English and Hindi have irreplaceable roles in national integration and ensuring progress
Since Hindi Diwas is being celebrated today, I decided to write this article.
When I was a Judge of Allahabad High Court I would be invited by the High Court Bar Association on the occasion of Hindi Diwas which was celebrated every year in a function inthe Bar Library. I would tell the office bearers of the Bar Association that I would not like to come to the function because what I would say would create a controversy. However, theywould insist and plead that I come and speak.
At the function many speakers would say “Agrezi Hatao”, that is, abolish Hindi from our country. Some would disparagingly describe English as a ‘dasi’ (slave girl).
When my turn came to speak I would tell the audience that if their children did not learn English they would only be fit to drive bullock carts (Hal chalane layak rah jayenge). I said I, too, love Hindi which is my mother tongue but that does not mean I should behave like a fool. All knowledge in the world is in English. If one went to an Engineering college all the the books are in English, similarly all the books in a Medical College are in English. If one wanted to study history, economics, philosophy, science,literature etc the books are all in English. How could one do without English? It is totally stupid to say “Agrezi Hatao”, and only enemies of their children talk like that. In fact we mustspread English more in our country for the country’s progress. So, on the occasion of HindiDiwas I make the same appeal.
When my turn came to speak I would tell the audience that if their children did not learn English they would only be fit to drive bullock carts (Hal chalane layak rah jayenge). I said I, too, love Hindi which is my mother tongue but that does not mean I should behave like a fool. All knowledge in the world is in English. If one went to an Engineering college all the the books are in English, similarly all the books in a Medical College are in English. If one wanted to study history, economics, philosophy, science,literature etc the books are all in English. How could one do without English? It is totally stupid to say “Agrezi Hatao”, and only enemies of their children talk like that. In fact we mustspread English more in our country for the country’s progress. So, on the occasion of HindiDiwas I make the same appeal.
However, at the same time I appeal to the people of the non speaking Hindi speakingstates like Tamil Nadu to learn Hindi, because it is the link language in our country. Forinstance, Tamilians face great difficulty when they come out of Tamil Nadu, because they do not know Hindi.
When I met the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu some time back I told her that Tamilians should learn Hindi as it is in their interest to do so. She told me that Tamilians were indeed learning Hindi upto the 1960s, and Hindi was spreading in Tamil Nadu by Hindi films and Hindi Prachar Sabhas. But then some North Indians decided to impose Hindi on the South, and this created a strong reaction, and Tamilians stopped learning Hindi. I told her that it was wrong on the part of some North Indian politicians to try to impose Hindi in the South. This is the age of democracy, and nothing should be imposed. However what has happened has happened, and now my appeal to the people of Tamil Nadu is that they should learn Hindi. Recently I spoke to students of Anna University in Chennai, and advised them to learn Hindi I have received several e-mails from some of the students, who have said that they have started learning Hindi.
When I met the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu some time back I told her that Tamilians should learn Hindi as it is in their interest to do so. She told me that Tamilians were indeed learning Hindi upto the 1960s, and Hindi was spreading in Tamil Nadu by Hindi films and Hindi Prachar Sabhas. But then some North Indians decided to impose Hindi on the South, and this created a strong reaction, and Tamilians stopped learning Hindi. I told her that it was wrong on the part of some North Indian politicians to try to impose Hindi in the South. This is the age of democracy, and nothing should be imposed. However what has happened has happened, and now my appeal to the people of Tamil Nadu is that they should learn Hindi. Recently I spoke to students of Anna University in Chennai, and advised them to learn Hindi I have received several e-mails from some of the students, who have said that they have started learning Hindi.
In my speech in Anna University I mentioned that when I was Chief Justice of Madras High Court I was invited to a function in Gulbarga, which is in north Karnataka. I flew from Chennai to Hyderabad where I caught a taxi to Gulbarga. The Prof. of Gulbarga Universitywho came to receive me was a Kannada speaking gentleman while the taxi driver was Telugu speaking, but they spoke to each other in Hindi .I was surprised that two South Indians should speak to each other in Hindi. I asked the Prof. for the reason. He said it was because Hindi was their link language. He did not now Telugu, while the taxi driver did not know Kannada, but they both knew Hindi. This shows that Hindi is the link language in much of India. In fact most people even in the non Hindi belt like Punjab, Bengal, Kashmir, North East, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, etc can speak Hindi. Hindi is even spoken in Pakistan, where it is called Urdu. Thus, knowledge of Hindi makes it easy to communicate in much of the Indian sub continent.
