[lg policy] Learning with the Times: India doesn't have any 'national language'

[Harold Schiffman]

Learning with the Times: India doesn't have any 'national language'

What does the Constitution say on languages?

Article 343 of the Constitution and the Official Languages Act say
that the official language of the Union will be Hindi. However, the
attempt to adopt Hindi as the official language was strongly opposed
by several non-Hindi speaking states, especially Tamil Nadu, which
erupted in violent protests leading to a compromise in allowing the
use of English also for official purposes. Thus, the Constitution and
the act allowed English to be used for transaction of business in
Parliament, by Centre and states and for certain purposes in high
courts for 15 years. Later, the act was amended in 1967 to allow
continuation of English for official purposes. It is argued that while
Hindi is the official language it was never given the status of
national language, as India, being a multilingual country, has no
single national language. Article 351, a directive, says it is the
duty of the Union to promote the spread of Hindi language, so that it
may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the
composite culture of India, never using the term national language to
refer to Hindi.

How many languages does the Constitution list?

The Constitution listed fourteen languages — Assamese, Bengali,
Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya,
Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu — in Eighth Schedule, in
1950. Since then, the list has been expanded thrice, once to include
Sindhi, second time to include Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali and yet
again to add four more languages — Bodo, Santhali, Maithili and Dogri
— bringing total to 22 scheduled languages. The claims of many more
languages for inclusion is under consideration.

What's the three-language policy that was recommended for education in
the country?

The three-language formula recommends the study of a modern Indian
language, preferably a south Indian language, apart from Hindi and
English in Hindi-speaking states and the study of the regional
language along with Hindi and English in non-Hindi speaking states.
The All India Council for Education in 1956 recommended the adoption
of the three-language formula and it was endorsed widely and adopted
by the chief ministers conference. This three-language policy was
reiterated by the National Policy on Education in 1968, yet again in
1986 and was adopted as a Programme of Action by Parliament in 1992.
Yet, an official review of the three-language formula in the National
Curriculum Framework for School Education in January 2000 found that
in many states, apart from Hindi and English, Sanskrit, Arabic or even
European languages like French and German were being allowed in place
of a modern Indian language.

Why has the attempt to increase use of Hindi led to controversy?

Large states with non-Hindi speaking populations have always resented
what they see as an imposition of Hindi and huge budgetary allocation
each year for promotion of Hindi as official language and incidents
due to acrimony over this issue have increased in recent years. For
instance, Tamil Nadu assembly passed a resolution in December 2006 to
make Tamil the official language of Madras HC. Earlier, West Bengal
too had sought to introduce Bengali in Calcutta HC. Article 348 (2) of
the Constitution and Section 7 of the Official Languages Act, 1963,
together entitle Hindi-speaking states like Bihar, UP, Madhya Pradesh
and Rajasthan to use their official language, Hindi, in their
respective high courts. Tamil Nadu CM M Karunanidhi wants an extension
of this constitutional provision to Tamil as well. SC rejected request
of both Tamil Nadu and West Bengal claiming it would impact transfer
and posting of high court judges all over India as it would be
possible to post only Tamil-knowing judges to the Madras high court
and would involve voluminous work of translating thousands of orders
and laws in Tamil. But, of course, the same problem could be faced by
judges from the south or other non-Hindi speaking states posted to
Bihar, UP, MP and Rajasthan high courts. Again, in September this
year, a Union minister from Tamil Nadu, M K Alagiri, asked to be
allowed to answer questions and speak in Tamil in the Parliament. The
Lok Sabha secretariat turned down the request saying that only MPs
asked for interpreters in the past, not ministers, as the business of
the house had to be transacted in Hindi or English.


-- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Learning-with-the-Times-India-doesnt-have-any-national-language/articleshow/5234047.cms
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