of 15 years); subsequently, Hindi was expected to become the sole “national and official language” of India. This applied to Central as well as State governments. Hindi and English became the “official languages” in every department controlled by the Central government. This explains why Hindi is prominent in the Indian Railways, the nationalised banks, etc, which come under the purview of the Central government.
As January 26, 1965 neared, some in the non-Hindi belt, particularly the Tamils, started voicing their apprehensions openly. The idea of making Hindi the sole national language was blasphemous to the students as it involved the simultaneous and complete withdrawal of English, even as a medium for competitive examinations for jobs and education! This meant that the northern region would bag government jobs and dominate the field of education, given the proficiency in Hindi of the people of the region. Since government jobs were the most sought after in the pre-1991 era, the measure was seen as an indirect attempt to deny jobs to the English-educated South Indians. The non-Hindi-speaking people from South India feared that they would be discriminated against in government employment and in other possible ways. Between 1948 and 1961, on an average, every year, close to 24% of Central government officials had been selected from the State of Madras (the present-day Tamil Nadu). Uttar Pradesh came second best, accounting for about 16%.
The 1940s, 1950s and the first half of the 1960s witnessed many anti-Hindi pro-tests in the form of public meetings, marches, hunger strikes and demonstrations before schools and Central government offices; black flag demonstrations greeted Central government ministers. Most of these were organized either by the DK or the DMK and the general public supported them fully. There were hundreds of such protests from Tamil Nadu and thousands were jailed. Several hundreds were injured when police used lathi-charge to disperse the peaceful protesters. Lal Bahadur Shastri, the then PM, even though supportive of the pro-Hindi group, came up with a set of compromises that denied Hindi the “sole national language” status, realising the seriousness of the issue.
To all my fellow broad-minded patriotic Indians whose mother tongue, and hence national and official language is not Hindi, please do not be fooled into thinking that there is only one national or official language of India. Be proud to speak in your own mother tongues i.e. ALL OUR NATIONAL AND OFFICIAL LANGUAGES, INCLUDING ENGLISH! If there is a language that can unify India, it can only be English!
//Hindi is among the rare languages on earth which has wonderful ability to spread//
The ability to spread has nothing to do with “beauty and richness”…a virus can spread too.
ராஜ் (Raj / రాజు్),
That’s an impressive amount of homework you have done. It would be nice if you could give complete citations of whatever references you mention.
विवेक (વિવેકભાઈ),
Thanks. I loved your second last comment
Here are the references:
# Universal declaration of linguistic rights in both Català and English – UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF LINGUISTIC RIGHTS
# The part about the Karnataka Rakhshana Vedike is from Wikipedia.
# The book The Constitution and Language politics of India is edited by Wg. Cdr. B. V. R. Rao.
# Two articles were written by Ramachandra Guha, the columnist, historian, biographer and cricket historian.
# One article is from the Time Magazine
# I am not able to find the source of the last article at the moment.
# The article that would interest you the most ofcourse is The Stalinization of Hindi by Onkar Joshi
I realise now that Mr. Onkar Joshi has protected his page by copyright. I apologise to Onkar and Nita and to anyone else whose copyright I may have infringed upon.
Raj and Vivek,
I just saw your comments addressed to me.
Common script for Chinese started only a little over 2000 years ago when King of Qin Kingdom re-united China, but other scripts co-exist today as well (Tibetan, Mongalian etc. If you can find a Chinese paper money, you will see them on it.).
I am not sure if Chinese languages are as rich as Inida’s after 22 centuries of unification (Some parts join in later). There are lots of dialects though. For example, Shanghai city has its only dialect. I come from the south, in my family there are only four people but we speak three different dialects due to my parents’ migration (still within the county, less that 100 km from one another).
\\ The ability to spread has nothing to do with “beauty and richness”…a virus can spread too.\\
-Then English is the biggest virus on earth
someone said Hindi is mother tongue of people only in Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh……..I wonder then what is my mother tongue???…
I dont know what they think the language of Delhi and Haryana is?……….Perhaps they dont know that majority of Himachal Pradesh is Hindi speaking and majority of J&K is Urdu speaking, perhaps they dont know that Hindi Grammer considers Punjabi as a dilect of Hindi
Nonsense! I merely quoted someone else! But see how that person is claiming the beautiful national and official language, Punjabi as a “dialect”! Shame on the notorious linguo-fascists!
English is the lingua franca of the world that was never imposed on people from the non-Commonwealth countries!
So English is NOT a virus!
On the other hand, a language that is imposed by hook or crook on others IS a virus!
Certain people dont know that anyone who understand Hindi can easily understand punjabi and vice versa……….
Punjabis are among the most partiotic people in the country, despite of the fact that the state of Punjab is the richest in the country, and punjabis are not more than 3-4% of india’s population…Punjabis form the biggest chunk in india’s army…and were among the pioneers in india’s freedom struggle….also they are among the most successful individuals in the country in all fields……….One should go and ask a Punjabi, about the closeness between the two languages
People dont uderstand thet Hindi is a family of languages which keeps changing from east to west…….In east ie Bihar it is Bhojpuri…moving towards west, in eastern and central UP it becomes Avadhi, more towards west it becomes Bundeli, In western UP, Delhi and Haryana it becomes Khari Boli, and towards extreme west it becomes Punjabi………….