On the occasion of Hindi Diwas, I appeal to the people of India to learn Hindi and English, but nothing should be imposed.
(Published in The Hindu on September 20, 2012)
On the occasion of Hindi Diwas, I appeal to the people of India to learn Hindi and English, but nothing should be imposed.
(Published in The Hindu on September 20, 2012)
Justice Katju,
ReplyDeleteAs usual. A great post in your typical style. To me, the two key points were:
1) Though I love Hindi, I don't behave like a fool. People, keep this in mind all the time.
2) Learning Hindi is a good thing but nothing should be imposed. Another important thing to remember.
September 14th, is celebrated as Hindi Diwas. And September 20th is Justice Katju's birthday. Please join me in wishing him a happy birthday.
- Vijay
Why not all kinds of educations are developed in Hindi?Even after inclusion of Linguistic rights as an international human right in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 by the UN.Indian Government has been violating linguistic Human Rights of the majority people.Higher and technical education is still restricted in English.Our English education greatly contributed our backwardness.Out of 249 countries of the world 6 developed where English is mother tongue and 30 backward countries are learning in English.It means more than 200 countries have no English medium education,why Indians have been fooled by the name of globalization?There are ten Indian languages in in top 30 languages of the world,remaing 20 languages of the world have all kinds of education but Indians failed to develop all education in any Indian language,Indians are absolutely slaves.If 6 million Isralies learn all education in their own language,and scientifically,economically advanced,why 60 m kannadigas and 600M Hindi speakers depend on English?English is a language of thieves and liars and by learning that language english speaking indians too have became theives and liars and they are the people who are ruling India at every level of the government in India and looting and ruining the nation.
Delete"English is a language of thieves and liars and by learning that language english speaking indians too have became theives and liars and they are the people who are ruling India at every level of the government in India and looting and ruining the nation."
DeleteThat is a very bold statement you made , please care to cite relevant reasons for your answers because its just argumentum ad hominem which is a logical fallacy . If according to you solely by the reason of speaking a language one becomes lair or a thief then you sir are nothing but a bigot .
As for Israel , they have most Nobel laureates in the world and is the only state with highest number of Ph.d's look at what Israel gives credit to , its not mother tongue or religion , its simple adherence to science , development in field of technology and critical thinking . They are not prosperous because of mother tongue but because they are educated masses with opportunities in a nation which is right now carrying the light of science .
If you say mother tongue is responsible for its development , then look at Arabs around Israel , Palestinians why have not they developed ? They all speak Arabic mind you and its their mother tongue , the reason is that most are fundamentalist and have problems with priority they oppose western ideas and knowledge exactly like argument you presented here and make it sound like a cultural conflict .
Mother tongue has nothing to with development sir ,its implementation and exchange of knowledge and science that has to do with growth , languages are means to communication not road to development .
Your grace , believe it or not exactly yesterday I had the same argument with my teachers and LL.M students who were quite fanatic when it came to Hindi and were speaking exactly like you mentioned . But I also came to know some horrible matters regarding High court judges who definitely held bias and were antagonist to people wanted to converse in English , its quite a major problem specially in Uttar Pradesh , where people see English as "slave language" . I do not with held their contentions and though their arguments were defeated but yet the biased still prevailed . As one cannot reason with fanatics . Sir , I really think its a great misfortune .
ReplyDeleteNationalism should not be part of knowledge , knowledge must be based on objective reasoning . Hindi is a beautiful language but nationalism must not be mixed with it . Politicians should restrain from spreading misinformation in the masses .
Oh and by the way sir , Happy birthday may you continue to acquire and spread knowledge . My best wishes for you .
