Linguistic Revival is sine qua non for Revival of our National Identity-Courtesy M.NAGESWAR RAO-EX. DIRECTOR-CBI
The bizarre irony is not lost on me for writing this post in English suggesting its replacement from governance, education, commerce, etc in India. Even though I do not wish to communicate in English, 'independent' India has robbed me and most Indians of their linguistic wealth and options. It is truism that a person who doesn’t respect himself can never earn respect of others. Likewise, a nation and people who don’t respect themselves, their own religion, culture, languages, history, arts, architecture etc can never be respected by others. Because such nations and people negate their own identity. What matters most is not 'what' we are, but 'who' we are. In other words, identity is everything. Loss identity leads to loss of respect. Civilisations, nations and people are destroyed by denying them and erasing their identity. Language is not just an important identity marker of a people. It is also the medium to express the civilisation, religion and culture in all their aspects, and in doing so both get enriched. Further, it is the vehicle through which civilisational knowledge, religion and culture are transmitted spatially and intergenerationally. We are an ancient, knowledge-based civilisation, dating back to several thousand years, with a vast repository of knowledge and literature on a variety of subjects. The Rig Veda is the world's oldest known text, and the Mahabharata is the world's longest epic ever written. Any nation would be proud of the same. But as a nation, do we take pride in our illustrious, enviable heritage? Taking pride means learning and promoting that heritage and living by the same as a civilisational nation. Macaulay's Minute dated February 2, 1835 on Education is extraordinarily profound, for, in just 9 pages he laid out the Education Policy for India which continues even after 75 years of so called independence. In fact, in just one sentences he prescribed what was expected of an Education Policy, which I quote: “We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern – a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect.” Contrast it with the Education Policies in post-independent India that run into hundreds of pages of verbiage but say nothing new. That includes the much tomtommed #NEP2020, which is probably the worst. For, it merely talks about educational administration, nothing about education. Consequently, our public education perpetuates Macaulay in all its ramifications. It not only reinforces our mental and cultural colonisation but also teaches us to hate our religion, culture, languages, civilisational knowledge, texts and heritage. How does this self-loathing get instilled and installed in our psyche? It happens, because MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE. Our use of English for education, governance and commerce is a major cause of our mental and cultural colonisation. It is a self-inflicted civilisational insult and national humiliation. India is home to highly developed languages. Our Panini is the father of linguistics. The number of speakers of each of several Indian languages is a lot more than many international languages. Yet, vested interests have created a contrived controversy that an India sans English would be nothing but chaotic. Nothing can be farther from the truth. English came to India some 200 years ago and gained prominence only after our political independence. Compare this with our ancient civilisation which is several thousand years old. We Indians have always found our own ways of connecting and communicating with others for millennia across the length and breadth of the country, and beyond. Secondly, even if there will be linguistic chaos for a while it will be nothing, for, within the apparent randomness there are always underlying interconnectedness and patterns from which order and solution emerge. European Union has 23 official languages with no single link language. Anybody can use any of the 23 languages and get his work done with ease. Yet, their communication has not broken down. On the other hand, they are far more prosperous; their GDP is several times higher than ours; their human development indices are much better than ours, and their scientific and technological advancement is superior to ours. It may be argued that the EU is not one country like India, and hence the comparison may be inappropriate. Not really so. EU countries are far more socio-economically intertwined with a very high degree of social and economic intercourse among their people and businesses. It is a myth that English is an advantage. Notwithstanding the glib claims that India is the IT powerhouse because of English, we have not produced a single important software or even a single social media platform. We merely provide 'cyber coolies' for the world. 'Independent' India has not produced a single Nobel laureate in science, nor any path-breaking scientific discovery. English only keeps us backward by destroying our original thinking faculties. It is actually an albatross around our neck. Therefore, unless we get rid of English, and liberate ourselves from cultural and mental colonisation, India can never truly emerge as a developed country let alone a superpower. We claim to be VishwaGuru but have no language of our own to teach the world. What an irony! We are either indulging in self-delusion, or must be the biggest clowns on earth. As per Articles 120, 210, 343, 344 and 345 of the Constitution, the use English for official communication should have ceased after 15 years from the date of coming into force of the Constitution, unless Parliament makes a law for continued use of English. Article 348 specifies that until Parliament provides an alternative, the language of the Supreme Court, the High Courts and the authoritative texts of all laws, shall continue to be English. Parliament enacted the Official Languages Act, 1963 perpetuating the use of English from January 2, 1965. It is, therefore, imperative that we get rid of English sooner than later for saving our all our languages and culture from extinction, and promoting them to for our linguistic, cultural and identity revival. As disruptive change is often transformational, 'linguistic disruptive change' is the need of the hour to liberate ourselves from mental, linguistic and cultural colonisation. I, therefore, suggest enactment of 'the National Languages Act' providing for: 1. Making all 22 Indian languages in Schedule-8 of the Constitution as the official languages of the Union of India including that of the Supreme Court; 2. Discontinuing use of English for any official, court or educational purposes by the Union of India, all states and UTs, all courts including Supreme Court and all High Courts; 3. Making the language spoken in the respective state/UT as the official language of that state/UT, including that of all courts and the high court concerned; 4. Making the official language of a state/UT as the medium of instruction for all educational purposes and for all types of studies, courses etc at all levels in all Central and state educational Institutes situated in the territory of that state/UT, except for linguistic minorities up to school level; 5. Encouraging all students who are currently pursuing studies in English medium to shift to the mother tongue or local language medium by arranging bridge course and offering suitable incentives, relocation etc; 6. Immediate translation into all 22 languages of all laws, rules, instructions, judgements etc; 7. Making arrangements for instantaneous automatic translation from one language to any of the 22 languages for the proceedings of the Parliament and the Supreme Court; 8. Making investments of all sorts for the development of all 22 languages, and provide for translation of every important document and book published in any language in India and the world, into all the 22 languages which will create more than a crore jobs apart from giving impetus to a lot of economic and educational activity. I am acutely aware that the task is gigantic and daunting. Though we are capable of undertaking it, but are we willing to bite the bullet? When we discover who we are, then only we will be truly free. Finally, however fluent we may be in English, we can never ever be English. For, that is not our identity. Our loss of national identity is the greatest defeat we as a nation can suffer. There can never be dignity without identity. And a life - whether of an individual or a nation - without dignity is worse than death.
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