After the independence when Hindi was supposed to be the official language of India, then there was confusion that “Which Hindi” to be made as official language of India…………and out of so many Hindis, punjabi was considered as seperate language……Though technically it is a seperate language, but Practically it is a dialect of Hindi
see the following link, where it is stated that out of so many Hindi languages Punjabi was given status of seperate language……..same is the case of Hindi and Urdu, both are technically different languages but practically are same languages…i Have the highest regard of Punjabi and Urdu as seperate languages………..but practically all are dialects of one language…..PUNJABI IS A DIALECT OF HINDI AND HINDI IS A DIALECT OF PUNJABI
http://adaniel.tripod.com/Languages2.htm
“So English is NOT a virus! ” English is an Anti-Virus for non hindians…
Oh my God! A certain person wants to claim the beautiful national and official languages of India, Punjabi and Urdu and Kashmiri as “dialects”! What a shame!
Ha . . . ha . . . ha, well said Vish!
If English is a virus, then why is a certain person commenting on an English blog???
@ Suresh Jani: I don’t think people who learn English need to stop speaking their mother tongue.
Will the degree to which English is spoken in India mirror the degree to which there will be general access to higher education and prosperity ? It seems to be so – who would want to pay for a higher education infrastructure in different languages, especially as higher education is internationally embedded?
This may come at the cost of cultural richness – but only if “studied” people don’t appreciate their own richness.
Those people who are divided on regions and languages want to see rest of india too divide like them
I would also say HINDI IS A DILECT OF PUNJABI……………..Take Punjabi, take Hindi, Take Urdu, Take Kashmiri…..ALL ARE NORTH INDIAN LANGUAGES…………..all are from the same family and are very close to one another
Punjab is home to punjabi
Lucknow is home to Urdu
Kashmir is home to kashmiri
and here people are not divided on languages and regions like some other places in the country
One particular person does not know that we broad-minded patriotic people of the West, South, East, North-East and North-North-West are UNITED because of our linguistic diversity and because of English!
On the other hand certain people from one particular region of the country are divided because of caste, religion, etc. and they want to see the whole of India messed up like certain states!
I think everyone appreciates english no matter where they go in India. I just came back from pune and there I had to converse in hindi to autowalas n hotel attendents besides them everyone(maharastrians) think that english is cool. Its surprising to see some people not digesting english in this developing country. I wish al those people someday would realize that they are realizing out of their sense.
Single script is totally lame and impossible to implement (absurd). I suck at learning to speak a language its ridiculous to ask someone to learn a new script. People dont have time to learn a computer language for living how come some person here is asking to learn a new script which is of no use…this isnt cool and sucks big time.
I feel real sorry for this person who keeps draggin patriotism into each and every issue related to india. I dont have any impression on punjabis except they produce some cool music videos. I have just googled and shocked to figure that punjabis bombed an airindia aircraft, punjabis created violence in punjab for a seperate state and punjabis killed one of our PM. I bet these are not patriotic things….
Dude! you gotta know that GENERALIZING is shitty..LOL
ha ha ha
and i thought in south there is only one cast and one religion
Ravi,
Please don’t generalise Punjabis or Sikhs because of the comments of one particular person. He does not even know that Punjabi is a national and official language in India and also the language of Punjab province in Pakistan.
—————————————————————————
Vivek M, Who said that there is only one caste and religion in the South? We are united despite all the differences because we share a cool national and official language, English. . .
Raj, Ravi was just trying to show how pointless it is to generalize. That was the only reason why there was no need to moderate his comment…he was not telling us that Punjabis or Sikhs are like this…he was saying that each and every community has these incidents. – Nita.
Everybody understand here that it’s silly to generalise anything or any community………..But strangely some people dont understand that one particular person has been gereralising one particular region which doesn’t come under south, east,west,and “north north west”
vivek m, that is what is called flaming..when a person provokes others to respond in the same way and the person who has provoked it is you with your generalized statements. Anyway, I have now edited that part. In fact even this comment of yours had to be edited. – Nita.
Ha . . . ha . . . ha, we have the person who said that 95% of all North-Easterners are terrorists talking about generalisation! That comment is still there on two posts! It shows who is causing all the flaming on this blog!
Thanks so much for this interesting discussion. I have learnt a lot from it.
I would like to add one thing: it is not necessarily a burden (even if it might seem like it at the time) to learn multiple languages when growing up. Several studies have shown that learning more than one language in childhood improves flexibility of thinking among other measures of mental ability. It can also lead to improved dexterity in the mother tongue.
This link gives a selection of the research carried out on this topic:
http://www.uwyo.edu/fled/documents/FLAnnotatedBibliography.pdf
The research cited here seems to concentrate on second language learning, but I have read elsewhere that children can learn multiple languages at the same time without much problem.
Sure, children can learn, but here we are not saying they can’t. We are saying the unfairness of an additional burden on kids only of particular states. In today’s competitive world, where every mark counts, it is not fair to burden just kids of some states with another language. Many of these tots, most of whom do not come from privileged backgrounds, struggle with their school work and can barely manage to pass! – Nita.
Nita
I henceforth stop commenting on any of the sensitive topics on this blog…………and those who want only one sided debate on any such topics are welcome
Thanks Vivek. You have left some very good comments on my other posts…I don’t know what happens when you comment on this sensitive topic! – Nita.
Pocketcultures,
It may not be burden only for a few people. But it IS a burden for the majority of children in India to learn more than two languages(and scripts) in school. Not to mention the burden of textbooks and notebooks that they have to carry. Besides this burden is imposed on only the children in certain states and not on those in other states!
Nita
i would add something to above………….for the first time i experienced regionalism in this country was about 2 yrs back when i was 24, a friend of mine who hails from a southern state, told that in NIT Trichy they used to make fun of north indians…that they dont take bath, they are all stupid etc……….i was shocked to hear this ……probably after this very instant i became cautious about north south debates unlike majority of north indians……..but i do realize i cant generalise the comment by that friend of mine….