DeleteEnglish education introduced by the British had created a class of people, Indian by blood and color, British by taste and opinion. This class has been opposing education in native languages to the masses.This Indo British class is the real enemi of the nation, this class don’t want masses ever come forward.Learning from our language is the best way of imparting knowledge and whole world accepted this thought.but all education is not allowed in our languages because 5 percent indo british people don’t want majority people ever come forward.If ordinary people becomes engineers and doctors by learning in their own language,then who will care for these indo british people?Higher and technical education is only for the Indo-british classes and not for the masses.English is not any international language,it is one of the 6 official languages of UN, (English,French,Russian,Spanish,Chinese and Arabic) English is the language of thieves and their slaves,our present English is the outcome of British slavery.India’s per capita income is mere 1020 $ in 2010, it has to be increased to 15,000 $ to become a developed nation. India took 40 years to double its per capita income from 1951 to 1991.Percapita income of many developed nations is more than 50,000 $.India will never become a developed nation even after 1000 years with this English education system.The countries learning in foreign languages never become developed nations.In many poor African countries more than 90 percent people speak only their master’s language, French, English and portugese, we should not allow India to become another Angola, Somalia or Kenya.India has long history and culture.CEO of Toyota Co needs translator (Toyota is the largest automobile company with more than 100 manufacturing plants throughout the world) but in India ordinary company security guard needs English communication.We need Japanese mobile, TV, cars, Two wheelers because we cannot produce them because of our English education system.Only people of those countries can invent and innovate new things that are learning from their own languages.
DeleteWhat argument are you trying to make ? South Indians refuse to communicate in Hindi because they feel north indians enforce that on their dravidian culture and it creates culture conflict , India is a land of differences . if you start claiming Hindi , people in Maharashtra will claim Marathi , South Indians with , telegu or kannad , malyalam and people in Assam with claim Assamese and then will come Bodo language then , kashmiri and Konkani of Goa , Maithili of Bihar , , manipuri etc . Plus there are 1000s of dialects in all of these languages which particular dialect will form the basis of mother tongue ? No one individual or state can decide or enforce a language . Are you able to foresee amount of chaos it will create in country ? 21 different languages exist in one country alone . Check your statistics and priorities . Such implementation shall ruin the country and might result in separation , we can learn lessons from our neighboring State Pakistan who tried to did the same ( along with several other means of enforcement) and ended up losing east pakistan which is present day Bangladesh .
DeleteThose who do not learn from history are bound to repeat the same mistakes again .
"Only people of those countries can invent and innovate new things that are learning from their own languages."
Again you are wrong , its because they have resource and are willing to have scientific temper , in their countries ignorance and blind faith is not as big as of majority like in our country . From developing to developed country there is a long road in which sacrifices are to be made of things which are chaining you to the past , such as blind faith , religion and no scientific temper etc .
Why not Indians developed all kinds of education in Indian languages.Less than three million Latvians, Lithuanians,Croatians can learn engineering ,medical courses in their own language why not 60 million Hindi speakers.Writing books related to all matters and developing education in native languages is one step of development.We failed to make this basic development in this country even after 65 years of independence.The countries learning in foreign languages never become developed nations.Out of 249 countries of the world 6 developed where English is mother tongue and 30 backward countries are learning in English.It means more than 200 countries have no English medium education,why Indians have been fooled by the name of globalization?There are ten Indian languages in in top 30 languages of the world,remaing 20 languages of the world have all kinds of education but Indians failed to develop all education in any Indian language,Indians are absolutely slaves.Only 11 percent people enroll for higher education in India,it is more than 70 percent in developed countries because they are all learning in their own languages.IT is the outcome of our backwardness (Low salary)Is there any software or Hardware produced by Indian companies we are using in our computers?Our companies are mere chop shops.India has highest no of poor in the world, 41 percent of the world’s poor are Indians (Earning less than 1$ per day)36 percent of world’s illiterates are Indians.Highest no of slum dwellers are Indians.According to Minister Jairam Ramesh 58 percent of the people who don’t use toilets(Using open grounds) are Indians.According to some media highest no of English speakers are also Indians,it shows co-relationship English is behind all our problems.Why only those Universities providing education in that countries own language are coming under the top 200 Universities of the world?.(German,French,Spanish,Chinese, Japanese, Korean ,Hebrue etc.)Why Indian Universities providing education in English are not coming under the top 200?Because the Universities providing education in foreign languages are considered as Mental Hospitals
ReplyDelete"Writing books related to all matters and developing education in native languages is one step of development."
DeleteImplementation of knowledge and its usage has nothing to do with the language but it has to do with opportunities .
"The countries learning in foreign languages never become developed nations.Out of 249 countries of the world 6 developed where English is mother tongue and 30 backward countries ..............Indians are absolutely slaves"
Language is only the means of communication , it has nothing to do with nationalism or implementation of knowledge , English itself evolved over course of centuries and is a mixture of anglo frisian , west germanic , nordic and anglo saxon dialects , Bible (specially king james version) has the lot to do with the development of English language . Sanskrit in India also evolved overtime , no language ever sprang into existence one day but it developed overtime .
