<div dir="ltr"><span style class=""><h1>'Time has come for a third language in Tamil Nadu'</h1></span><span style="float:left" name="advenueINTEXT" id="advenueINTEXT"><div class="" id="storydiv"><div style="border-bottom:1px solid black;padding-bottom:5px" class="" id="inc_dec"><div id="artext1" class=""><div class=""><span>The
recent controversy surrounding the dropping of German and inclusion of
Sanskrit in Central government - Kendriya Vidyalaya - schools has
breathed new life into the debate on the language policy of the new
government. On no other issue is the north-south political divide more
magnified than that of languages. Tamil Nadu's leaders cutting across
political lines have criticized the stand of the Centre; but there seems
to be hardly any debate among Tamils on the newfound importance for
Sanskrit over other languages.</span> <br><br> The history of language
politics dates back to the core of the Dravidian movement. In 1938, when
the Congress government made teaching Hindi compulsory in Madras
presidency, the Justice Party led massive protests against the
imposition of Sanskrit and Hindi. Similar efforts by India's first
post-Independence government were met with stiff resistance from DK and
DMK. The anti-Hindi imposition protests swelled up to consume the entire
state and dominate the political discourse of the 1960s. Sensing the
widespread support against the imposition of Hindi in TN, Nehru provided
a compromise formula where English and Hindi would continue as official
languages of the country. <br><br> Soon thereafter, the newly elected
DMK government renamed Madras state as Tamil Nadu and officially
confirmed the rise of language as a predominant political issue. While
other states followed the three language policy endorsed by the Centre,
Tamil Nadu chose to script its own destiny. Under DMK chief minister
Anna, the state pushed forward with a two-language policy for students
to study Tamil and English. During this time, the Centre repeatedly
urged states to follow the three language formula whereby students would
study their regional language, Hindi and English. <br><br> But, Anna
knew what he was doing. Speaking at a convocation ceremony at Annamalai
University, he justified the two-language policy thus: "The Government
of Tamil Nadu has stated in unmistakable terms that Tamil and English
can serve all our purposes, the former as the official language of this
state and the latter as the link language. If it is accepted that
English can serve admirably as a link between our states and the outside
world, why plead for Hindi to be the link language here? What serves to
link us with the outside world is certainly capable of rendering the
same service inside India as well. To plead for two link languages is
like boring a smaller hole in a wall for the kitten while there is a
bigger one for the cat. What suits the cat will suit the kitten as
well." <br><br> History has told us that past efforts with the
three-language policy have failed even in the northern states. According
to the National Education Policy of 1985, the state governments were
asked to "adopt and vigorously implement the three-language formula
which includes the study of a modern Indian language, preferably one of
the southern languages apart from Hindi and English in the Hindi
speaking states, and of Hindi along with the regional language and
English in the non-Hindi-speaking states." <br><br> While there is much
debate about the need for Sanskrit, the time for a third language in
Tamil Nadu may have come. Today, as we witness more inter-state
migration than ever before, there is no doubt that learning a third
language in Tamil Nadu is an asset. Numerous centres for German, French
and Japanese have mushroomed in our cities and towns. So, it is probable
that students from Tamil Nadu will also be eager to learn Hindi, but
not when it is imposed on them. At the same time, the Prime Minister may
also be well served to assess whether BJP-led states like Madhya
Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan would equally foster the learning of
Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Tamil. <br><br> <em>(The author is a policy advisor to elected representatives)</em><br><br><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Chennai/Time-has-come-for-a-third-language-in-Tamil-Nadu/articleshow/45355633.cms">http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Chennai/Time-has-come-for-a-third-language-in-Tamil-Nadu/articleshow/45355633.cms</a><br></div></div></div></div></span><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<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>
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