I appeal to all Tamilians to learn Hindi. That does not mean I want imposition of Hindi. I am against imposition of anything. This is the age of democracy, and nothing should be imposed. But the fact is that Hindi has developed as the link language of India. When Tamilians come out of Tamilnadu they face a lot of problems since they do not know Hindi. So for purely practical reasons Tamilians should learn Hindi.
Once I said this in Anna University where I had been invited to give a talk. At the end of my talk one elderly gentleman ( perhaps a Professor ) stood up and said that English is already the link language of India, so why should Tamilians learn Hindi ? I replied that English is known only by the 10% or less elite class in India. If a Tamilian goes to, say, Delhi he has a lot of difficulty. The taxi and auto drivers do not know English, so there is a lot of difficulty in communication. Even people in many non Hindi states, e.g. West Bengal, Kashmir, Punjab, Orissa, Maharashtra, Gujrat, North East, and many people even in south Indian states know manageable Hindi ( apart from their mother tongues ).
In fact Tamilians were learning Hindi upto the 1960s ( due to Hindi films, Hindi Prachar Sabhas, etc ), but then there was a reaction because some short sighted North India politicians tried to impose Hindi, which was unfortunate. But that is a matter of the past, and we have to move ahead.
Some people said that Tamil should be the link language of India. but the fact is that Hindi is known by 15 times or so more people in India than Tamil. I am not saying that Hindi is superior to Tamil. Tamil is a great language, with a very rich literature. I regard all languages as equal. But the fact is that Hindi is known by many more people in India than Tamil, and it has already developed as the link language of India.
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Hindi was my second language at school. I did not learn Tamil (formally) at all. However, I have not found a use case for Hindi. I have lived in two states and two countries and travelled in about 8 states. I can easily count the number of times I spoke in Hindi. English is more useful as a technical language. I do realise you favour Sanskrit - but let's accept the fact that it's not going to change anytime soon. So why not just everyone learn English. It helps in education and getting ahead in life and acts as a link language.
ReplyDeleteits simple sir, learning hindi or most of the indian language is far more easier than to learn english.
DeleteAll Indian Languages have their roots in Sanskrit and vocabulary is similar in all of them except few so it is far more easier to learn Hindi and other Indian Languages as compared to Firangi Lang.
DeleteAn illiterate fellow from Non-Hindi states catches Hindi in 6 months of time if he works in Delhi or Mumbai but I challenge you if you can make him learn Eng in 6 years. Leave this narrow mentality after all this our Country and we are Bharatwasi.
Politicians have created language base hatred in South for their vote bank and ppl are still hate others just because the other Indian speaks Hindi and not English. Don't you do? Read comments of Tamilians on internet they still dishonour Hindi but we never. We respect Tamil as a heritage language.
In every other developed countries like China, Japan, Germany, Israel, Russia, Korea, France etc, Their languages is strength and they love their own languages and developed all technologies in their own languages. But elite Indians always prefer English over their mother tongue and even they feel superior and behave with native speakers as 3rd class citizens.
Have you ever asked for online facilities in Tamil? you will never as u think that English is last word in technology, medical, engg etc but facts are different. We don't have even a single edu Institute in top 200 edu institutes of the world because out of 100 students enrolled for Nursery only 7-8 students will reach up to Higher Education.
India has to develop all types of education in its all major languages if she wants to be the developed country else the precious resources will be wasted on Eng Learning.
Sir,instead of learning Hindi,if one learns English,it will help him survive.English helped us in software to get a lead over China.Moreover several great works are in English,if one learns English it will open a sea of knowledge.Are our law,medical,encyclopedias,internet content in Hindi?...even the Hindi langauge is not very perfect,"Kal" could mean yesterday or tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleterespected shashi g, we indians have an intellectual problem. we always look for sinister motive in every initiative. i closely follow the posts of katju and found that he is neither pro nor against system deliberately. he believes in 'free trade of ideas' so am i and you. we all are entitled to our views which are decent, ethical and within constitution.