"Only 11 percent people enroll for higher education in India,it is more than 70 percent in developed countries because they are all learning in their own languages.IT is the outcome of our backwardness (Low salary)Is there any software or Hardware produced by Indian companies we are using in our computers?"
In India protective discrimination and reservation policy is deflecting merits and resulting in brain dead , that is the reason top graduates , don't want to be in India because here merit is given less value than the reservation , that results in brain dead . Indians go to foreign countries and make lots of discoveries in fields of astro physics and several other sciences , indians forms less than 0.5% of people in USA yet they form over 15% of doctor's strength in USA , most of them are entrepreneurs , engineer , scientist ( really good ones , and have accomplished a lot refer Chandrashekhar limits of Stellars and Boson models , just to name a few ) . English is means of communication , if it wasa global conspiracy Indian's wouldn't get any opportunities outside , but ironically , they do and their talent is appreciated , welcomed and respected unlike in our home country . English has nothing to do with implementation of protective discrimination policies and brain dead of the country , it has to do with politics .
"Our companies are mere chop shops.India has highest no of poor in the world, 41 percent of the world’s poor are Indians (Earning less than 1$ per day)36 percent of world’s illiterates are Indians.Highest no of slum dwellers are Indians.According to Minister Jairam Ramesh 58 percent of the people who don’t use toilets(Using open grounds) are Indians"
That is poverty , it affects a person regardless of his gender , caste or knowledge . Don't blame english because people who are poor generally are not conversant which that language , ask them , they will blame lack of opportunities not foreign invasion .
"According to some media highest no of English speakers are also Indians,it shows co-relationship English is behind all our problems."
DeleteI am sorry good sir even though you have good intentions about your country I will step up and say you are deluded beyond reasoning if that is your conclusion . Problems of our country is 1 . protective discrimination and reservation policies ( which result in brain dead) 2. lack of good career opportunities 3. poverty , illiteracy and superstition , 4 . lack of critical mind and objective reasoning , lack of good administration of justice etc .
"Why Indian Universities providing education in English are not coming under the top 200?Because the Universities providing education in foreign languages are considered as Mental Hospitals"
Its direct answer is lack of resources , talent , funds and infrastructure . Its sad to see science is not priority of India , only through science and science alone this country can progress there is no other way . Go to a university which is state administered and compare them with private you will find that many (not all) of state universities are not upto the mark with private universities .
You blame english due to your ignorance of real issues , I am really sorry to say good sir but when you people come down on streets and blame English and oppose FDI without even knowing the positive effect of it on India ( which is employment in large quantities which we desperately need) you do not do service to nation instead you misinform the others . In issues like these it is critical to see things objectively not subjectively , ignorance will not solve the issue but objective solutions will do the work .
According to Mahatma Gandhi”The foreign medium has caused brains fag, put an undue strain upon the nerves of our children, made them crammers and imitators, unfitted them for original work and thought, and disabled them for filtrating their learning to the family or the masses. The foreign medium has made our children practically foreigners in their own lands. It is the greatest tragedy of the existing system. The foreign medium has prevented the growth of our vernaculars. If I had the powers of a despot, I would today stop the tuitions of our boys and girls through a foreign medium and require all the teachers and professors on pain of dismissal to introduce the change forthwith. I would not wait for the preparation of Text books. They will follow the change. It is an evil that need a summary remedy Among the many evils of foreign rule, this blighting imposition of a foreign medium upon the youth of the country will be counted by history as one of the greatest. It has sapped the energy of the nation, it has estranged them for the masses, it has made education unnecessarily expensive. If this process is still persisted in, it bids fair to rob the nation of its soul.” (Young India 1921)India is most poor & backward country in the world only because of English education system There is no any developed country in the world which has English education system except those countries whose mother tongue itself is English. Only those countries have developed and prospered in the world that are learning everything in their own languages, the countries that learn from foreign languages are all most poor and backward countries of the world and will remain backward forever. This is worldwide accepted theory. In Africa 23 countries are learning in French, 16 countries in English 5 are in Portuguese, 2 in Spanish, all these countries are most backward in the world.MAKE BHARAT AN INDEPENDENT NATION.The countries learning in foreign languages are mere colonies and not independent nations.How long we remain as boot lickers of British and Americans
ReplyDeleteCommunication is the the reason for which language exists , English is most easiest of all languages of the world and that is why it is used to communicate in many parts of the world .