Anyway, i’ll henceforth never write on any issue about regionalism or language……..and would add that everything i’ve written on such topics are my personal views and are often provoked by other comments
Dear Raj
i have had lots of childish exchanges with you, but i never intend to criticize you in person……Many times i have seen your blog through link from Nita’s blog…and your articles are very impressive……hope you wont mind if sometime i comment there
Nita,
The first time I experienced linguo-fascism in our country was on the internet on several sites, where there are extremely stupid comments made against non-North Indians. I was shocked to read such comments, but I don’t tend to generalise unless someone provokes me to do so!
Dear Mr. Mittal,
I don’t intend to critise you as a person either. I agree with Nita that your comments on non-sensitive topics are good. You are welcome to comment on any article in my blog (as long as you adhere to my comment policy)
Ha ha hah… Apparently all of you are on a spree of apologizing to each other…cool! Punjab proved to have patriots as well as terrorists and I think its the same elsewhere in south/west/east india. If someone comes up with [regional] patriotism then they must be prepared to take blame for terrorism as well. No offense. I did not expected this generalizing stuff go this far…anyhow WOW [positively] its good to see people stop generalizing stuff.
Raj
By the way I wasnt generalizing and I would never do that. But I was just laughing my ass off to people who generalize some community as patriots and some other as indian caucasians…Laughing…Tried a little hard to poke fun at ‘em. While doing so you got me wrong but its ok…have fun criticizing….
రవి (Ravi),
I didn’t get you wrong, man. I’m sorry if my comment sounded that way. I know you were just responding in a funny way
विवेक (વિવેકભાઈ) and Guqin,
Thanks for your responses on the Chinese languages and script. The Chinese script seems to be quite unique to me. What about Japanese and Korean? Do the graphemes in those languages also represent ideas? I have heard that the Japanese script uses a lot of characters borrowed from the Chinese script.
Raj,
Japanese has two seperate systems, one of them is just Chinese script, the other looks like components of Chinese characters (with variation of course). I am not an expert on Japanese. Korean used to use Chinese scripts and later invented their current script.
Dude that is so awesome you wrote my name in telugu….I m officially on cloud 9 after seeing my name in my mother tongue that is so nice of you . …thank you so much
I am in America in June 2008, usually in Pune. I speak Marathi, have working knowledge of Gujarati. I was
surfing on Internet, and reached this discussion. Mr
Dhruv (in this discussion) is my valuable contact for
last 3 years. He may tell about a movement to simplify
Gujarati by taking uniform vowels. I have done so,
while writing Marathi in Roman lipi. See M12 article
on my website. (i = ee, u = oo). Interested readers
may please contact me, refer (www.mngogate.com)
Dear Vivek,
Sorry I could not reply to your querry about Anandshankar Dhruv as our telephone line bringing internet was disrupted thanks to the heavy rainfall. It has been restored today and as I opened this site I found a big discussion! Anyways, I am not related to Shri Anandshankar Dhruv. My grandfather was Vaidya Kavi Durlabhdas Dhruv. As for the discussion that followed, I am pained to see the generalisations and casting doubts on the patriotism of our felllow Indians. No, this is most uncalled for. We are all Indians speaking diverse languages, belonging to different cultures with rich heritage and yet united by the common thread of Indianness. And if there is one feature that can be claimed to mark the composite Indian culture, it is the spirit of tolerance – no, that is also not an appropriate word. For ages we have lived a collective life, accepted different cultures within us. It doesn’t behove us to talk this language of ‘u & me’. I would like to point out to Mr Vivek Mittal, that Raj, Vivek Khadpekar and I engaged in discussion on this blog ( & I thank Nita for putting my views without editing ) – obviously we hold different views. But we don’t think of each other as antinationals or anything like that. Nita and Raj had a suspicion that I was some Hindi-imposition-walla, but accepted gracefully that they were mistaken. Perhaps my tone & tenor of writing helped. We can agree to disagree without being impolite and acuusative of our intentions.
India has defied all the western concepts of a nation state. Their concept of a nation-state includes one language. Now evolution of nation-states is relatively a late development in human history. When India started off as a free nation, this concept of having one language had to be discussed. Ultimately we decided to have a single link-language and yet permitted re-organisation of our states on the basis of language. And against all apprehensions of an imminent dissolution as a free nation, we have marched on! While I don’t subscribe to the theories of Hindi-imperialism, I fully agree that the burden of having to learn a third language is unjustly thrust upon non-Hindi-speaking states. A link language is indeed necessary, but let it be evolved by people themselves. In the major part of North India at least, Hindi became a link language not by teaching but by interaction at people’s level over a long period of time. That would have naturally continued without resentment. But it is never too late. We are more confident today that India will hold on as a single nation not in spite of so many languages but rather because of that and because of the fact that each language has been given a scope to flourish. All the major languages of India be declared official. Even communications between a state and the centre can proceed in the state language with translation into any other Indian language as required. Amongst the educated, of course, English has already become the link language and that is good. It is a neutral language as far as India is concerned and would rise above all such debates about one Indian language trying to dominate over others. Meanwhile, Hindi or Hindlish or some such cocktail would continue to evolve side-by-side. That needn’t be taught.
Dear Dr Dhruv
\\ We are all Indians speaking diverse languages, belonging to different cultures with rich heritage and yet united by the common thread of Indianness. And if there is one feature that can be claimed to mark the composite Indian culture,\\
Above statement of yours is the most beautiful thing i have heard on this debate………But i am personally very much disturbed by growing regionalism in the country…where people seem to talk about their states only..
