Our ancestors invented language to use it as a useful tool for communication. Like every animal on the planet, we also need to communicate with each other, and efficient communication is the key to our survival. Spoken languages were invented to satisfy our need to communicate with each other. Humans are social animals and we like to communicate with each other more compared to other animals. Our body language might be universal, but there are thousands of spoken languages and different dialects. Spoken languages differ from country to country and region to region. The spoken language is a very good medium to form bonds between people and communities. India is such a diverse country and pluralism in every sense whether it is language, religion, food, clothing, or culture is a unique feature of India. Even today in India, most states speak different languages and have very unique cultural features, even within the state there are different dialects of the same language. Diversity and pluralism are unique features of India but these things also pose very unique challenges. India doesn't have any national language, so sometimes, it is difficult to manage in states where people don't speak and understand the local language. Hindi is spoken by more than 40% of people in India, and it has the status of the unofficial national language of India. But there are many states (especially in the south and northeast) where they don't understand and speak Hindi. I don't think India needs any national language because of its unique diverse nature. Hindi is already one of the most popular languages in India and its use can be encouraged without making it a national language.
English is also a very popular language in India, especially among the educated class, this is mainly because of its demand in the job market and its status as the international language. The dominance of English in higher education (especially in the area of science and commerce) has created unique challenges for students who get their primary education in a regional language. They face the mammoth task of getting familiarized with the English version of various concepts and terms when they enter college. I faced a similar problem when I started my higher education and believe me it was not an easy task, for the first few months I had no clue what my teachers were teaching in class. Current protests of UPSC aspirants against aptitude tests in the English language is another example of a complicated language problem in academia. Students coming from regional language medium schools feel discriminated against when they see unfair advantages offered to students from English or Hindi medium schools. This issue is very complicated but is also a very important one and I hope our government can come up with some viable solution where students from regional language schools don't feel discriminated.
The Belgaum border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka is also because of language problems, in spite of Marathi being a spoken language among the majority of its residents Belgaum was included in Karnataka rather than Maharashtra. This has created a border dispute between these two states which is still going on. The matter is pending in the Supreme Court, no one knows when this issue will be resolved but a lot of politics is already being played using this topic. A recent lathi charge by Karnataka police on a protesting mob confirmed once again the urgent need to attend to this issue. The purpose of any language is to connect people, not to divide. Language was invented to communicate with each other not to discriminate each other, this politics using language to divide people should stop. I always wonder why two states belonging to the same country fight over a piece of land, after all that part is a part of India how does it matter if Belgaun is with Maharashtra or Karnataka. Trivial matters like this get stuck in a political deadlock. Even though the state governments from both states belong to the same political party there is no progress in resolving this conflict. Ultimate sufferers in all these types of issues are common people, they suffer as their daily lives get disturbed by all these protests and actions taken by the government to curb the agitation movements. Various political parties try to reap benefits by instigating people's emotions and sensationalizing the issue. They should take some concrete steps to resolve this issue rather than sensationalizing it.
Border disputes or exam issues related to language are avoidable or easily resolvable but the wasted interest of some political parties or organizations doesn't allow any resolution. People who are suffering because of these issues need to realize this and act to protect their interests not the interests of selfish political parties. Respective governments also should stop their attempts to crush any peaceful demonstrations by using brutal force. People have the right to express their grievances peacefully and as a government, they have to listen to people's problems and try to find some reasonable solutions. Ignoring any problem only aggravates it, no authority (government or private) should discriminate against people, and discrimination on any basis should not be used as a political tool to divide people. The role of language is to unite people, please let it do its job of uniting people.
English is also a very popular language in India, especially among the educated class, this is mainly because of its demand in the job market and its status as the international language. The dominance of English in higher education (especially in the area of science and commerce) has created unique challenges for students who get their primary education in a regional language. They face the mammoth task of getting familiarized with the English version of various concepts and terms when they enter college. I faced a similar problem when I started my higher education and believe me it was not an easy task, for the first few months I had no clue what my teachers were teaching in class. Current protests of UPSC aspirants against aptitude tests in the English language is another example of a complicated language problem in academia. Students coming from regional language medium schools feel discriminated against when they see unfair advantages offered to students from English or Hindi medium schools. This issue is very complicated but is also a very important one and I hope our government can come up with some viable solution where students from regional language schools don't feel discriminated.
The Belgaum border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka is also because of language problems, in spite of Marathi being a spoken language among the majority of its residents Belgaum was included in Karnataka rather than Maharashtra. This has created a border dispute between these two states which is still going on. The matter is pending in the Supreme Court, no one knows when this issue will be resolved but a lot of politics is already being played using this topic. A recent lathi charge by Karnataka police on a protesting mob confirmed once again the urgent need to attend to this issue. The purpose of any language is to connect people, not to divide. Language was invented to communicate with each other not to discriminate each other, this politics using language to divide people should stop. I always wonder why two states belonging to the same country fight over a piece of land, after all that part is a part of India how does it matter if Belgaun is with Maharashtra or Karnataka. Trivial matters like this get stuck in a political deadlock. Even though the state governments from both states belong to the same political party there is no progress in resolving this conflict. Ultimate sufferers in all these types of issues are common people, they suffer as their daily lives get disturbed by all these protests and actions taken by the government to curb the agitation movements. Various political parties try to reap benefits by instigating people's emotions and sensationalizing the issue. They should take some concrete steps to resolve this issue rather than sensationalizing it.