DeleteTake Hindi for example as much as i like Hindi , you cannot use Hindi in most parts of India without people staring at you with absolutely no understanding of what you are talking about , go to south India and you will understand what I am saying . If we can't implement our language in our country then we must accept that it is just not working here . South Indians can easily communication in English but not Hindi , why ? because its easy and most widely spoken and understood among educated masses .
"If I had the powers of a despot, I would today stop the tuitions of our boys and girls through a foreign medium and require all the teachers and professors on pain of dismissal to introduce the change forthwith"
You will act as a dictator and will be acting against democracy not only that you will damn the nation to inferiority beyond repair and cause revolts from people who do not want to adhere to your whims . Please , don't enforce personal opinions over public .
"They will follow the change. It is an evil that need a summary remedy Among the many evils of foreign rule, this blighting imposition of a foreign medium upon the youth of the country.............. it has made education unnecessarily expensive."
It seems you are not in touch with reality , look at the political system , administration of justice and maladministration in government sectors , perpetuation of religion and superstition and lack of science is causing of nation not to ascend as quickly as it really can .
"Only those countries have developed and prospered in the world that are learning everything in their own languages, the countries that learn from foreign languages are all most poor and backward countries of the world and will remain backward forever"
Wrong and here is why , only those countries have developed who have adhered to scientific principles and objective reasoning , Europe was in dark ages because it adhered to religion too much not because it had mother tongue issues . Look at countries which follow religion too much and not pay attention to science , look at somalia , Pakistan , Iran , Iraq , Afganistan and several other countries who are ruled by religious laws , they have not prospered to the degree secular ones have , they all communicate in their mother tongue yet are backwards , so your argument is invalid in light of the evidence present in real world to the contrary
"How long we remain as boot lickers of British and Americans"
USA rose to power because it gave large funds to scientific development in the country , refer the priorities of USA during World War I , II and Cold war , during all those times both USA and Soviet Union were fighting war in realms of science and it was reason of their might . Britain followed the scientific ideas and gained strength , so did the French . They made their priorities science and education ( though in terms of war ) and it lead to development , even this internet is result of particle physics research ( read on how CERN helped in development of internet) . Most Indian masses respected sir , are not slaves of Britain or USA but are of ignorance and superstition . I submit in my humble opinion to re-form your priorities and look at this thing objectively . Radical nationalism is curse to country not a boon , objective nationalism should be followed , that is , to see the problems and create scientific solutions of them .
I am from Karnataka,your information about south Indians is totally wrong only Tamilnadu people are opposing Hindi due to the divide and rule policy of the British.They created the Aryan invasion theory to divide Indians (There is no any evidence to prove it but there are many evidences to disprove it)South Indian languages are not originated from Sanskrit but they adopted too many Sanskrit words and grammar hence Hindi is understandable better than English.Even illiterates can also speak Hindi in some parts in karnataka and AP due to the influence of Urdu.Those who studied in English medium schools and highly educated people are opposing Hindi,such people in north India also opposing Hindi.We have been communicating each other before the arrival of British,we don't need any foreign language to communicate each other.Kashmiris demanding separate nation,why not their demand accepted? Certain issues related to national interest should not be compromised.When Hindi has been studied all over India,why not in Tamilnadu?Tamil leaders have been issuing statements on behalf of south Indians,who are they to represent south Indians?The largest south Indian language is telugu and not tamil.India is a big country,our states are bigger than European countries,no need to learn in one language.Small countries with less than 1crore people like Switzerland,Belgium,Luxembourg have many languages (German,French,Dutch,Italian)all are learning in their own languages and not in one language and they are rich countries (PCI More than 50,000$) If 6 million Isralies learn all education in their own language,and scientifically,economically advanced,why 60 m kannadigas and 600M Hindi speakers depend on English?In CERN which invented God particles, where scientist use 17 european languages, journals were issued in all 17 languages (Still more preference to French, German and English due to more contribution from these countries to CERN) (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire) We have only 12 major languages (Hindi to Assami) where lot of education is already available which 95 percent of Indians are speaking.I don't accept your view that English is easy language.I have seen lot of people who struggle to speak in English even after learning primary to higher education in English.What about the majority people who study in Indian language schools?
DeleteWhat do you mean by "God particle" its Higgs Boson please read about it , it was called god particle by layman who couldn't understand what was it about , don't attribute it to anything related to god . Higgs Boson has been always the part of standard model of physics from a long time , it wasn't invented it was "found" it always existed but due to limitation of our senses , we need to make sure it really existed , so "found" will be the better word .