Anyway yes i agree with you that we need a link language and it should be evolved and need not be necessarily taught in the schools…….i too dont subscribe to the theory of Hindi imperialism……but at the same time i dont think Hindi is spreading only because it’s taught in schools….but mainly because we need an indigenous link language…..i cant imagine two construction workers, one from Bihar and one from maharashtra conversing in English……and many other factors like bollywood, television are helping
Dear Vivek Mittal,
Stray incidences of regional fanaticism need not be a cause of worry. Besides every extreme step taken by a section of our people must be viewed with a keen desire to understand the causes which lead them to behave in this manner. That is the only way to remedy the situation. I think the discussion on this blog has produced a rich source of information and opening up of minds. Let us all try to understand that. The time has come to review the 3-language formula, with whatever noble intentions it may have been adopted. There is a glaring injustice perceived by an educated and patriot Indian population. Issues can be discussed and solutions can be found.
Dr. Dhruv, I can’t thank you enough for participating in this discussion. Your mature views and a willingness to see another point of view has enriched this discussion. – Nita
Of course the 3 language formula should be reviewed and the honourable supreme court can do justice to this matter, there is no doubt in that.
Yes, i agree with you that it all started with a nobel intention and the leaders who took over india from the English should be thanked to give us a truely democratic country with true democratic traditions…….rather than being labeled as imperialists or nazis
Vivek, as far as I know the Supreme Court has already made its views clear on this matter. All states in India were to adopt the 3 language policy. I think that would have been a wonderful way to create strong emotional bonds in India if each state opted to learn any other Indian language, purely based on which he/she prefers. Instead, our government has chosen to ignore the honourable supreme court. – Nita.
p.s bollywood as an industry is so successful today because Hindi was/is taught compulsorily all over India. its compulsory in poor municipal schools also remember! And it’s the masses that bollywood has been targeting (though it’s changing now) not highly educated people, many of whom see an equal number of english movies.
Nita,
I am of course very pleased that you have appreciated my approach & if my views have enriched this debate I feel a sense of satisfaction. But I must say that it fills me with joy unspeakable to see the youth of our nation engaging in such issues as language with such studied preparedness and pride in their mother-tongues. And they have all enriched this debate. I don’t understand this issue of our languages being global. I don’t know what criteria are followed to label a language as global. But global or not, all our national languages will survive. Vivek Khadpekar sounded apprehensive that Marathi may not survive in her own state. But I don’t see such a bleak future for any of our languages. There are valid reasons for that. Each language has her own state where a huge amount of official business is carried out in that language. There is a vibrant language press existing alongside the English press. Govt of India has provided free language tools for use on computer. Apart from a large variety of Unicode fonts and the keyboard-driver, it provides open office software in our nationl languages. Unicode has made our scripts sortable & searchable in the computer. So blogging in our languages has begun on a decently large scale. Also, & this I think is also an important point, we have language channels on TV & that allows a person staying in other states also to remain in touch with his own mother-tongue. And then there are Nitas & Rajs & Viveks & Vasanths! No, deathbell for our languages has not sounded yet, & God willing shall never sound on this Land which we all love & treasure – our own beloved India!
Nita i dont think Govt has chosen to ignore supreme court, nor could it..
Three languages are taught in north too..and i’ve studied Sanskrit as the compulsory third language…………..and that’s another case that knowing sanskrit adds to one’s Hindi
Dear Raj
Just now i’ve scene one statement of yours about translation of “Telephone Exchange” to Hindi
FYI translation of “Telephone Exchange” into Hindi comes out as “Durbhash Karyalay”
I dont know from where you got the theory of “house of distant voices”
In Hindi it’s a tradition to use the word “Alay” (Home) as suffix to form words..Few examples which come to mind instantly are…
Karya (work)+Alay= Karyalaya (Office)
Pustak(Book)+Alay= Pustakalay (Library)
Vidya (Knowledge)+ Alay= Vidyalay (school)
Even the famous mountain Himalay derive it’s name in the same fashion
Him (Snow) + Alay= Himalay (ie home of snow)
Though nowadays no one use above Hindi words for Office, Library and school…. as today’s Hindi is not pure Hindi but is “Hindustani” which is a mix of Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi,English and “Tadbhav” Hindi words
…….and bollywood is doing it’s bit in killing pure Hindi and spreading Hindustani…which has already become main language everywhere in North and pure Hindi is limitted to Books and speeches only..
So, Nita…bollywood is killing Hindi too….One example i would give..if i ask you what’s the parallel word in Hindi for “Happy”..then you may respond it’s “Khush”…..But that’s not true..”Khush” is an Urdu word
In Hindi you may call it as ” Prassana” Or ” Pulkit” Or “Mudit” Or ” Harshit” or ” Saharsh”…all these five words mean “Happy”
…and no one use above Hindi words today
Dear Mr. Mittal,
Though I posted that comment, the translation was not mine as I do not understand Hindi. I do not understand Hindustani or Urdu for that matter. And I don’t watch Bollywood movies at all, not just because they are made in a language I do not understand. Bollywood does not represent anything, let alone a country as diverse as India. I would watch good movies even if they are made in Swahili or Aymara or Aztec.
Nita,
The supreme court and the high courts of India may be less corrupt than the lower judiciary, but they have a serious limitation. They are supposed to work within the framework of the constitution. They cannot set right the severe flaws in the constitution. The article related to language in the constitution is the most stupid and ridiculously flawed article of the constitution that contradicts several other articles in the same constitution. It shockingly contradicts the principles of Equality and democracy that is supposed to be enshrined in the constitution. The three language policy is not a solution to the flaws in the constitution of India. The Hindi states have got away with teaching Sanskrit as a compulsory third language when the third language was supposed to be a modern Indian language that is very different from the mother tongue. Tamil Nadu had to fight for the same right. While Hindi may have originated from Sanskrit, modern Tamil originated from old Tamil. So, in effect, Tamil Nadu follows a three language policy of teaching modern Tamil, old Tamil and English! It is not the fault of the Tamils if our modern language is very similar to our classical language! Tamil Nadu will teach only modern Tamil, old Tamil and English as compulsory languages! No one can deny us our Human Rights under any pretext!