Deletethere should be a paper from any indian language other than hindi and english up to class ten. for ex- in UP n Bihar tamil or telugu, bengla, etc could be taught and in non hindi states hindi should be taught up to class ten. this is also command of three language policy. in jobs working knowledge of hindi for non hindi speaking applicants and working knowledge of any language in eighth schedule other than hindi for north indians applicants should be a criteria of giving slight weightage.
ReplyDeleteI feel its better to learn Sanskrit. As Sanskrit has perfect language in terms of articulation its used in Artificial Intelligence (type "NASA SANSKRIT" in google it could be found). There would be no controversies in this in terms of location, population, etc. It could be made as a recommended language in India right from the Schools and Universities at all levels.
ReplyDeleteJustice Katju is practically right as he focussed on common peoples like taxi drivers who dont know english. However i hope while his views are true currently for practical purposes in the future everyone would have the basic English skills to manage the market.In any case i feel Justice Katju is right to the current circumstances which would evolve later. It is his appeal and nothing more than that.
Pl learn Sanskrit and then it will be a matter of days to learn Hindi and u will be benefited by learning additional languages. It is always better to learn languages instead of hating them.
DeleteDmcrtic Ind: Sir,You have blocked me from commenting for comparing your stand on language with religion. I still stand by my comment ,the reasons why i am not learning hindi , though i have a chance to :
ReplyDelete1. India should know it is differences and learn to live with that , respect and presever minorities rights as well...The countries elites in most cases appeal to the minorities or to the opressed to be flexible ,like tamils should consieder learining Hindi.Like Muslims should consider stop consuming beef for hindus centiments,
Schedule caste youths should think of their carrier with the given opportunities and should not fall in love with upper cast women.And the tribe should sacrifice their livelihood to countrys development and be part of it.
2. Incoming language has its dominance: Though the hindi which is the branch of sanskrit famly, is not wildely welcomed in tamilnadu, its epics and literatures are very well precived in tamil literatures already.The great mahabaratha,gita, ramayan(kambar) are published and some are re written in tamil also. Now i am asking how many languages in india which is the family of indo-aryan language family has re wrote or re published any of the tamil epic?.. i have known you as the admirer of Bharathi , i am telling you in his own words(பிறநாட்டு நல்லறிஞர் சாத்திரங்கள் தமிழ் மொழியிற் பெயர்த்தல் வேண்டும் ) this was the request made by bharathi and it was followed in tamil literature. But i dont find any indo aryan language which has traces of tamil literatures.From the time unknown the Indo Aryan language and the culture always had dominance over dravidian language family and their culture. And Sadly that has always been one way 'communication' or it can merely be termed as ''infiltration''. the only trace i can find related to dravidian culture is in dead mohanjadero, nowhere else.
My simple conclusion is , doent matter hindi is adviced or appealed or imposed ,it is always seen as infiltration when the appealing body is not ready to cultrual or language exchange....
How could you translate the things written in other language to tamil without knowing it???
DeleteI am really sorry, your comments are not convinving, Barathiyar himself learnt many languages, he called telugu as "sundara telugu" and he did not admired just tamil alone.
Convincing*
DeleteDmcrtc Indn: That is not the essence of what i wrote up there. It is not about admiring.. If the people were not so liberal how could these many indo aryan epics and their culture could have mixed with the dravidians. My conclusion is that the Indo Aryan culture and language has always been dominating and still trying to dominate... Where as the dravidian writers and people were liberal giving shelter and practicing the indo aryan culture and language. When now Mr Katju asks to consider learning hindi, i am accusing it as a big brother act, as i don't find any good number of liberal people who are from indo aryan language family..
DeleteAlrite, its vague and not quite clear, i guess you are speaking about the influence of one language on the other.I dont think we could find any countries which is much diversed in terms of language muck like Ours.So despite these diversities there should be Unity in terms of Cummunication. India is a immigration country much like US that could possibly be the reason for so many languages. For example, my mother tongue is tamil but my ancestors (in the sense before 100' s of years) are not from tamilnadu.