DeleteAs for the language , the sole purpose of language is communication . Changing or replacing a language , won't create a race of demi-gods capable to rule over the cosmos .
Those who want to speak in Hindi can go ahead and speak it but language only serves a purpose of communication , that is the only importance of language .
What majority are you talking about ? more than 65% of India lives in utter poverty , they have barely the means of education , if it wasn't for article 21A of Constitution of India they wouldn't even have basic education . We have almost 35% who go to school and then for go graduation . So we clearly do not have a majority consensus here . Now as for those who study in Hindi medium , its fine they can communicate it any language they want as long as it serves the purpose of language that is communication but being fanatic about a language serves no purpose at all and it only creates backlash and chaos . Get the facts right , language is a medium of communication not a medium of superiority .
Mr. Nayak, you are a typical bigot from South Canara. Correct me if I'm wrong? Kinda hurts when someone judges you with your identity. Right? Firstly, want to oppose English, alright, don't learn it. Make sure your coming generations too don't learn it. As Justice Katju says, 'bas hal chalane ke kaabil reh jaaoge'.
ReplyDeleteThe next judgement I want to make on you is that you seem to be those frustrate people who has failed to achieve anything in life and blame it on English speaking breed of people. Who says by speaking English one becomes an American or British Boot-likcer, elaborate?
I read each of your points and just couldn't connect the dots. So, let me paraphrase your points.
1) Indians should avoid English 2) By doing so, we all will become super scholars and prosperous. 3) That's the key reason countries like Israel, France, Spain, Saudi Arabia has become developed and their per-capita is higher than us.
I showed this comment to one of my graduate students and we had a great laugh about it. The problem with people like you is, you have no inquisitiveness and no ability to think for yourself. You operate on information, that is fed to you, especially by a semi-literate local politician. Let me tell you, I've some understanding of law, literature and economics. By no yardstick your arguments made any sense.
I think people like you would even make an argument to restore the glorious Indian days and make sure we learn in Sanskrit from now on. Right? Establish Ram-Rajya and choose a great Kshtria as a King and great Brahamins as his advisers? Does this all sound familiar? How did I read your mind?
In sum, get a life.
@Lucius:
Good argument bro. You and I wouldn't be tired in educating these semi-literates. Irony is, each time someone presents a frivolous argument, we have to jump to defend the obvious, stated by Justice Katju.
I feel sometimes its necessary to vindicate a person who is trying in his best efforts to improve an otherwise afflicted condition of a country . I think being silent when something wrong is being told or injustice is delivered is like being a supported of that injustice itself .
Delete"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
Martin Luther King Jr.
Cheers !
Hi Lucius,
DeleteI absolutely agree with your stand. That's the reason why I tend to comment, elaborating important points. I don't have objection if someone has difference of opinion, but find it hard to digest when people have strong opinions based on futile fundamentals. Meaningless conclusions drawn on xenophobic or non-existent threat, is a trend, which is even worse.
In times like these, silence is not gold. Education people needs some voice and I hope you and I are doing the same, without using profane words or judgmental tone.
Cheers!
The word should have been 'Educating' instead of 'Education'. Won't rely on the auto-spell-check.
DeleteAnd, best wishes on your Birthday, Justice Katju.
ReplyDelete@Vijay: Thanks for reminding us.
Thoughts of Gentle colossus of Indian linguistics,
ReplyDeleteProf. Krishnamurti : He was deeply committed to the mother tongue as being the language of learning and schooling. He believed that the emphasis on English as a medium of teaching was misplaced, and that learning in a foreign language inhibited the full potential of students. Not learning in our mother tongue, he believed, inhibits our creativity, cuts us off from our roots and affects our personality. One of the reasons for India not fully realising its potential was its blind belief in the English language as a deliverance. He was deeply worried that a people’s greatest possession, their mother tongue, was in danger of being lost especially in India.
Learning Hindi is a perosonal choice. It is wrong Justice Katju asking South Indians to learn Hindi. People decide which language at what time they have to learn. It is their decision. Dont name Hindi as link language. In India, English is the link language. Governments celebrating Hindi days is against the spirit of constituion. Rajaji, Muraji Desai did a great disservice to our nation by propagating Hindi. The idea of India would have failed if our founding fathers insisted on propagating Hindi. Nehru was not unwise.
ReplyDelete