The three language policy itself is a very stupid policy. School children are burdened with learning so many things which are useful for the modern world and carry so many books that there is no need for a totally unnecessary third language! If the mother tongue of the child is different from the national language of the people in the state, he/she can take it up as an optional language or learn his mother tongue through different means.
English has replaced French as the lingua franca of the world. Even countries that ignored English, like China and Japan and France and Russia have taken up English in a big way. One can travel to almost any part of the world armed with English and some sign language. I am delighted whenever I hear an autorickshaw or taxi driver in Chennai speak in acceptable English to foreign tourists. It shows that the language policy of Tamil Nadu is a huge success, though I would like to see everyone in my state speak in flawless English to outsiders but it is going to take some time. I am absolutely delighted that Andhra Pradesh is another state that has taken up the teaching of English in a big way!
I dont know why anyone would have anything against learning languages as a kid instead of ‘EVS’ , ‘History’ and other stuff (which really should be learnt later when the individual has a better appraisal of the society around him). I am personally really glad that I learnt Marathi, Hindi and English as a kid, every language is a key to new media and literature.
I also suspect (although I have no evidence) that learning languages as a kid might help develop an individuals mental capacities more than memorizing ‘history’ and ‘geography’ facts.
All that being said, there were serious problems with the way languages were taught in my school.
There is no need to memorise history and geography. Geography is a very, very useful tool for the modern world!
I am personally delighted that I had to learn only two languages in school so that I could concentrate more on other subjects which are very useful as opposed to wasting my time in learning a totally unnecessary third language!
Yes, but thats exactly what went on in my school, and my guess is many other schools in the country.
Btw, learning geography and history when you are 10 or 12 yrs old doesnt really help that much. I am not saying that they should be completely removed from the syllabus but that they are better learnt at a more mature age.
Learning a language entails learning a system a communication and then using that system to communicate in a meaningful manner …. that helps kids a lot more than how many states there are, their capitals blah blah blah
As a world wide phenonmenon, English can be a classic of “the mind creates reality”. If every nation is convinced that she needs English, then English will indeed be the universal language in the near future. If not, English will retreat bit by bit from world stage though it may take longer.
There are certainly many factors responsible of the popularity of English, such as the unquestionable dominance of western culture and power, but how other nations see themselves is a deciding factor too. But that also depends on the vitality and the potentials of the major non-western nations. I am optimistic of China’s future as a nation but only half-optimistic of her as a civilization, China is too old after all. I used to be optimistic of Inida’s culture too, but not so sure now. But these two nation’s decisions will decide the future of English. I also notice that Chinese people seem to have natural difficulties in learning English.
Gugin, China does not have a colonial history like we do. I would love to turn the clock back and have an India without colonial rule, but then I wonder whether we would have an India the way we know it now. So English has become a legacy the British left us, but I think we have used it well and will use it as a tool to dominate the world. However I think China will dominate the world, and we will trot along!
And in India we need English because of the various different languages that exist here. We need English for our own purposes. Without English an Indian language will tend to dominate and we are already having problems with that. – Nita
@ Nita : but I think we have used it well and will use it as a tool to dominate the world.
Ahem. Ahem. Easy on the jingoism there.
@ Guqin: There are certainly many factors responsible of the popularity of English, such as the unquestionable dominance of western culture and power
Guqin, this power is mostly economic. English is ‘widespread’ in India (although it is only spoken by abt 15 % of the total population) due to the colonial legacy and employment opportunities. The non-English media (such as music, movies and television) is thriving in India as it is in other developing countries. India might be a bit of an exception as it has had an established cinema and associated music industry since Independence, but the quality of most of the movies was mediocre (dont get me wrong there have been many fine movies and music). But, the Koreans have now developed a successful cinema entertainment industry and so will others.
@ I am optimistic of China’s future as a nation but only half-optimistic of her as a civilization
I dont know much abt Chinese culture but how closely is it linked with religions like Chinese Buddhism, Taoism and others ? Culture in India is DEEPLY tied to religion.
Vikram,
In your comment to Guqin above, I think you have missed a crucial word when you talk about Indian cinema — “…since BEFORE independence…”.
Also, in whatever “popular” music from around the world that I have heard, I feel that India continues to derive greater sustenance from its indigenous music traditions, both folk and classical, than most of the non-white world. On the flip side we have the unfortunate fact that the mode of our popular music today is less “participatory” and more “perfomer-to-audience” than it was just a couple of generations ago.
There are many sociological, economic and technological factors responsible for this, which it would be far beyond the scope of the present debate to cover, but this modal change does not augur well for for the survival of its vibrant variety. So we may now be headed in a direction where the media will thrive, but not their content.
Your statement that English is “widespread” in India although spoken by barely 15% of the population, underscores the fact that it has a critical mass in only a few urbanised pockets. And even there, the percentage of people capable of anything more than the most basic transactions in the language is very much lower. This reality is not going to change anytime soon, even though English seems poised to become more widespread, with more and more states (now even the heart of Empire, U.P.) introducing its study right from standard 1.
I strongly feel the bogey about English, raised by our self-serving politicians sixty years ago, may be coming to haunt us now. And unlike Hindi domination, which at least we could oppose because it was so blatant, the insidious infiltration of English in those areas of our lives where it is unnecessary and meaningless can unfortunately not even be resisted.
Vikram,
Regarding the relation between culture and religion in China: Communist movement has damaged both a lot, but traditionally, China’s culture takes a different mode from India’s. If in India, culture is religion ( if fair to say so), then in China, religion is in culture: Religion is more like the fruits on the tree of culture, or sometimes just ships in the lake of culture. I personaly think China is non-religious in general since Confucius’ time. But before Confucius’ time, especially the Shang dynasty, China was religious, perhaps similar to Egypt. But I am no conclusive authority in this matter.
