If your answer is "Hindi", then like me you are also wrong. India does not have any National Language and Hindi is just 1 of the 22 Official Language of India.
Some Facts and History
Post Independence English was widely used as the language for all Official purposes. The Constitution envisaged a gradual phasing out of English in favor of a local language. Thus, English along with Hindi was declared as the Official Language of India when the Constitution came into force in 1950. And it was decided that unless the Parliament decides otherwise, English will cease to exist as the Official Language by 26th January, 1965. A time frame for 15 years was kept to make Hindi more popular.
However even before 1965, there was a lot of hue and cry in non-hindi speaking states of India, especially the Southern States. The protests even turned violent in Tamil Nadu. It was seen as a sinister plan to keep people from South India away from the plum Government Job. Before privatisation began in India, Govt. Jobs were seen as a safe heaven by most people and was the most sought after. It was perceived that people from Northern India will have an edge in these jobs if English is no longer an Official Language. Thus, it was decided, Hindi would be made the National Language when it is adopted as the Official Language in all the States. Today, Hindi is the Official Language in only 10 states.
In the era of Globalisation, a lot of India's success can be credited to its large English speaking population. It is only because of these people that India has managed to become the Back-Office of the world. Thus, in todays world ignoring English altogether would be living in a Fool's Paradise. As a friend once pointed out, "Leave English and lose the only advantage you have over China".
However, around 800 million people in India still lives on a meager income of Rs. 20 per day and they still do not have access to English. Even after 60 years of Independence its still so hard to imagine a nation were a peasant from a remote village in Kerela will be able to speak to his counterpart from Assam or Punjab or Maharashtra.
A nation-wide effort should be made to make Hindi more acceptable and accommodating. By accommodating, I mean people speaking Hindi should be more receptive to words from other language, dialect or region. At times, I feel like crucifying people who in the name of Hindi asks you to say "Loh Path Gamini" or "Agni Utpadak Dibbi". In case you are wondering these are the Hindi translation for "Train" and "Match-Box". To me these are biggest enemies of Hindi. A language is a medium of communication a way to express your mind thus it should be as simple and speakable as possible and not complicated. To the same people I always wonder asking them what would they call a "Rasgoola" in English!!!!!!
Thus, I would like to see India where both English and Hindi co-exists with all the other regional languages with Hindi being the unifying string for India's Diversity. There are other cultures in the world like French, Russian and Spanish where the native language has flourished without proving to be any hindrance in their technological advancement and the growth of nation.
We should take a leaf from them and work towards making Hindi a national language of India and still be part of a Globalised World.
Vision India where farmers and laborers from all part of India can congregate and still be able to speak fluently, and it is only possible if Hindi is more widely spoken.
1 comment:
From our mutual experiences in Switzerland, I believe u wud agree to the fact that we Indians are doing pretty good in this respect of assimilation of diverse linguistic population.. There it is practically accepted that there wud be a no communication between the French, German And Italian speaking Swiss, coz unlike us they do not have any bridging language like English or Hindi... Also in the same tune as you I wud like to state that while imposition of Hindi to be followed as a official language is probably not a viable option in India, since it wud appear to be slighting of the regional languages, but I sincerely believe that since the hue and cry is mostly raised by educated people (who thinks their knowledge of English is enuff to carry them thru all language gaps), and also from the fact that I hail from a state not having Hindi as a official language, they should have no problem in learning 3 languuages instead of 2. (atleast the "Kam Chalaoo" flavour of it!!)
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