India is a country with great linguistic diversity. The Constitution of India recognizes 22 official languages and the 2001 Census lists 122 major and 1599 other languages in the country (Languages of India, n.d.). Yet, with around 10% of the population using English, India ranks as the second-largest English-speaking country in the world and English acts as the lingua franca or the common language (Masani, 2012). Brought into India by the British, it was established as the language of instruction through the English Education Act 1835 and T.B. Macaulay’s ‘Minute Upon Indian Education’. (Graddol, 2006)
The government has attempted, on several occasions, to adopt Hindi as the official language of the Indian Republic but has had to withdraw due to large-scale protests. The most notable were the 1965 Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) led agitations involving protests, riots, student and political movements against the ‘imposition of Hindi’ in Tamil Nadu (Yamunan, 2014). Thus, English continues to be the official language of communication in all Government offices and between the Central and State Governments. Legal provisions and major acts have been carried forward from the colonial era. The final interpretation of law and decision making at the Supreme Court and High Courts is carried out in English.
In the private sector, the emergence of the Information Technology (IT) industry in India is due to Indian talent and skill, as well as their ability to converse in good English. At Multinational Corporations (MNCs), communication at the workplace is in English and codes for new technology are designed in this language. Because of better career opportunities for the English-speaking, a lot of English medium schools and colleges are present across Indian states. However, many State Governments often feel the suppression of the local language due to the popularity of English. In 2015, the Karnataka Government made the study of Kannada compulsory in all schools in the state. This was after a 2014 Supreme Court order that ruled out Kannada as a mandatory medium of instruction at the primary school level (Express News Service, 2015). As a result, English-medium schools continue with English as the primary language.
English media dominates as a consequence of rise in literacy and income levels of the middle class. Although in the last few decades, major newspapers have been expanding through print in local languages, the English dailies in India in 2010 numbered 1406 (Subramanian, 2014). Most pan-India television channels are geared towards English viewership and the advertisements on these are broadcast in English and more recently, in Indian English.
English may have been introduced by a colonial power, but it has now become a connector and standard medium of communication in the public and private sectors, government and media, among other fields. Just as English has taken up various Indian words into its lexicon, we see reciprocation in Indian languages where common English words are also used on a day-to-day basis. It is an adaptable language and English as we know it in India today, has become Indianised.
Reference List
1. Languages of India, (n.d.) from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_India
2. Masani, Zareer (2012, November 27). English or Hinglish- which will India choose?. BBC News. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20500312
3. English Education Act, 1835, (n.d.) from Wikipedia
4. Graddol, David (2006). English Next. English as an Asian Language. http://englishagenda.britishcouncil.org/sites/ec/files/books-english-next.pdf
5. Yamunan, Sruthisagar (2014, December 14). Hindi is still a thorn in Tamil Nadu’s flesh. The Hindu. http://www.thehindu.com/sunday-anchor/hindi-and-tamil-nadu/article6689448.ece 6. Express News Service (2015, April 1). Kannada becomes mandatory subject in Karnataka schools. The Indian Express. http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/karnataka-assembly-passes-bill-to-make-kannada-compulsory-in-school/ 7. Subramanian, Samath (2014, June 9). India after English?. The New York Review of Books. http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2014/06/09/india-newspapers-after-english/
Commentaires