Vivek said: The mode of our popular music today is less “participatory” and more “perfomer-to-audience” than it was just a couple of generations ago.
I notice a related phenonmenon too: Western arts are rather impersonal and Indian and Chinese arts are rather personal. This is true even with music which is supposed to be the nakiest art form. When I litsen to western classical music, most of it has an impersonal feel, even those with a passionate, stormy surface (like Beethoven), there is still some internal indifference in it. I think this character of western culture is affecting other societies. In my observation and experience, western style Capitalism, democracy, law making, ethics and even morality have this impersonal element in them.
English as a language has this impersonal feel to me too, in fact, a very strong one. I guess this is partly because of its being my second or third language, but that can’t be the only reason.
I agree with Vivek K. that English is creeping far & wide steadily in our nation. But I do feel that we cannot do without it and there is no escape from that. It is a necessary link language amongst the educated Indians and has ceased to be viewed as a foreign language. And I don’t think we would loose our essential cultural values ever – some values might inevitably change, but the essence will never be lost.
Dr. Nishith Dhruv,
I don’t at all disagree with you about the importance of English today, and wouldn’t even dream of using words such as “escape” in its context. If your comment is triggered by the last sentence of my response yesterday to Vikram, may I hasten to point out that the context in which I wrote it lies in the sentence immediately preceding it. And my last sentence encompasses a very broad temporal and cultural canvas which, in the interest of brevity, I avoided indulging in.
Your optimisim is very touching. I wish I could share it. Unfortunately I don’t; I can’t. It is quite possible that we mean very different things by “cultural values”.
Guqin, I totally second your opinion about English as an impersonal language. Perhaps this is due to the traditional use of English as a link and ‘utilitarian’ language in India, but I am quite a bit into Western classical music and English music from the 70′s, and I find the same impersonality that you do. Impersonality isnt always a bad thing, esp. when it comes to law and order but that is a different matter.
Abt religion, I wouldnt say that in India religion IS culture (esp. in certain states where the linguistic influence on culture is very strong, for eg. West Bengal and the 4 southern states), but certainly Indians are on average very religious. A lot of the music, art forms and even cinema is often influenced by religion. No surprise then that it is also very important in politics, but that again is a different matter.
Where would you guys draw the line between the unceasing transience found in most cultures and ‘cultural invasion’ ? Indian culture has always been highly syncretic, after all a lot of our food, language and customs have been influenced by others, most notably Iran. Could it be that we feel uncomfortable with the fact that we are inducting English deeply into our world but our own culture isnt making inroads anywhere in the West ?
Vikram:
//Could it be that we feel uncomfortable with the fact that we are inducting English deeply into our world but our own culture isnt making inroads anywhere in the West ?//
My take on this is very different. In fact the “induction” of English into “our” world is widespread and shallow, rather than deep. And it does not bother me if our culture is not making inroads in the West (though at a very superficial level I daresay it is). What does disturb me is that we seem to be losing our grip on our own culture, and our roots are gradually being atrophied. And I am not saying this in an alarmist “Hindutva khatrey mein hai” kind of vein. I very much believe in the syncreticism you mention. It’s the growing intolerance of that in our society that is to be worried about.
Vikram,
// Where would you guys draw the line between the unceasing transience found in most cultures and ‘cultural invasion’ ? //
Chinese culture has seemed to possess strong resilience. Mongol and Manchu conquests led to their conversion to China, and when Buddhism went to China, it was digested into Chinese culture as well. Hence most Chinese people don’t feel “transience of culture” and “cultural invasions”. However, today we are facing the great challenge again the four time from western civilization. In theory, I see no reason why China would fail this time, and yet self-imposed internal distructions such as the “cultural revolution” may make the story different or at least more difficult this time. This is why I wrote that I was only half-confident of China the civilization in my first post.
I am totally amazed by how complex the language issue in India is. However I would like to share a general observation though it is overly simplifying:
Viewing India’s Enlish issue in the context of recent world history since the west’s global conquest, I feel that English the language is a McMahon line in the mind just like the physical McMahon line in the land. It is the tool and the result of how the west organizes their conquired world without consulting the will of their dominated peoples. In a certain sense, the line organizes India into a united state thus makes India stronger and more competitive and yet the same time creates divisions in the larger and older cultural Asian neighborhood that India belongs to ( I consider seperation of Pakistan, war with China etc. parts of this larger historic drama). This is always true with line drawing: Combining and dividing are its duality. Here, the English language serves a similar purpose, it organizes the speaking India and in this sense uniting it into a stronger whole. So, fundamentally, English is only an organizer, that is, it is powerful yet neccessarily superficial. Hence Vivek’s saying “widespread and shallow”.
I think the fundamental issue is that originally India isn’t supposed to be unified, which is decided by the nature of Indian civilization. In Ganhdi’s and Lao Zi’s (ancient Daoist sage) thinking: Better to be a collection of many small, free, peaceful kingdoms. But this type of civilization would have a hard time in the modern world which is a result of the west’s powerful organizing. I think it is for this reason, most Indians would accept the unification of India as a good thing naturally without questioning its deeper and further meanings. And the British take advantage of this mentality and always boast that they have done “a good thing” to India. ( A British visiter in this site always made this comment hypocritically. Whenever he was out of points, he would say: At least we unified you) But in long run, it makes India the state an un-familiar setting for its cultural growth. India certainly has the right to survive and to be strong in the modern world. So I think India’s decision makers’ fundamental challenge is to handle this duality successfully (or find India’s native organizer if possible and successfully).
