'Leave Kannada at home, use Hindi in office!'

[Harold Schiffman]

 Sunday, July 13, 2008 'Leave Kannada at home, use Hindi in
office!'<http://karnatique.blogspot.com/2008/07/leave-kannada-at-home-use-hindi-in.html>

The Star of Mysore
reports<http://www.starofmysore.com/searchinfo.asp?search1=17231&search2=newsheadlines>a
Parliamentary sub committee meeting in Mysore on July 5th 2008 which
was
held to review the "implementation" of Hindi as per the Official Language
Policy of the Government of India and give guidelines to the local units of
the institutions on usage of Hindi in their official business. A display
board with a Kannada slogan was seen in the meeting hall, which read: "Use
Kannada at home, use Rajbhasha (Hindi) in office" (*Maneya Vyavahara
Kannadadalli, Karyalayada Vyavahara Raajabhasheyalli*).

Although this may appear as a small news item tucked away in a corner of a
local newspaper in Mysore, larger issues are bound to arise in a Kannadiga's
mind on reading this. KARNATIQUE lists a few of these and requests its
readers to think about the nature & magnitude of Hindi imposition that is
happening in India and its impact on the non-Hindi speaking population.

   1. Why should Hindi be the official language for transactions of the
   Government of India with states that are not Hindi speaking?
   2. Why can we not have translators to translate correspondence (official
   transactions) between Government of India & respective State Governments?
   Isn't it more sensible to have translators who know Hindi & the language of
   the state than to train all the officers from non-Hindi speaking states, in
   Hindi?
   3. What is the message that is being conveyed to the people of non-Hindi
   speaking states by this type of Hindi imposition? In spite of Hindi speaking
   population of India being less 30%, why should Hindi be provided special
   status as one of the official language for transactions of Government of
   India with states that are not Hindi speaking?
   4. Why is Government of India spending precious tax-payer's money on
   Hindi prachar sabhas and other such sundry organizations to popularize usage
   of Hindi in schools, colleges & offices in non-Hindi states?
   5. Why do we have Parliamentary sub committee/s reviewing Hindi
   implementation (imposition) across India ? Why do we have Parliamentary sub
   committee/s spending precious tax-payer's money to travel all the way to
   Mysore / Siliguri / Jamnagar / Itanagar to check for the implementation of
   Hindi in Government of India offices in those locations & to provide
   guidelines to the local units of the central government institutions on
   usage of Hindi in their official business?
   6. What type of mindset does the slogan that "Kannada at home &
   Rajbhaasha in office" indicate? Doesnt it indicate a mindset that Kannada as
   a language is deemed fit for only household communication and not for
   official administration? Is it not being done to reinforce the false notion
   in Kannadigas that Hindi is the "Rajbhaasha" and Kannada the "*Aduge mane
   bhaashe*".

Kannadigas and the rest of the non-Hindi population in India should realize
the dangers of this kind of state sponsored Hindi imposition, be vigilant
about both subtle & blatant attempts at Hindi imposition and oppose these
acts from every forum possible.

http://karnatique.blogspot.com/2008/07/leave-kannada-at-home-use-hindi-in.html


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