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Me….. between Hindi and English
Am I a second class citizen in this country?
I feel so. Let me illustrate. The latest scream I am hearing is about the assertion of Hindi; and elimination of English—the foreign language from Indian soil (May be the rant is subdued after the multinationals have descended here and English has become indispensable). I would definitely like all matters social and legal to be done in the mother tongue of each individual. Or as much as possible. That is my declaration.
I do not understand what prompted our liberators to think that getting rid of this colonial baggage of language would automate progress. Thus, they should have dismantled their educational system, their service system (like the post and railway), defence installations etc too.
What has been result? Hindi has spread. It is definitely better than having no national language at all. The number of speakers have increased. That is an assurance of unity.
But… There is genuine concern too. I hear Hindi speakers want birth centenaries of Shri Premchand, Nirala or Dwivedi in all state capitals and cities. Great they are without a shred of doubt. But how many of those regional authors are known outside their states and why not? Is Shakespeare not known all over the world. He is. But have we not decided to shrug off the colonial baggage too!
With Government support, Hindi is destined to spread more. The Central Government institutions adopting Hindi will give more jobs to Hindi speakers. The lure of employment will attract Southerners too. The situation is win and win for our national language. The government is spending billions to expand Hindi reach. The regional languages are not getting a pie to expand. The result of this exercise may be loss of base for the regional languages.
Now Hindi having spread beyond boundaries, becoming the commercial language vehicle of India, is it not time for spelling out a new policy.
We must have a few more national language. The number 2 from the top or the number one from the bottom of the list. If Hindi has spread during the period after independence, the others can do so too.
If English perishes here (the chances are few, but may be we will gradually adopt a colloquial Ind-English), that is concern. But if my own language is under the knife, I would definitely scream aloud .
Am I a second class citizen in this country?
I feel so. Let me illustrate. The latest scream I am hearing is about the assertion of Hindi; and elimination of English—the foreign language from Indian soil (May be the rant is subdued after the multinationals have descended here and English has become indispensable). I would definitely like all matters social and legal to be done in the mother tongue of each individual. Or as much as possible. That is my declaration.
I do not understand what prompted our liberators to think that getting rid of this colonial baggage of language would automate progress. Thus, they should have dismantled their educational system, their service system (like the post and railway), defence installations etc too.
What has been result? Hindi has spread. It is definitely better than having no national language at all. The number of speakers have increased. That is an assurance of unity.
But… There is genuine concern too. I hear Hindi speakers want birth centenaries of Shri Premchand, Nirala or Dwivedi in all state capitals and cities. Great they are without a shred of doubt. But how many of those regional authors are known outside their states and why not? Is Shakespeare not known all over the world. He is. But have we not decided to shrug off the colonial baggage too!
With Government support, Hindi is destined to spread more. The Central Government institutions adopting Hindi will give more jobs to Hindi speakers. The lure of employment will attract Southerners too. The situation is win and win for our national language. The government is spending billions to expand Hindi reach. The regional languages are not getting a pie to expand. The result of this exercise may be loss of base for the regional languages.
Now Hindi having spread beyond boundaries, becoming the commercial language vehicle of India, is it not time for spelling out a new policy.
We must have a few more national language. The number 2 from the top or the number one from the bottom of the list. If Hindi has spread during the period after independence, the others can do so too.
If English perishes here (the chances are few, but may be we will gradually adopt a colloquial Ind-English), that is concern. But if my own language is under the knife, I would definitely scream aloud .