Border disputes or exam issues related to language are avoidable or easily resolvable but the wasted interest of some political parties or organizations doesn't allow any resolution. People who are suffering because of these issues need to realize this and act to protect their interests not the interests of selfish political parties. Respective governments also should stop their attempts to crush any peaceful demonstrations by using brutal force. People have the right to express their grievances peacefully and as a government, they have to listen to people's problems and try to find some reasonable solutions. Ignoring any problem only aggravates it, no authority (government or private) should discriminate against people, and discrimination on any basis should not be used as a political tool to divide people. The role of language is to unite people, please let it do its job of uniting people.
Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.
[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]
" tanSEN was bengali my dear friend, so were a lot of other people! want to see the entire list as it stands today? so was subash chandra bose and sri aurobindo :)
ReplyDeleteand i can name a million others and i am proud to say our greateness can be exerted beyond our national borders. we are the fifth largest speakers!
we bengalis have won pretty much every award in the world stage you name it we have it and we are damn proud of what we have :) its the only country in the world which took rebellion because it couldn't speak its mother tongue and it won! and won so hard that the UN had to adopt that day as the international language day, which celebrates languages from all over the world. "
KAMONASISH AAYUSH MAZUMDAR
MBA (2013), IMT Bhaziabad
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
hometown: Kolkata
in.linkedin.com/in/7thsense
I am sorry but your comment didnt make any sense to me, what are you exactly trying to say here? It will be great if you can elaborate it or write in such a way that people can understand what you mean to say.
DeleteThanks in advance.
Thank you Vinay for considering my request.
DeleteSardar Patel was not in favour of such language-based division. But unfortunately he was not keeping well during those days and he died before anything could be done.
Shantaram Prabhune
Language based creation of states didn't help much, it created strong regional sentiments based on language people speak. I believe they should have avoided this approach and must have divided states only based on administrative needs, but it didn't happen and we need to deal with these issues now.
DeleteDivision of states on basis of language is correct. Otherwise many of our local languages which have over 1000 years of history will meet with doom. You cannot expect a Bengali to preserve Malayalam nor a Kannada to preserve Assamese. It was therefore felt that linguistic division would do away with the issue of how to best preserve our linguistic culture and heritage.
ReplyDeleteVarun
Thanks Varun for visiting the blog and sharing your thoughts. I have few questions about your hypothesis, why you think people don't care about other language and they want to destroy them (or don't want to preserve them)? If Bengali is not exposed to Malayalam or Kannadi is not exposed to Assamese how you expect them to preserve these languages? Rather in current political environment political parties try to fuel local regional sentiments by projecting other languages and people from other states as threats to their so called local culture, this is the reason we see lot of regional politics and enmity between people from different language groups....
DeleteLet me illustrate this by using my own example, my parents are from UP but I was born and raised in Maharashtra, main language which most people speak in my own family is Bhojpuri, but my mother tongue is Marathi..For most of my life till now I only spoke this language, I also speak Bhojpuri, Hindi and English and I love all these languages. In my family we celebrate all festivals from Maharashtra and from UP. I respect English, Hindi and Bhojpuri as much as I respect Marathi, this is just because I was exposed to all these amazing languages with right spirit, none of these languages were projected as a threat to each other in front of me. My parents never objected to my Marathi speaking rather they were glad that I learned this amazing local language. So the logic that people from different cultures or regions can not preserve each others traditions is wrong, it can happen if we allow it to happen.
This linguistic or regional politics if not controlled can become threat to unity of a diverse nation like India. We are very diverse and plural country and for our unity we need to respect and understand each others sentiments. Interaction between different communities and cultures is the only option to remove the feeling of any enmity between them. This is why I feel that creation of states based on language was wrong.
I will have to agree with Varun. Very large languages such as Marathi or Bengali (as our friend Kamonasish Mazumdar will be happy to hear) do not run the risk of extinction. But some smaller Indian languages are definitely doomed as they are not the dominant language of a state. For example, the language KUMAONI is facing imminent extinction within one generation. It is much closer to Nepali and other Pahari languages than to Hindi. But today the majority of Kumaoni speakers use Hindi to speak even with each other. There is another language SYLHETI that is spoken in Bangladesh that is more similar to Assamese than to Hindi. But because the Sylhet speakers don't have their own state, today all Sylhetis are considered to be Bengalis (which again Mr. Kamonasish Mazumdar will be happy to hear).
DeleteLuckily, the story with another small language called KONKANI is different. This is because Konkani is the predominant language of Goa as well as the official language of that state.
So unless smaller languages such as Sylheti or Kumaoni are associated with their own unique political/geographic units, they will be gradually assimilated by larger languages like Marathi or Bengali.