Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech emphasised the need for the citizens to take pride for the languages of the country. The NEP Policy of 2020 too stress on curriculum in regional languages. For an outlook It indeed is an optimistic approach in breaking the clutches of colonial hangover.
India is a home for pot full of languages. From Kashmir in North to Kanyakumari in South languages, dialects and slangs used vary with each footstep. But what continues to threaten us is ruling governments emphasise only on Hindi language, in the name of upholding Indian roots.
Home Minister Amit Shah’s expected release of MBBS text books of Madhya Pradesh in Hindi, a media update on secretive language committee meeting aiming at adopting Hindi as an official language and looking at the progress of it’s usage have further angered the southern governments.
The southern states have continued to uphold the discrimination faced by them in usage and growth of their languages. From an unfulfilled promise of northern states, in adopting three language formula to struggling in competitive exams to comprehend the questions printed in English and Hindi language, the states of Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu are struggling. Taking the example of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh states in using the Hindi language in their respective states, the southern states too have to take up the responsibility of translations of legal records and legal proceedings in their respective state language. An emphasis has to be given to include southern language in competitive examinations.
Along dissenting the emphasis on one language formula, states should also utilise the provision available under the Constitution in order to adopt the state language. Indeed it will be a mighty and time taking process but will surely be successful one in coming decades. Like Tamil Nadu not having lack of medical graduates despite not accepting NEET examination, denying Hindi or English and emphasising the language of the state will least effect the state. Rather it will further increase the elite community in the state as ones own mother tongue is used in all education, legal and professional aspects of state.
