<div dir="ltr"><div class="">
<h1 class="">For the self-serving elite, mother tongue poses hindrance</h1>
</div>
<div class="">
<div class="">
<div class="">
Tuesday, 27 May 2014 - 6:00am IST
| Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA </div>
<ul><li style="display:inline;float:left;padding-right:15px"><div class="">
<div class="">
<div class="">
<div class=""> <span class=""> <div class="">
<div class=""></div>
<div class="">
<p class=""><a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/authors/garga-chatterjee">Garga Chatterjee</a></p>
<div class="">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</span> </div> </div>
</div>
</div></li></ul>
</div>
<div class="">
<div class="">
<div class="">
<table>
<tbody><tr>
<td>
<div class=""><span style="vertical-align:bottom;width:49px;height:61px"></span></div>
<br></td>
<td>
<br></td>
<td>
<br></td>
<td><a rel="nofollow" target="dnasyndn"><img src="http://static.dnaindia.com/images/2013/print-icon.jpg" border="0"></a></td>
<td><a href="http://dnasyndication.com/content/english/all" rel="nofollow" target="dnasyndn"><img src="http://static.dnaindia.com/images/710/share-reprint.gif" border="0"></a></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="">
</div>
<div class="">
<div class="">
<ul><li class="">
<em></em>
<em></em> </li></ul> </div>
</div>
<p>I studied in an English-medium school in
Kolkata where thankfully, I was taught and rebuked mostly in my mother
tongue Bangla. English was the answer-script writing language. On May 6,
a five-judge constitutional bench struck down the Karnataka
government's 1994 language policy that mandated that either Kannada or
mother tongue be the medium of instruction for Classes I to IV. Judges
cited freedom of expression and speech. It's widely documented that
mother-tongue instruction is far superior when it comes to grasping
ideas and fostering creative thinking and the 2005 National Curriculum
Framework recognises this. The people who felt most 'persecuted' by the
1994 language policy is the same rootless class that increasingly
converses in English with people from the same mother tongue, even
dismissing the concept of mother tongue in this 'globalized world' of
'cosmopolitan ethos'. The judgement signals the rising clout and
confidence of the miniscule and powerful Anglicised elite in using the
language of rights to marginalise the masses.</p>
<p>This class, by their inordinate grip over certain urban centres
(Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai), has been exerting an influence over policy
that they cannot gain by democratic means. Karnataka's Chief Minister
Siddaramaiah knows that his people have no great resentment against
mother-tongue instruction. Karnataka is among those few states that have
tried to restore dignity of their languages. The deliberate
marginalisation that comes with terms 'regional'/ 'vernacular' has now
become normal. If the judiciary is so concerned about freedom of speech
and expression and rights of linguistic minorities, it might want to
look at the primacy accorded to English and Hindi. A staggering majority
of the subcontinent's population does not know English. The same goes
for Hindi outside the Hindi belt.</p>
<p>The elite and decision-makers come from a class that would start
perspiring if they were asked to speak their mother's tongue only, even
for a week. The classes of people who actually perspire due to hard
labour that puts food on the tables of the urbane and the entrenched
elite can accomplish this easily. The subcontinent is almost unique to
have a class that looks to non-mother tongues with so much pride. No
wonder, when it comes to scientific creativity, China, Russia, South
Korea, Japan, etc surpass this nation. In these nations, their mother
tongue is their language of instruction, often all through the
university level. So-called incompatibility between 'higher education'
and mother tongue is a creation of the self-serving Anglicised classes
whose privileges, entitlements and 'authentic spokesperson to goras'
status are threatened if mother-language education in the subcontinent
goes the Japanese way. But privilege doesn't self-destruct. Hence we
remain a self-hating land of forgotten mothers and persecuted tongues,
good for creating cyber-coolies and enthusiastic third-rate
documentalists of Euro-American mood-swings. From building high-rises to
making highways, the real heavy lifting in the cosmopolitan
cyber-coolie haven of Bangalore is done by Kannada mother-tongue folks.
Next time, look at the counter-girl in a chain-coffee store,
uncomfortable in her dress. You walked up to her and placed an order in
English. She breaks into Kannada when you are not looking. We are all
complicit in the annihilation of her cultural self and its
potentialities. Perverse is the word play that paints the calls for the
rights of the marginalised majority as chauvinism.</p><p><a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column-for-the-self-serving-elite-mother-tongue-poses-hindrance-1991483">http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column-for-the-self-serving-elite-mother-tongue-poses-hindrance-1991483</a><br>
</p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br>
<br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************
</div>