[lg policy] Language policy in the Bangalore Mero

Wed Aug 12 13:42:55 UTC 2015

#bbmp polls <http://www.ibnlive.com/newstopics/bbmp-polls.html> #Bengaluru
polls <http://www.ibnlive.com/newstopics/bengaluru-polls.html> #English
<http://www.ibnlive.com/newstopics/english.html> #Hindi
<http://www.ibnlive.com/newstopics/hindi.html>

To justify the use of Hindi in Namma Metro, there are arguments that
Bengaluru is a cosmopolitan city and hence, the use of Kannada and English
is not sufficient. What such an argument fails to consider is that the
cities like Dubai, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur which are much more
cosmopolitan than Bengaluru, have only two languages used in their Metros.
Language of the land and English, being the two languages used in metros
there. The recently inaugurated Chennai metro has adopted two language
policy, Tamil and English. Even the Delhi Metro operates only in two
languages, Hindi and English. Does this fact make the city of Delhi any
less cosmopolitan?

*Language policy adopted in Namma Metro*

When an RTI query was filed with Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited,
seeking details on the language policy adopted in Namma Metro, the reply
received was shocking. As per the response to the RTI query, BMRCL has
framed its own language policy and has decided to include Hindi. There is
no directive either from GOK or GOI to compulsorily use Hindi in Bengaluru
Metro. With that understanding, let us ponder over two other questions.

1. Is including Hindi language in 'Namma Metro' a people-friendly move, as
a few claim it to be?
2. Even if this language policy was formed internally by BMRCL, why was
Hindi included?

*More deserving languages than Hindi*

Going by the population census, after Kannadigas, the next most populous
linguistic communities in Bengaluru are Telugu, Urdu and Tamil speakers in
that order. None of their languages has been used in ‘Namma Metro’.

Indian Readership Survey data of 2011 reveals that Kannada dailies, with a
readership of 16.2 lakhs and English dailies, with a readership of 9.5
lakhs, dominate the list of top ten 'most read' newspapers in Bengaluru.
Kannada dailies Vijaya Karnataka and Prajavani were the most read
newspapers in the year 2011, followed by the English daily The Times of
India. In the list of top 10 newspapers of Bengaluru, apart from Kannada
and English dailies, only the Tamil newspaper 'daily thanthi' has found the
eighth slot with 88,000 readers. There is not a single Hindi daily in the
Bengaluru's top 10 newspapers' list.

This data is enough to say that Kannada and English reach the masses in
Bengaluru. It is unfair and illogical to give prominence to a language like
Hindi, which ranks probably sixth or seventh in terms of the number of
speakers in Bengaluru. Especially when the third, fourth and the fifth
largest linguistic communities are ignored, just to accommodate Hindi. This
leads us to the question, why does Hindi get importance always ahead of
other much deserving Indian languages?

*Language Policy of the Union Government breeds inequality*

Answer to this question is in the flawed language policy adopted by the
Union Government of India, ever since the current political India was
formed. The constitution of India has made it the job of the Union
Government to work towards making Hindi more and more acceptable across the
geography of the Indian Union. The prolonged special treatment to Hindi by
the Union Government of India, is what has caused the perception that
everything related to Union Government must have Hindi in it. Such a
perception has ensured that Hindi made its way even to ‘Namma Metro’, while
the more deserving languages were pushed aside.

The three language policy that was supposed to be adopted in schools, seems
to have found its way into every establishment that is associated with the
Union Government one way or the other. Even the Kannada Development
Authority, in a recent letter to BMRCL, has asked the BMRCL to ensure that
the three language policy is followed. While there is no constitutional
obligation on BMRCL to follow the three-language policy, the Kannada
Development Authority insisting on three-language policy’s usage shows the
awareness levels regarding the three-language policy. This lack of
awareness displayed by the Kannada Development Authority is a different
debate altogether.

*End to discrimination*

This preference to Hindi is nothing but discrimination against the several
other linguistic groups that are part of the Indian Union. The only
solution to this glaring discrimination is, to bring in linguistic equality
in the Union of India. Linguistic equality can be achieved by declaring all
the 22 languages in the eighth schedule of the constitution of India as the
official languages of the Union Government. Only then, Hindi will stop
taking place of other 'more deserving' languages, under the guise of being
people-friendly.

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india/bangalore-metro-hindi-hegemony-flawed-understanding-of-cosmopolitanism-1038136.html

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