My grasp of Indian history and culture is superficial, so the above comment could be a total miss of the point. If so, please forgive me.
Vivek, I absolutely agree with you. My own take on this is that the origins of this intolerance (atleast as far as religion are concerned) are rooted deeply in the memories of partition, an insidious campaign for political power (by the BJP) and Islamic extremism. The threat posed by English pales in comparison to this. Even in the area of language, thrusting Hindi down the throats of all Indians seems to be one of the agendas of the RSS.
Guqin, you said: “I think the fundamental issue is that originally India isn’t supposed to be unified, which is decided by the nature of Indian civilization.” I would say more like, India WASNT unified (certainly transience was the norm, empire the aberration, quite the opposite to China I think), and that decided the nature of Indian civilization. Now, why India wasnt unified is another issue.
Let me give you the name of an even more damaging line than the McMahon, its called the Radcliffe Line, it might have sealed the sub-continent’s fate forever. It almost did exactly the same thing that you mentioned, it combined the Islamic population into one state but divided centuries of cultural co-mingling.
“So I think India’s decision makers’ fundamental challenge is to handle this duality successfully” Actually we have had both successes and failures in this respect. Indian states were originally NOT organized on the basis of language, but after a struggle by the people (esp. in the South) the 1956 States Re-organization Act was passed, which made India into an effective multi-lingual federation. Today there is little contradiction between being a Gujarati and Indian or a Tamil and an Indian. This coupled with the multi-party system has provided us with very effective federalism when it comes to language, something that was missing in our Constitution.
We have failed miserably with regards to religion. The major armed uprisings in India, have been in states with non-Hindu majorities, Punjab and Kashmir. Punjab was placated only after much brutality and thankfully, political concessions in the early 90s. Today, we have a Sikh Prime Minister. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said abt Kashmir, the aforementioned intolerance that has crept into India has brought Hindu-Muslim relations to an all-time low across the country, so you can imagine the situation there. So, if we can overcome this fascist monster thats brewing in our country than we would have met the challenge of duality, otherwise no amount of economic growth can save this accidental but great nation.
Nita, sorry abt the long post.
Vikram,
Thanks for all the informations ( It is very complex for a Chinese like myself to comprehend. An eye-opening experience!).
I wasn’t confident of my view and was a bit worried that it might be improper, but your response just let me know that my speculation at least made some sense and touched some reality. Thanks.
China before 221BC wasn’t unified in the later sense. There was a central emperor (Zhou dynasty emperor) watching over a galaxy of small kingdoms which had their own scripts, cultures, armies etc. And before the Zhou dynasty, there was no central emperor (I believe). The grand unification came with the growth of the Qin kingdom into the Qin dynasty, and the coming dynasty (Han) re-enforced this existence. The cost was vast cultural loss across the empire with the distinctions of former member kingdoms. EVerybody today knows that China is vast and rich culture, but they don’t know that China used to be a much richer culture! Since this idea of Grand Unification is based on Confucianism (though “modified from the old sage’s idea), one can say that Confucius is actually one of the few individuals who have done the greatest damages to China’s culture: the biggest irony in Chinese history perhaps.
I don’t think that pushing Hindi down the throat of everyone was a specifically RSS agenda ( I am no RSS-ite ). Much befeore winning independance, Hindi was recognised as a link language especially in North India despite the fact that it was not taught in the Non-Hindi speaking regions of the North India. As I have said in a previous post, the prevailing concept of a Nation state included having one language in one nation. That was impossible in India and hence Himdi was sought to act like such a language even by the Congress. We are wiser today and more confident that we have developed our own model of a nation state where having one language is not essential. Anyway, I am confident that the essence of our culture will servive as it has over ages. There are always periods of waxing & waning. I don’t deny the existance of a growing intolerance. But I feel that is temporary. The soul of our nation will express itself and defeat such forces. That optimism is based on facts of our history.
@ Guqin : You are welcome. These issues faced by India are also faced by many other countries in the third-world, especially in Africa, where Western Imperialism has done its worst damage. I look forward to more insights into Chinese history from your side too.
@Nishith: I share your optimism. But it is our duty to fight this extremism, through blogs, other media and our day to day actions. I am confident that India will endure, after all ‘Truth Alone Triumphs’.
@Vikram:
//thrusting Hindi down the throats of all Indians seems to be one of the agendas of the RSS.//
This is a common belief held by those who do think that hindi IS being thrust down the throats of all Indians. My personal observation is that Hindi imperialists cut across political ideological lines. If you consider the last 120 years or so, people like Madan Mohan Malviya, Purshottamdas Tandon, Seth Govind Das (to name just three names off the top of my head) were by no means Sanghis (though 3M does occasionally come across as one). Nor, in our own times, are people lime Mulayam Singh. But there is no denying that they were/are all Hindi imperialists.
Gandhi’s advocacy of Hindi as the uniting language for a very diverse India was very seductive during the struggle for independence, and bought by most people, even from the south. What no one then could foresee was the way the Hindi imperialists would seek to cash in on this to serve their own selfish interests. Gandhi died in less than two years after independence. Nehru, the only north Indian of his times to recognise and genuinely believe in the cultural plurality of India. Rajagopalachari was the first to recognise the Hindi imperialists’ game.
As you can see, nowhere in the above is there a single RSS type. In fact the intellectual roots of the RSS — warts and all — lie almost entirely in Maharashtra. Advocacy of Hindi was part of its agenda, but not of Hindi Imperialism. That is a more recent phenomenon, when the RSS leadership passed into the hands of Hindi speaking people.
