{"id":179313,"date":"2022-04-14T20:33:59","date_gmt":"2022-04-14T15:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=179313"},"modified":"2022-04-14T20:34:57","modified_gmt":"2022-04-14T15:04:57","slug":"india-is-a-nation-without-a-national-language-lets-embrace-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/india-is-a-nation-without-a-national-language-lets-embrace-this\/","title":{"rendered":"India is a nation without a national language. Let\u2019s embrace this\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

News<\/span><\/b>: Recently, <\/span>the Home Minister of India specifically mentioned the use of Hindi language in the North-eastern states. He has announced to make Hindi compulsory in all North-eastern states<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Must Read:<\/strong> What are various provisions related to the official language in the Indian Constitution?<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
Argument for and against promoting Hindi language in India <\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

–<\/strong> Idea of nationalism cannot be imagined without an indigenous national language of the country.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Argument Against<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

– In India, language is <\/span>business-as-usual<\/span><\/b> and is the symbol of <\/span>competing interests <\/span><\/b>of<\/span> federal and centrist powers.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

– In fact, the <\/span>constituent assembly debates<\/span><\/b> on language were very long and extremely charged. It implies that deep sentiments are attached to language in India.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Indians manage to <\/span>communicate<\/span><\/b> across linguistic divides. In fact, Both <\/span>English<\/span><\/b> and <\/span>Hind<\/span><\/b>i work as vehicular languages, sometimes one and sometimes the other. Therefore, there is no need to make Hindi lingua franca of India.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The language is not simply about communication in India. It has the <\/span>potential<\/span><\/b> of being used as a <\/span>weapon<\/span><\/b> if one language is imposed upon others. For example, the <\/span>1st public immolation in independent India<\/span><\/b> was on the issue of language.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

India has <\/span>a unique history<\/span><\/b> of being a nation without a national language. India has a different model.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A language <\/span>evolves<\/span><\/b> slowly<\/span><\/b>. The government cannot force it to grow. For example, Hindi language is the youngest language among the languages included in the 8th Schedule. However, other scheduled languages have a long history. They have abundance of historical literature than Hindi literature.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

English<\/span><\/b> is the <\/span>global\u202f<\/span><\/b>lingua franca<\/span><\/i><\/b>. Furthermore, <\/span>Mandarin<\/span><\/b> is the <\/span>world\u2019s 2<\/span><\/b>nd<\/span><\/b> most spoken<\/span><\/b> language. It is the language of China which is the rising superpower. And, Hindi ranks third among the languages.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

India\u2019s economic growth has been driven by booming IT and IT-enabled services business in India. These services were driven by <\/span>India\u2019s English-knowing population<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As per 2011 Census, around <\/span>69 crore<\/span><\/b> Indians remain <\/span>non-Hindi speakers.<\/span><\/b> Thus, Hindi language does not form a majority language of India.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What are the issues in the growth story of Hindi language?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

India\u2019s Census data is not <\/span>realistic<\/span><\/b>. The data is collected for the combined <\/span>Hindi language group<\/span><\/b> instead of Hindi language alone. For example, it includes Bhojpuri, and other languages of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, the strength of Hindi speakers would have gone down, if the Census had not included the other languages under <\/span>the Hindi group<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Hindi\/Hindu majoritarianism<\/span><\/b> is leading to present language policy changes which aimed at making Hindi compulsory.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

International investors<\/span><\/b> prefer the English language. For example, <\/span>Vietnam<\/span><\/b> is a more attractive destination than India. <\/span>50%<\/span><\/b> of the <\/span>Vietnamese population<\/span><\/b> can speak English. In India, this share is 10% only.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lack of focus on English can lead to loss of economic opportunity for the young Indians in the <\/span>emerging knowledge economy<\/span><\/b>. For example, West Bengal witnessed this when English was dropped in the 1990s.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The big power of the world acquired their <\/span>global dominance <\/span><\/b>without any meaningful knowledge of English. For example, less than 10% of the Chinese population speak English.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Way Forward<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

The rest of the world needs to learn from the unique model of India. India should not imitate the <\/span>one-language-one-nation model<\/span><\/b>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>Parliamentary Committee for the promotion of Hindi<\/span><\/b> should consider the declining trend of other Indian languages. It should make the Census data for Hindi more realistic than unrealistic one. It should understand the realism linked to <\/span>India\u2019s multilingualism<\/span><\/b>, the<\/span> federal structure of India<\/span><\/b> and the<\/span> issue of language sensitivity<\/span><\/b> across the states.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>cinema<\/span><\/b> and <\/span>related<\/span><\/b> industry<\/span><\/b> can promote languages. For example, the Hindi language and Bhojpuri has seen high visibility in cinema, literature, newspapers, songs, theatre and publication industry<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

English<\/span><\/b> should be made <\/span>compulsory<\/span><\/b> as a <\/span>first language<\/span><\/b> in state schools. Further, the students should be allowed to choose a <\/span>second language<\/span><\/b> from a list of Indian and foreign languages (<\/span>Mandarin<\/span><\/b> should be one).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Source: <\/span><\/b>This post is based on the following articles – <\/span><\/p>\n

–<\/strong> \u201cIndia is a nation without a national language. Let\u2019s embrace this<\/strong>\u201d published in the Indian Express<\/strong> on 14<\/strong><\/span>th Apr 22<\/strong><\/p>\n

–<\/strong> \u201cThe real script behind the call for a Hindi-India<\/strong>\u201d published in The Hindu<\/strong> on 14<\/strong><\/span>th Apr 22<\/strong><\/p>\n

–<\/strong> \u201cCommunication breakdown<\/strong>\u201d published in the Business Standard<\/strong> on 14<\/strong><\/span>th<\/strong> April 22<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

News: Recently, the Home Minister of India specifically mentioned the use of Hindi language in the North-eastern states. He has announced to make Hindi compulsory in all North-eastern states. Must Read: What are various provisions related to the official language in the Indian Constitution? Argument for and against promoting Hindi language in India \u00a0 –… Continue reading India is a nation without a national language. Let\u2019s embrace this\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10328,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[10503,212,10500,10498],"class_list":["post-179313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-business-standard","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-indian-express","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10328"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179313\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}