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By:

Abhijit Mulye

21 August 2024 at 4:59:11 pm

Marathwada on boil

Mumbai: Emboldened by his fiery stance, local coordination committees issued an ultimatum to the administration, declaring a complete Marathwada Bandh for Thursday, with voluntary shut-downs already paralyzing towns across Latur, Nanded, and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. While essential services are expected to function, wholesale agricultural markets, commercial centres, government establishments, and educational institutions face forced closures. In dozens of ham-lets across Marathwada,...

Marathwada on boil

Mumbai: Emboldened by his fiery stance, local coordination committees issued an ultimatum to the administration, declaring a complete Marathwada Bandh for Thursday, with voluntary shut-downs already paralyzing towns across Latur, Nanded, and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. While essential services are expected to function, wholesale agricultural markets, commercial centres, government establishments, and educational institutions face forced closures. In dozens of ham-lets across Marathwada, villagers erected banners banning politicians from entering, declaring a complete boycott of elected leaders until statutory reservation is codified. Faced with escalating turmoil, the state machinery initiated high-level consultations to defuse the standoff. The Cabinet sub-committee on Maratha reservation met in Mumbai before key minis-ters travelled to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, attempting to open negotiation channels with Antarwali Sarati. Administrative emissaries and local legislators were sent to the protest site to persuade Jarange to accept medical aid, assuring him that administrative hurdles were being dismantled. Speaking to reporters, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Chairman of the Cabinet sub-committee, em-phasized that the administration was actively awaiting a breakthrough. “We are waiting for their response. We shall immediately go to Antarwali Sarati if they indicate possibility of discussion over the draft,” he said. The minister further explained that as per demands the authorities had already furnished a pen drive containing 58 lakh Kunbi caste records to the agitators, noting that the procedure to grant certificates based on the historical Hyderabad Gazetteer has com-menced, with 3,300 certificates already distributed. Vikhe-Patil also gave assurances that dedi-cated divisional camps would soon be set up across Maharashtra to expedite all pending applica-tions. Simultaneously, the Chief Minister reiterated the state’s commitment to an equitable resolution while appealing for restraint. “We appeal to Manoj Jarange Patil to prioritize his health and coop-erate with medical teams. Street violence and blocking highways will only cause hardship to or-dinary citizens, farmers, and students. Dialogue remains the only viable path to an enduring solu-tion,” he said. Despite these administrative assurances, the rift between the agitators’ demand for an immedi-ate blanket notification and the government’s procedural constraints remains wide. With youth staging relay fasts outside district collectorates and activists threatening an en masse march to Mumbai, Maharashtra stands on a delicate precipice as law enforcement braces for Thursday’s region-wide shutdown. Addressing the swelling crowds at his protest marquee on Wednesday afternoon, Jarange issued an unsparing warning to the government. “The government has tested our patience enough. We are not sitting here to beg for char-ity; we are demanding our constitutional right that was denied for generations,” Jarange told the gathering. “If a sin-gle drop of blood is spilt or if anything happens to my life, the government alone will bear the responsibility for the fury that follows across Maharashtra. We will not take a single step backward until the notification is in our hands.”

Three Languages, One English-Dominated Reality

India’s language debate has become a political balancing act while schools, higher education and workplaces continue to reward English.

AI generated image
AI generated image

In early August, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin unveiled the state’s two bilingual policy of using Tamil and English in schools. With that TN government has effectively rejected the three-language policy prescribed in National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. Earlier some other non-Hindi speaking states including Maharashtra, had also expressed their various reservations on NEP language policy.


Language Paradox

Such events repeatedly bring in to attention the Indian paradox of use of multiple languages in schools, but mostly English in higher education and at work places. Today, young students are burdened with mandatory learning of three languages in schools. For some out-of-state students, additionally acquiring rudimentary proficiency of mother tongue is also expected for social and cultural purposes. Now, that’s a heavy load of language studies on young ones. Obviously, due to this additional language burden, lesser portion of student’s learning capacity (brain space and time) is available for other core subjects, compared to the rest of the world.


Our constitutional guardians, while giving prominence to Hindi, took the wise decision not to make it a compulsory national language. They also recognized major regional languages equally while retaining English for official work considering it practical. The problem today is we do not know how to make the best use of this arrangement.


It appears successive ruling powers and its learned policy makers do not know about the respective strengths, applicability and use of English, Hindi and regional languages. They are also unable to give any national vision and clear development paths for these languages, let alone taking responsibility of adapting, improving and applying Hindi and other regional languages in professional higher studies and in work places.


Hindi, as we know today, is relatively modern construct and was actually manufactured by the British colonizer (Sanskrit + Hindustani) as a working language to replace Urdu (Farsi + Hindustani) used by the previous Mughal rulers. Later it was adopted by northern states to replace various Hindustani dialects spoken there. In comparison, some of our classical regional languages are more ancient and richer in many aspects. So, Hindi can’t really claim supremacy on such lofty ground.


