Many do not know that Hindi is not India’s only national language, perhaps due to the constant propaganda of the Union government (“Readers’ comments: India’s flawed language policy sidelines indigenous and local tongues”). Which state in North India follows the three-language policy? None.
The development of Hindi-speaking states is, in all respects, far below that of non-Hindi speaking states. Anyone can learn any language depending on the need.
Indians in West Asia speak Arabic. Tamilians in the North speak Hindi. North Indians in Tamil Nadu speak Tamil. Why thrust Hindi on one billion people with a language policy drafted in favour of Hindi speakers? – Selva Samy
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Did local languages suffer on account of English? If no, then how can we say that languages like Tamil will decline if Hindi is introduced?
Indians should learn at least four languages – the local language, another Indian language, English and one more foreign language. Parties like the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam are politicising the three-language formula but it is not such a big issue in this age of knowledge.
Introducing three languages in schools will also create employment opportunities for language teachers. – S Thiagarajan
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Professor Pandey answered the question himself (“A Hindi professor responds: English is the real bottleneck stifling other Indian languages”). English does not share syntax with Indian languages syntax and that is why it can’t substitute for other languages. Hindi is more dangerous to other languages. English is the shield to protect non-Hindi speakers. – N Neelakantan
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It is impossible to live, work, communicate or do business in this world without English. The Japanese have this problem, with their poor knowledge of English. – Pradeep Agrawal
Rise of Hindi is a sign of democracy
The comparison with Singapore is flawed (“An English professor writes: Why Hindi is to blame for the decline of India’s other languages”). Although Singapore promotes standard languages and scores highly in English proficiency tests, there is a gap between test performance and real-world proficiency. Most Singaporeans speak Singlish, a creole far more unintelligible than what we in India would call “broken English”.
English, contrary to the author’s claim, is far from a neutral language in India. English remains a foreign language whose vocabulary, syntax, semantics and cultural idioms differ markedly from those of Bharatiya languages. The rise of Hindi is democracy coming alive, in full vigour.
The part about how Bhojpuri is perceived as “dehati” sets up an unnecessary antagonism with Hindi, ignoring that every language has a standard form for administrative and technical purposes. Which Anglophone country does government, legal, or scientific work in Cockney or any vernacular speech?
Urdu as the language of tehzib, or etiquette, is hardly different from English as the language of “civilisation”, both deeming other uncivilised. Hindi, by contrast, has been enriched by dialects as much as by Sanskrit, which forms its structural foundation.
The trend towards tatsama vocabulary, or Sanskrit loanwords, reflects precisely Hindi’s aspiration to become truly pan-Indian, because all languages belong to the bhāṣā-parivāra of the Vedic era, with classical Sanskrit and classical Thamizh forming its earliest branches. – Kinza Khan
‘Fake news’ on Iran
As usual, Scroll’s articles never have anything good to say about the government ( Can propaganda on Iran allowing Indian ships hide Modi government’s failure to secure gas supply?”). Scroll goes to any lengths to find fault with government’s policies, as illustrated by this article. Teheran is not India’s friend – which is something you have conveniently skipped mentioning. India still gave sanctuary to two of Iran’s naval ships. These are points which have not been highlighted. It is a good thing I don’t waste money on Scroll articles. – MNN
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India’s Research & Analysis Wing should be not biased in favour of any religion since it is the country’s external intelligence agency and not the affiliate of religious groups, like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (US religious freedom panel calls for sanctions against RSS, RAW). This is because of the BJP being in power. – Bobbili Praveen
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Did the ships Shivalik and Nanda Devi fly to India bypassing the Strait of Hormuz? – Nirmal Kumar Dave
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This seems like fake news. Iran has already issued press release about allowing ships through the Strait of Hormuz. Why are you publishing such fake narratives? – Pronoy Dutta
