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What is the Position of English Language in India
Indian education has traditionally placed a special emphasis on English as a foreign language. Despite suffering a severe setback following Independence, Hindi is still a significant language with a high status in our culture.
Following Independence, it faced hostility from our political leaders as well as some renowned academics. Because he believed it robbed Indians of their respect for their country and led to servile behaviour, Mahatma Gandhi opposed teaching English to Indians. However, several people argued for the continuation of English for understandable reasons. English had served as the primary language of schooling, administration, and legislation as well as the principal channel of communication with the ruling class. Therefore, its repeal would have had a negative impact on governance and education. Both Maulana Azad and C. Rajgopal Acharya understood that eliminating English would be a major blow to India’s efforts to improve education.
These concerns were also expressed by Pt. Nehru, who said that the English language served as India’s main window to the outside world and that its closure would be dangerous for our future.
The intensity of the linguistic debate peaked in 1950. On January 26, 1950, our Constitution went into effect, and it was unanimously resolved that English would remain the official language for a another 15 years. English will be used for the same reasons it was used for before to the start of the Constitution for a period of fifteen years, according to Article 343 (Clause 2) of the Constitution.
The period of fifteen years was seen to be essential for the development of Hindi as an English alternative. After this time, it was anticipated that both the states and the centre would be able to do away with English permanently. However, the imposition of Hindi on non-Hindi States led to conflicts in these states, notably in Chennai (previously Madras) and West Bengal (now Kolkata).
They contended that the elimination of English would result in exclusion from mainstream of scientific and technological knowledge. English was deemed the most significant language in the world and had surpassed many other European languages in international forums and conferences, according to the Official Languages Commission’s Report from 1955. Additionally, it was noted that Indians had developed a high level of proficiency in the language over time and that removing it from the curriculum would be extremely detrimental to the nation’s educational system. The Commission claimed that English may be used as a second language for certain reasons “for the suitable persons” after realising the special position that English had in this situation.
Even though Hindi was proclaimed the official language of India and development initiatives started, getting rid of English looked impossible. Hindi adoption was particularly challenging due to a combination of factors, including places that did not speak Hindi objecting to its imposition and certain psychological factors. One of the members of the Official Languages Commission, Dr. Sunil Kumar Chatterji, dissented in a note regarding the choice of Hindi out of the 14 major languages listed in the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
He believed that since the Constitution was passed, circumstances had changed and that many people, particularly in West Bengal and Madras (present-day Chennai), wanted to maintain English as the country’s official language for both the benefit of their own languages and for the sake of maintaining Indian unity. Another commission member commented that the inclusion of Hindi in the Constitution was hastily accomplished and that individuals in non-Hindi-speaking areas were being pressured to embrace it, which caused uneasiness among them. Clearly, these beliefs ran counter to those of the people who drafted the Constitution of independent India or those who favoured the 15-year plan to replace English with Hindi.
As a result, English had to continue serving as a portal to the outside world.
Being a lingua franca has made English retention crucial in India for a number of reasons. In India, many States speak different languages, yet English unites them all.
Because this was the only language that allowed our political leaders to analyse and debate their issues together, they mostly spoke it to one another during the independence movement. Perhaps only Pt. Nehru was able to properly see the negative implications that the abolition of English in India would have on this country. He once said that it was important to avoid creating a linguistic divide between Indians by not totally replacing one uniting component (English as the lingua franca) with another (Hindi). We also know that English has continued to be valued as a distinguished language, making its users members of the community with special privileges.
The integration of many nations at the pan-Indian level must result from the adoption of one language for India. Hindi cannot take the place of English since it has already done (and is still doing) this.
This was made clear when, in 1961, a dispute over the relative significance of Bengali, Hindi, and Assamese was finally resolved by the then-Indian Home Minister, who told the Assamese people that English would also be used at the state level alongside Assamese.
At light of the risks that imposing Hindi would have presented, it was deemed essential to maintain English as the primary language of instruction in Indian colleges and universities. Because of this, a switchover to Hindi was not guaranteed by either the Official Languages Commission of 1956 or the Constitution of 1950. The Kothari Commission noted that it was impossible to adopt Hindi as a standard educational language, particularly in non-Hindi-speaking areas where people would fight any attempt to switch the language of teaching.
It is important to note that neither the Kothari Commission of 1966 nor the Official Languages Commission of 1956 were able to pinpoint the precise day when Hindi or any other regional language should replace English. The explanations were simple: All of the world’s great literary classics and cutting-edge scientific information are available in English or in English translations. No Indian regional language can make such claim.
It is important to note that no matter how many commissions and committees the Government of India created over the years, none of them were able to come to a consensus on a single method for teaching and studying Hindi, English, or any other regional language. Regional languages should replace English as the primary language of education, according to the Tara Chand Committee’s 1948 recommendation. The Secondary Education Commission of 1953 recommended that English and Hindi be taught in addition to the home language as the medium of instruction at the school level. The significance of Hindi as an official language was emphasised by the Language Commission in 1956.
The three-language formula was developed and advised by the Central Advisory Board of Education in 1956 and the Chief Ministers’ Conference in 1961. The Kothari Commission, which ran from 1964 to 1966, advocated for keeping English as the primary language of teaching but also emphasising the value of other foreign languages, particularly Russian. The truth is that English continues to hold a special place in Indian education, both at the secondary and tertiary levels.
Indian English, as it is known internationally, has developed into a part of the culture where it has been used for centuries, and it now has a unique character. Indian writing in English, often known as Indian literature in English, has received praise from all around the world, and the Sahitya Akademi now bestows many honours on Indian English writers each year.