On the other hand, Hindi is spoken by largest number of Indians and its backers dominate political spheres. But the problem is while they often try to “impose” it on non-Hindi speaker, without doing much in building high quality Hindi language educational eco-system by strengthening the language and widening its applications.  But how extensively Hindi is actually used in higher education and professional work in the Northern states? Government run Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hindi University had discontinued its engineering graduate programme due to lack of students and infrastructure. In its first two years only 11 students took admission, against a yearly intake capacity of 180. Indeed, today average northerners’ propensity to send their offspring to English medium schools or do professional higher studies in English is no less than anywhere else in the country.


Now, in non-Hindi states stories are similar, except that Hindi also is jostling for space. For example, West Bengal government is finding it very difficult to introduce Bengali even as an “optional” subject in English or Hindi medium schools. At the same time, while claiming rich language heritages, non-Hindi states have also failed to adapt, apply and expand meaningful use of their own regional languages to create a desirable level of vernacular eco-system for higher studies and professional applications.


Today, while Hindi and regional languages jostle for space in schools, people have figured out that both are of no use for STEM and social science studies in nation’s elite higher educational institutions. As a result, most are flocking towards all kinds of private English medium schools, now sprouting all over due to government policy of privatization in school level education.  Meanwhile, due to government neglect, corruption, and political interference both quality and importance of vernacular government sponsored schools have been deteriorating, further discouraging serious students to admit.


A Self-Defeating Game

So, English has become the ultimate winner in this self-defeating game. Obviously, our perception about English is actually precipitated due to colonial hangover and elite sections continuing to use English to further strengthening their positions in various ways even after Independence. Today, commoners tilt has further enhanced due to increasing opportunities in IT sector with clients from abroad. Technical clerks have replaced the desirable British merchant office clerks of the past.


Around the world, however, there is ample proof that national languages are good enough for social and technical developments. All non-English speaking developed countries in the world including Japan, China and Korea in Asia use national languages in their education system, so that students can concentrate on core domain subject learning. The result of such choice and efforts is for all to see.


Naturally, priorities in the Indian work places have been changing. Today’s employers, be it public sector enterprises, research organizations or Indian owned private sector corporate have become more practical and ask more for core domain competence and human relation qualities. UPSC allows use of vernacular languages in its civil service exams and interviews.  Even in IT services, if your software development skill or domain knowledge is great, chances are employers would try to fit you with some extra efforts. Moreover, spoken Hindi and regional languages mingle more confidently with English in modern Indian work places.


Indeed, in science, technology, engineering, medical or any other professions basic English language proficiency is good enough, which can be acquired even if English is learned as second or third language, if taught sincerely. Current feeling of English being indispensable comes more due to absence of viable vernacular language alternative in higher, and now increasingly, in school education systems.


As such, if use of Indian languages is national development priority, urgent initiatives are to be taken to improve the Indian language eco-system in higher education, which so far remains the most neglected area.


Vernacular Triumph

In the not-so-distant past, it was actually better in this respect. Even in our childhood, studying in vernacular medium and government schools were not only common but often desirable. Students of such schools used to be very strong in science and other core subjects and always did better in competitive entrance examinations. Past generations faced no difficulty in any types of jobs here or abroad.


During that time, there were also some patriotic private initiatives in using Indian languages in STEM fields. In West Bengal, for example, world famous scientists like Meghnad Saha and S. N Bose helped creating Bengal Science Society, which still publishes scientific books and magazines in Bengali.  Similarly, Electrical Engineering books written in Bengali by S. R. Chakraborty has been in good circulation in WB, Tripura and Bangladesh since the last six decades.


In the current demand-supply situation, however, we cannot expect private initiative or investment in rebuilding vernacular or Hindi medium based education system.  If central and state governments want to propagate Hindi and regional language use in education and work, they must take the lead and the responsibility of strengthening vernacular education eco system and rebuilding related institutions and work in mission mode to achieve it.  That should include improving government sponsored vernacular schools, publishing text books for higher level of education and teacher’s training. They must also ensure that vernacular students face no discrimination or disadvantages in higher education admissions and job recruitment process. The last one has always been the hidden root cause of ordinary people’s language dilemma.


Indian Languages, be it Hindi or other regional are the biggest part of our identity. But they have to be improved and adapted for the real-life professions. Any language slowly withers if not widely used in all spheres of life. The time has come for less political jingoism and more state efforts to improve language adaptation in higher education.


Until then, the three-language formula in school will remain what it is – a political and administrative balancing act - at the cost of additional burden on hapless young students.


(The writer is a senior journalist based in Navi Mumbai. Views personal.)

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