| Issue 23 Vol I, September 15, 2006 | Archive |
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The Question of Language THERE is a debate going on about the invincibility of English as an official language of India. Hindi was declared as the national and official language of the country on 14th September, 1949 which was declared as Hindi Day. This was to come in to effect from 26th January 1965. Till then Hindi and English were to continue as co-official languages. However, due to various factors, English continued to be the co-official language of the country even after 1965, with the Parliament extending it every ten years. With a result that today nobody even questions it. Does that mean that Hindi would never be the sole official language of the nation? In the context of globalisation and the increasing hegemony of English in our social and administrative life, it seems to be nearly impossible. It is as if Hindi has lost its battle for supremacy for ever. There was a debate on the issue during freedom struggle as well. And in the thirties, leading national newspapers participated in this debate. Where some supported Mahatma Gandhi’s stand to promote Hindostani, a mixed kind of Hindi as a national language, others pleaded for Hindi and English, both to be maintained as national languages. What is language basically? In minimal and maximal form, language is a means of human communication and with as much rationality, this is used, as much positive result it provides helping human communication. No one language in the world is either backward or forward linguistically except that some languages are rich in literature and vocabulary in comparison to others. English, as a language is richer in this aspect that it has developed vocabulary both for common as well as academic use. But that should not deprive other languages of their claim to a rich literature and rich vocabulary: Russian or even French, German and Spanish may perhaps be richer than English in creative literature. Then Japanese or Chinese for example are no less developed in any area of human communication, including most advanced academic areas of science, medicine or engineering. Decades of colonialism has certainly affected the question of language in all the countries of Asia and Africa. The language of colonial masters, be it English, French, Portuguese, Spanish or Dutch was used in these countries, overriding the native languages, which were given a derogatory term of vernacular language by colonial masters. This affected the growth of these national languages of colonised countries, despite the fact that they had all the capability of expression and communication: day to day conduct or specialisd forms, such as administration, advanced knowledge of any area or even creative literature. Can one say that Tamil or Bengali are in any manner less advanced, having a rich tradition of classical and modern literature than English? British colonial masters for their own convenience kept these languages out from the vital areas of communication, such as administration, judiciary and medium of instruction at College or University level. It is an irony that despite the development of Indian languages, as one of the major tasks of freedom struggle and post independence India, the language question still disturbs Indian society. During the pre-Independence era, in Tamilnadu, national leaders like C.Rajgopalachari and Periyar joined Mahatma Gandhi for propagating Hindi as link language for inter state communication. It was for no other reason than that it was spoken by the largest number of people in this multi-linguistic, multi-cultural nation. One language was necessary to establish a link between the different regions. This is imperative even today, especially because when the whole country is expanding as single market, people need to have one common language to communicate. My recent experience in Tamilnadu brought this realisation. In all other parts of the country, even in North-East, one is able to communicate with local people in broken or mixed Hindi, and of course, English has no use at that level, when you have to communicate with a rickshaw puller or a vegetable seller or a petty shopkeeper and so on. In Tamilnadu, I could not communicate with people at this level, as there is no Tamilia Hindi, Mumbaiya or Hyderabadi or Kolkatia Hindi. Other problem in a city like Chennai at all the important places, none of the information was available in either English or Hindi for non-Tamil people. In my view all Indian languages, which include Indian English as well, have developed a distinct identity, despite their colonial legacy, should be treated equally . However, following the sound principles of education, mother tongue should be the medium of instruction in school, through which a child learns much faster than any alien language, even if it is a sister Indian language. All Indian languages, be it Tamil, Hindi, Bengali or any other should be developed to the level of pertaining education in all subjects-from humanities to science, up to highest level i.e. research. It is time to review the three language formula, adopted by Government of India at the time of independence. I think students should be taught three languages i.e.-mother tongue, Hindi and English at various stages of school education. This should be rather strictly implemented. Hindi and in the new circumstances developed after the advent of so-called globalisation, English has become link languages, though Hindi continues to be the more effective link language for more than 80% population. It is the English knowing middle class who has grown substantially, though smaller in number, holds the real administrative and political power. This is a great votary of English language and its mannerism. It may lack real understanding of English language its rich literature. It will create some problem in 10 Hindi speaking states and some union territories, as they will be teaching only Hindi, as mother tongue and English. In three language formulas, these states were supposed to teach one Indian language extra, such as any language of the south-Tamil, Telugu, Kannada or Malayalam, or some Eastern or Western language like Bengali or Marathi. Formally some states did declare some of these languages as second language of the state, to be taught in schools. Haryana, at one stage declared Telugu as its second language. Yet practically this scheme failed in Hindi speaking states. Demands rose about neighboring languages to be declared as second language, such as Punjabi in Delhi, Himachal and Haryana and Urdu as second language in U.P. and Bihar. Over zealots of Hindi movement in the sixties created such a fear psychosis in southern states that even the friends of Hindi earlier such as C. Rajagopalachari became its foes. The reaction in Tamilnadu was particularly strong, where teaching of Hindi in schools was made optional, though in other three southern states-Kerala, Andhra and Karnataka, did not show such hostile reaction. That is why Hindi can be used much easily for communication in these states, but not with that ease in Tamilnadu, a sincere implementation of three language formula could be helpful in this situation. [Centre of Indian Languages, J.N.U, New Delhi] |
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