Please see my follow up piece on the caste system here.
Follow me @OohaKala
In India, English has become the new caste system. Wherein one’s place in society is approximately in line with his or her fluency in the language.
Imagine a world where in the nation you, a member of the majority, were born are unable to read the label for the medicine you must give your child or the menu at a local restaurant, do your reading for your college class, or appreciate the warning signs and billboards. A place where where you are unable to comprehend the government document officiating your driver’s license, your tax filings, or even your marriage. This is the world most Indians live in.
Whilst many may view this flippantly and conclude this is the least of India’s problems, the fact remains that all development begins with education, and education, of course, stems from language. Language is more than a means of communication; it determines the ideas one is exposed to, the values one holds, one’s personal interests, the books that one reads, the television programs that one watches, and one’s career opportunities. In essence it defines our identities.
Of all the freedoms and rights one might take for granted, what of the right of communication? I speak not of freedom of speech, but of the freedom to use your mother tongue freely in your own homeland. This might seem indignant or reek of language chauvinism, but are not the true chauvinists in India, the English-speaking elite. Now the term elite evokes a sense that it is only the upper class that is benefitting, but this is not the case. On this matter included are all those working in a sophisticated company, firm, or office of any sort as well as traders and merchants.
While unintentional, this blind proponence of learning and only using English has become a systematic and institutionalised oppression of the middle and lower classes (the vast majority) over the decades.
We have all heard the powerful and veritable stories of English being a reason for India’s development (though these tend to presume it would not have otherwise occurred). It is true that English has made India a favored nation for foreign investment whether through call centres or engineering firms or for financial services, but the situation in the heartland is far more multifaceted.
There is an enormous range of nuanced reasons English has become the language of the elite and of governance. The statistics on English speaking ability tends to be unreliable for a host of political reasons, but it is generally accepted that in the range of 30% are able to speak English (though with varying degree of abilities and only a third of whom have some semblance of reading and writing aptitude). Still it is an embarrassing plight for the other 70-80% of Indians and is unadorned elitism and disenfranchisement. Permit me to put the percentages in context; this would mean anywhere from 770-900 million people are being disenfranchised on a daily basis. Even if one subtracts the 25-30% who are illiterate, this is still about 577-630 million. For argument’s sake, let us say that this affects only 200 million people; this is still thrice the population of the United Kingdom. Is this acceptable? Is it tolerable for a purportedly “socialist democracy?” Of the myriad of India’s social deconstructions, this is possibly the simplest matter to amend and remedy.
India is an exceptionally diverse nation with some of the most spoken mother tongues by population in millions according to the 2001 Census being Hindi (422), Bengali (83), Telugu (75), Marathi (71), Tamil (60),Urdu (51), Gujarati (46), and Punjabi (29). The states in India are generally drawn on linguistic lines with each state having a history of literature, art, dance, and value system that is its own, being similar to the European Union in this regard. Take Andhra Pradesh where Telugu is the mother tongue for example; it alone has a larger population than Britain, France, Italy, Germany, South Korea, and Turkey, but unlike these nations the mother tongue is falling into disarray due to strict English use with a prejudice.
Because of the chronicle of India’s diversity, when Independence was achieved and integration began to be enforced on the masses, there was pushback against Hindi being the national language because it was equally foreign to the majority at the time. Thus, English having already been the language of the elite who served the British across India, it became the de facto language of governance both in an intra and interstate manner and remains so today. I would posit that this is an imperative reason for the lack of economic class mobility as caste oppression has continued to be alleviated in many regions.
It remains that Indians have come to believe that the nation’s prosperity as well as their own is wholly dependant upon learning English as a first language. To an extent this is true, but it would be an affront to any learned person to say that a balance cannot be struck as is done in other nations. Additionally, it is true that English is integral for communication between states and the Central Government, however, is it really necessary to use it within a state where most people speak a different mother tongue? To be perfectly clear, I am not saying that English should not be taught; in fact it would be imprudent and shortsighted not to teach the modern lingua franca (or inglese if you so please), but there is no reason to believe people could not be fluent in it if they learn it from their early years onwards as a second language as is done in Germany and China for example.
Make no mistake, simply because an auto driver, or a grandmother’s maid, or a store person knows his or her numbers, colours and a few other cursory words in English does not mean they truly speak it, let alone read it. The situation is much more dire in the towns, villages, the hamlets, and the tribal regions. I would also be so bold as to suggest that much of the systemic inefficiency, confusion on the law, and bureaucracy in India is due to many people (who supposedly know English) having a tenuous grasp of the language at best.
It is inexcusable that the majority of people in the country are being oppressed by language. By not having medicine instructions, food ingredient labels and nutritional information, government forms, access to the courts and politicians (as the laws and the Constitution are in English without official translations), street signs, and even movie tickets in the local mother tongue they are being harmed in the most discriminatory of manners. This goes beyond a basic civic right to just being inherently illogical and prejudiced. As such, it is undeniable that this is a perverse injustice perhaps rooted in an inferiority complex or impersonator act in the face of the rest of the world. It is stunning that the masses have tolerated such an odd oppression and harm to their opportunities, culture and self-confidence for so long. It is no less than an assault upon their collective dignity.
In close, the importance that multiple languages be taught and be taught well whilst bearing in mind the background and culture of each respective society and individual is clear.
