Any language, which is spoken by not more
than 10,000, is not reported in census in India. India is a multilingual
country with some thousands of language. Instead of taking pride in our rich
linguistic resources we are trying to homogenize the diverse linguistic
communities. The ‘Idea of mainstreaming’ is hounding us and we are trying every
possible means to realize this idea by choking the ‘side stream’.
Why the government is trying to impose
Hindi on this vast multi-lingual country. Imposing Hindi in the name of unity
is like carelessly handling the diversity instead of nurturing it. It is the
diversity of this nation that makes it unique with the largest number of
languages spoken in different parts of the subcontinent. Half of the population
of this country does not speak Hindi but the government at the centre
(whichever party it is) tries to prove Hindi as the language of Hindustan
(India), thanks to the legacy of having most of the prime minister from the
Hindi speaking belt. How come people from southern India are expected to speak
Hindi? Large numbers of people have died in language wars at various point of
time .Tamil Nadu had a fierce battle with the Congress against Hindi
imperialism in late 1950s and it had laid the foundation of Dravida movement.
They strongly oppose the dominance of Hindi and said they would not accept the
second class citizenship in their own country. In eastern part like Orissa,
Bengal, Assam and the cluster of seven sisters, strong sentiments for their
mother tongue could be seen. They do not speak Hindi. They have their own proud
mother-tongue and they all would have serious problem with the imposition of
Hindi.
Jammu & Kashmir is a state which
largely remains in news for terrorism and militants activities, has the largest
number of languages spoken. How many of us know that? These side-stream
languages are dying silently. Every fortnight, one language in India dies.
Language is a potent force, which helps a community to retain its identity.
As of now Hindi and English are the
official languages for the central government and the Constitution of India
guarantees state governments the freedom to function in English and their
respective languages. But there have been periodic attempts to impose Hindi on
non Hindi speaking population. It is important to understand the richness of
our languages and the government should try every possible means to conserve
and promote them.
The 22 languages that are included in the Eighth Schedule of the
Constitution are well known. There are hundreds of other languages which are
not even known and are silently dying. In 1961, India had 1,652 recognised
mother-tongues, which were narrowed down to about 1,100 well developed
languages. Today it is about 800 and there are around 200 endangered Indian
languages, which are on the verge of extinction.
There is a great loss of languages with imposition of
English. Children at early age of three, four years are forced to learn English
instead of their mother tongue which is essential to conserve mother-tongue.
The British rule has ended more than 60 years ago but India has yet to come out
from the stigma of inferiority due to its colonial rule. The same bureaucracy
who had served the colonial power is now serving the national government having
undergone no change with dominance of English language in the bureaucratic
set-up. The result of Civil service exam 2013 is itself revealing the truth in
which top 25 successful candidates are from english medium. Education system in
India has many loopholes, the government claims to provide free elementary
education to all children. But the condition of government schools in
India is pathetic. Except for two or three states, all the Indian states have
poor educational statistics. We are proud that more Indian children are in
school than ever before, but the quality of government schools has sunk to
spectacularly low levels. The children in these schools come from poor
families, those who cannot afford to send away their children to private
schools elsewhere. The government needs to show that it believes in
securing equal chances for all children regardless of the accident of
where they are born.
The Three Language Formula, recommended by the National
Commission on Education 1964–1966, was incorporated into the national education
policies of 1968 and 1986. It emerged as a political consensus on
languages in school education and was a strategy to accommodate at least three
languages within the ten years of schooling. Due to unsatisfactory
implementation, it does not prove to be an effective programme. Children are educated in the dominant
language-policies that have the unfortunate effect of discouraging acquisition
of the native tongue. The Three Language Formula, which emerged as
a political consensus on languages in school education and was a strategy to
accommodate at least three languages within the ten years of schooling.
Children are educated in the dominant language-policies that have the
unfortunate effect of discouraging acquisition of the native tongue The kind of
linguistic imperialism which the government is trying to establish with Hindi
is really threatening the rich languages of the nation. There is a need to
understand that it is difficult to learn 3 languages for a child if Hindi and
English both are not the mother tongue. English is necessary to learn because
of its hegemony all over the world.
Why this
idea of mainstreaming is so important? English is the language of gentleman and
Hindi should be spoken all over the country to flaunt the unanimity in language
and culture. Tribals and people in hinterlands are looked down as uncivilized
and crude. Students in Tribal areas of Chattisgarh are not receiving their
primary education in their own ‘Chattisgarhi’ language. It is the case in many
other states where local and regional languages are not promoted and
diminishing. Sidelining their culture and language and cogently imposing
a foreign language on them does not seems to be the right approach of the
government. Word ‘Rape’ and ‘sexual assault’ do not exist in many tribal
languages, and this shows that they (tribal communities) are far more civilized
than we English speaking people. Homogenisation brings unity is a myth
and Indian Government is following this myth since a long time with a belief
that the country would be united in a single thread with homogenization and a
common language. This is unfortunate that we are trying to impose Hindi and
English giving short-shrift to indigenous languages, causing their death. The
idea of ‘mainstreaming’ is in no way successful in keeping our culture intact
and actually disturbing the proud diversity.
There are communities which met their fate due to identity crisis.
‘Roma’ community known as ‘Gypsy’ and are Nomads living in different parts of
Europe and America are original inhabitants of Western Punjab who migrated to
Europe and now living in pathetic condition there. They do not have decent jobs
and good living. Their language got transformed and evolved according to geography
but still certain words are their which are similar to ‘Punjabi’
language. An Indian woman said “Tu maa praa” to a Roma man in an European
state, he replied “tu maa paiyn”. It was surprising to listen words similar to
Punjabi from a Roma whose ancestors left India somewhere around 6th century. They originated in the north-west region of India and
thus their language even now has some punjabi words.
Hegemonies are at not merely at the national level but also at the
regional level where several languages are subsumed by the language spoken by
the majority. Some languages get absorbed into others or marginalised by
system of governance and education system. Arunachal Pradesh alone has 90
languages. How many dialects are there is not even clearly stated. There is
famous saying “Kos kos pe badle paani, dus kos pe baani” (Every kilometer
taste of water change and language changes in every 10 km). After every few
kilometers you gasp if you have entered a new zone.
There
is no doubt that there is a clamor of English language all over the world.
Moreover it is an essential demand in this globalised world where boundaries
are disappearing and the world has become a global village. But there should be
proper education policy framework promoting mother tongue at primary level.
There are languages that are falling out of use with newer generations
switching to other languages for various reasons. There are incidents when
people do not even like to claim their mother tongue because of the dominance
of English. Languages cannot be preserved by making dictionaries.
Languages live if people who speak the languages continue to live. We need a
micro-level planning of development where language is taken as one factor.
In almost every country of the world,
their languages are preserved and they feel proud on their mother tongue. There
is an urgent need to challenge the homogenisation process with the dominance of
Hindi and English reinforced in the name of unity and globalisation
respectively.
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