DeleteLemme point you some historical references what Justice Katju is hopefully implying here (but am not sure whether he is). One of our leaders i respect is Rajaji.
On 17th January 1965, Rajaji Convened the Madras state (Tamilnadu) Anti-Hindi Conference in Trichy and there was a declaration that the Part XVII of the Constitution of India that declared Hindi as the official language should be heaved and thrown in to the Arabian sea contradicting his own view in 1938.
I dont really understand as to why he did this, personally i respect rajaji a lot.
So there is political agenda for everything in India which is unfortunately a fact.
Oh you are saying while the tamils are liberal towards Hindi, the peoples from hindi speaking states are not.
DeleteIts partially true. (sorry, i found it difficult to understand your lang). But there are many peoples like Justice Katju who are liberal and knows to respect the tamils. Duality exists every where, nothing is 100 percent perfect.
Dmcrtic Indin: Thanks for pointing out the vague way it is written,besides that every Political agendas are made on the peoples interests.So peoples interests on the language issue cant be omitted in the name of political agenda... Rajaji was put in a position to defend tamil by the ani Hindi agiations, against his will..
Delete\\Oh you are saying while the tamils are liberal towards Hindi, the peoples from hindi speaking states are not.
DeleteIts partially true. (sorry, i found it difficult to understand your lang). But there are many peoples like Justice Katju who are liberal and knows to respect the tamils. Duality exists every where, nothing is 100 percent perfect.//
Dmcrtc indin: It is not about how good katju is, i too have very high reagards to Justice Katju .. I have hailed some of his judgements very much(Against honour killing, two tumbler method).. In fact his judgements made me belive in judicial system...
I am here criticising only his stand on the language issue...
I could say its 10-90 out of 100.Thats 90 percent of the political agendas are not in the public interest, as all knows the true colors of our politicians. (For eg: appointment of tainted Judges, 2G scams, all kinds of corruption) its in their self interest and survival in the politics. The real patriotism is the need of the hour.In terms of population Hindi is greater than Tamil as far as India is concerned.
DeleteOne of the national language of Singapore is Tamil,
Tirukkural was translated to more than 35 languages,
Azhwars "Nalayira Divya Prabandham" is really a fantastic work in tamil but supressed popularity due to political interference and agenda. Its an uncomparable service to tamil from our Azhwars.
Is it not against the Tamil Language?
/**** Though the hindi which is the branch of sanskrit famly, is not wildely welcomed in tamilnadu, its epics and literatures are very well precived in tamil literatures already.***/
DeleteWho said it, we welcome sanskrit in Tamilnadu. We are learning it, enjoying it, respecting it. Thats completely false.
Just because some political party agitate in tamilnadu, could it become the collective opinions of all the tamils.
I am a Tamil i welcome sanskrit in Tamilnadu.
correction in the aove:
DeleteWho said it, we dont welcome sanskrit in Tamilnadu
Yes, we tamils welcome sanskrit, hindi in tamilnadu only the political parties are opposing it and silencing us, thats true
DeleteMy comments removed! I expected nothing less from the blogger since it is only he who has a right to speak and say his bit but the blogger has no stomach to hear an opinion which may be in line with his!
ReplyDeleteCorrect the past line to read ' which may not be in line with his'.
ReplyDeleteWe Tamils will never learn Hindi; We would rather separate from India than loosing our identity.
ReplyDeleteSo you're saying Tamils will only know two languages- Tamil and English. I was in Chennai for 6 months and encountered many strata of people. So let me enlighten you there are many people in Chennai who don't know English! And if I were to communicate with them it worked mainly on gestures.
DeleteI have many Tamil and Malayali friends and they don't mind being multilingual. For them it only enhances their flexibility, adaptability to settle down in a new place.