BTW as an aside to the above, you may find the following post (and the comments on it) amusing:
http://www.aadisht.net/2008/02/08/harbhajan-under-the-hindi-jackboot/#comments
Vikram,
Vivek has only supported what I said that pushing Hindi down everyone’s throat is not a specific RSS agenda. I don’t see any evil designs behind it (though some may no doubt have such motives), rather it is the result of some prevailing and vague notions of what a nation-state should be like. But even if Hindi-imperialism is believed to exist, we can solve the problems arising out of that. Pardon me for repeating that in the 60 years of post-indepenence national life, we have successfully created our own model of a nation-state where having one language is not a criteria. In a country like India, people staying in different areas will work out their own link language. No language needs to be imposed under that pretext. I am very optimistic that the younger generation cutting across various spheres of life like the politics-education-literature etc. will see the wisdom and rectify the errors. It may be a long drawn-out process no doubt, but that would be a hundred times better than seeking solution by some violent agitation. Undoubtably a generation will keep on suffering the injustice till the problem is solved – the way the previous generations have – but the ultimate solution will leave no harsh feeling. While I make this statement, I am aware of the fact that this view may not find favour with many. But that is what democracy is all about.
The figures of the increase in students enrolling ofr English Medium Schools show how crazy people in Andhra Pradesh to learn English and mak it a part of their life
Nishithbhai,
//Undoubtably a generation will keep on suffering the injustice till the problem is solved – the way the previous generations have…//
THAT is what makes my blood boil. Three successive generations have already suffered; many more may; it is time to reverse the injustice by making the imperialists suffer.
Dear Vivek,
That was indeed a very informal address : Nishithbhai – and I must say I liked it. I agree with u that we must remove the injustice. But I wonder if we would achieve that by causing suffering to anyone. Rather it would saw the seeds of vengence. Justice for all is what we would do well to work for. But I would like to know what is it that u envisage as a means of making the imperialist suffer.
Hi Nita,
Thats a very nice self sustaining post I should say!!! I feel that English becoming a part of Indian communication is inevitable at this stage and I being a south Indian did not know Hindi (could write and read easily but speaking OMG!!)…Ironically, I started to learn to speak Hindi after I came to UK 8 months back….I have posted a post abt my experiences in UK …..my personal take on this is here – http://lovelysunrise.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/are-we-preserving-our-language/
is it true that 80% of indians speak english ????
No, not at all true, considering that 40% of our country is illiterate.. even many literate people are comfortable just with Hindi and/or their mother tongue, mostly the latter. A very large percentage of educated Indians though do understand English and speak it to some extent, if not fluently. I would say not more than 10% speak good English, and I am probably being generous here because what constitutes good English is also subject to debate! But in terms of numbers, we are huge. – Nita.
why not chinese?
@vasudev:
For that matter, why not Ahirani? Bilali? Kurukh? Kodava Takk?
At least they are Indian languages.
vivek…although true but i had a different thought in mind.
today english is being learnt by all simply because english can give them jobs.
tomorrow jobs can dictate the language you want to learn.
and the future of jobs lies in china.
so why not learn chinese?
English is an international language so most of the peoples in india prefers communication in English is very good to move throught the world if necessary. Thats why they are giving importance to English nothing more than that. Throught the world one common languagae should be there that is English.
English helps overcome the language barrier in our country and as stated in the article it also serves as a global link. It is also useful in jobs, easier to learn(compared to Hindi and Tamil) and has a vast vocabulary. Little by little we should encourage more people to learn English. The state and central governments should help people in rural areas learn English. If everyone in India knows one common language we can communicate with each other freely and create a lot of unity among us.
Hindi is a foreign language to many states in India. But then in the census, everyone formally educated person does say that he knows Hindi. I also would do it, but then I do not know Hindi and I do not want to know it.
All Indian languages can be dangerously feudal. They create social, administrative, communal problems. Moreover, Indian languages are not fit in jurisprudence. For, the issue of equaliy before the law doesnt work in Indian languages.
See: http://www.vvv03.org/march.pdf and http://www.vvv03.org/reality.pdf
India is most poor and backward country in the world only because of English education system. There is no any developed country in the world which has English education system except those countries whose mother tongue itself is English. Only those countries have developed and prospered in the world that are learning everything in their own languages, the countries that learn from foreign languages are all most poor and backward countries of the world and will remain backward forever. This is worldwide accepted truth. In Africa 21 countries are learning in French, 18 countries in English 5 are in Portuguese, 2 in Spanish, all these countries are most backward in the world. If English is benefited us then, Why 45 percent of world’s poor (less than 1$ per day) and 40 percent of the world’s illiterates are Indians? Why only those countries have developed and prospered that is learning in their own languages? There is a growing gap between India and Bharath. India ranks 138 in PCI and 128 in human development. What is India’s contribution to the world? Yoga,Zero,Ayurveda….we could mention only ancient contribution. What is present contribution? BIG ZERO. Present India can give only moon light to the world and never can give sunlight to the world. We have to develop all types HIGHER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN OUR LANGUAGES to become a developed nation. 70 percent of the people are living in rural areas, overall more than 80 percent of the people in this country are learning in their own language up to 10th std. British slaves are denying the fundamental rights to learn all courses in Indian languages. Only 11 percent of the pupils enroll for higher education out of all those who enroll for primary education. According to industry experts, 80 percent of the graduates are not employable (because they lack English communication) English speaking Indians never agree with me, if I ask this matter to any Chinese, Korean Japanese, German or French person they would definitely support my view. There is a need of revolution from the people of the soil like Anna to change this system. There is no one Indian University or Educational institute coming under the top 200 educational institutes of the world. Only those Universities and institutes are coming under top 200 which are providing education in that countries own language. Chinese, Japanese, Korean etc.Universities are coming under top 200.Indian Universities never come under that category until we provide all types of education in Indian languages. If Hindi is reastrabhash then why Hindi people are also learning in English?