I didn't say we won't learn other languages..
DeleteWe hate Hindi and the culture,people along with it..We don't need u..go away from Tamilnadu
Hey man one of the culture of the tamils is "virundhombal" thats inviting the guest for feast irrespective of the question of enmity.
DeleteBy saying this you are breaching the moral code and the tamil culture itself.please have control over it.
With respect I must disagree with Justice Katju on this question.
ReplyDeleteIndia is a federal country and each state is bigger than the average country in the world. Language helps us communicate and it is useful to be multi-lingual. But it is essential that we are all literate in at least one language. Therein lies a major problem for India. We have 320 million citizens who are illiterate in their own mother tongue, and many more who are functionally illiterate. Those who champion Hindi as a language that should be studied across India would do well to ponder the statistic that more than half the illiterate population of India are from the large mainly North Indian, Hindi speaking states. It is a strange irony that those with the largest burden of illiteracy seek to persuade people who are quite literate in another Indian language to learn Hindi, whereas they would be better rewarded if they campaigned for better education for the many illiterate people who are native Hindi speakers.
Turning next to the question of a second (and possibly a third) language, what should be the factors that motivate our choice? I suggest there are quite simply just two factors. One is our personal circumstances. I found myself going to school in a Hindi state and so enjoyed learning Hindi. Now I find a mastery of English very useful. For a while when I was in school in Bengal I learned Bengali. But I never learned to read and write Telugu.
The other is economic opportunity. And here is the big question. Should the average citizen in a state that has a language other than Hindi, invest his time and effort and expense in studying Hindi? Or would he better rewarded if he studied another world language? Where does his economic advantage lie? I would not be surprised if for many people in the South, this second language choice would not be English (think of the doors it opens, the web, IT, wikipedia, the wealth of books, journals, science technology, medicine ) or even Arabic (think of the job opportunities in the middle east) or even a modern European language, or increasingly Mandarin. It's a globalised world now, and outside India, Hindi is not an economically important language, whatever its proponents may think its role maybe within India.
If at all Hindi comes into the equation, the attraction if any can at best be a vague notion of it being understood at a basic street level in many parts of India. But for the average citizen South of the Vindhyas or from Bengal or Assam or the North East, unless they have a business or family or work connection with a Hindi state, learning Hindi has more costs than benefits.
I am always struck by the level of regional chauvinism in India, My dad would speak Bengali in Calcutta and despite his Andhra accent the Bengali people he dealt with in his official role would love him for it. You can speak poor English in England and people will help you, But speak Hindi with a Tamil or Malayalam accent in Bhopal or Lucknow and locals who wouldn't be able to read or write Hindi would sneer at you. Bollywood does us no favours by parodying a South Indian speaking accented Hindi not so much as reality but as a cheap joke that sadly succeeds with an illiterate audience.
I think If Hindi lovers want to start spreading the language and making it a natural second language choice then they have their work cut out: They need first to do something about illiteracy in Hindi states, and second to improve the economic development of the Hindi belt. And attempts to enforce it where it is not a natural choice would be at best misguided, and at worst dangerous for the cohesion of the country.
क्यों नहीं प्रत्येक वर्ष १० तमिल शब्द हम हिन्दी भाषी सीखे और १० हिन्दी शब्द हमारे तमिलनाडू के भाई सीखे. सरकार भी सहयोग करे. दोनों भाषाओं के सहृदयी विद्वान भी सहयोग करे.
ReplyDeleteJustice Katju, I think you should first seek to have people speak and write their mother tongue properly before they attempt to learn other languages. Our language news papers are a mirror to this national malaise. As an employer in a knowledge based industry, I find that the difference in earnings doubles with knowledge of English. Service industry employs more people than agriculture and contributes two times the revenue of agriculture and manufacturing combined. With your background, your perspective about Hindi is right. However, if UP, Bihar, MP and indeed India should move to become more prosperous, English is the key.
ReplyDelete