04-08-2007, 06:56 AM
For the unity of bhArata I believe we need a common language/s. We are able to share our commonality and disagreements because of the medium of English. If each of us started talking in different Indic languages the level of understandability will definitely drop. Not everyone understands all Indic languages. Even closely related sister languages like Hindi and Marathi or Tamil and Telugu are not 100% mutually intelligble. Again, I believe it is good to encourage and develop pan-Indianism rather than regionalism- only then will we be able to militarily protect our cultural and religious interests against our enemies within and without. Enforcing local languages in schools is problematic at different levels: 1) it fosters regionalism by making it difficult for people to move from one part of India to another. 2) It places road blocks in smooth pan-national exchange. 3) It actually destroys the indic linguistic diversity by forcing an artificial normative form of the regional language. For example Bhojpuri, Avadhi Pahadi etc are not normative Hindi. Likewise in the south there are different dialects of tamil and not the one drAviDa bhASha which avoids Indo-Aryan words. 4) A person knowing only a regional language is likely to be limited in his vision of the wider world simply because richness of thought comes from having an inclusive vocabulary over a wider horizon. 5) As mentioned earlier in this thread it encourages a multi-language curriculum which makes it hard on the child in a competitive educational setting like India.
So what is the solution? <!--emo&:unsure:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='unsure.gif' /><!--endemo-->
We need not dump English and the same time we need not worship it. Just use it for what it is worth. As for pan-Indian communication we already had a language which was our unifier and the bearer of Indic culture, which in its very name tell us a lot. saMskR^ita. We may want to restore it to its original role. Prof. Raghuvira, the great nationalist scholar of Indic lore (father of the great Lokeshchandra) had worked shortly after Independence to come up with a complete vocabulary for the modern era using saMskR^ita- it dealt with things like scientific, economic and political nomenclature. Why was this scheme relegated to the shelf rather than developed? I feel all our hopes will bear some fruit only if India breaks free from the shackles of secularism and becomes bhArata governed by dharma. This of course takes us to a bigger problem.
As for local languages- they are best handled by teaching children at home (after all these are mother tongues) rather than forcing it in the exam curriculum. Alternatively it could be taught in schools more as a language speaking and communication module for practical rather than examination purposes.
Finally it may also make sense for at least the Indo-Iranian and Dravidian languages of India having a common script based on Nagari or Brahmi. I strongly believe that Tibeto-Burman and Austro-Asiatic languages of India should also be accomodated within this script, but this would need more study.
So what is the solution? <!--emo&:unsure:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='unsure.gif' /><!--endemo-->
We need not dump English and the same time we need not worship it. Just use it for what it is worth. As for pan-Indian communication we already had a language which was our unifier and the bearer of Indic culture, which in its very name tell us a lot. saMskR^ita. We may want to restore it to its original role. Prof. Raghuvira, the great nationalist scholar of Indic lore (father of the great Lokeshchandra) had worked shortly after Independence to come up with a complete vocabulary for the modern era using saMskR^ita- it dealt with things like scientific, economic and political nomenclature. Why was this scheme relegated to the shelf rather than developed? I feel all our hopes will bear some fruit only if India breaks free from the shackles of secularism and becomes bhArata governed by dharma. This of course takes us to a bigger problem.
As for local languages- they are best handled by teaching children at home (after all these are mother tongues) rather than forcing it in the exam curriculum. Alternatively it could be taught in schools more as a language speaking and communication module for practical rather than examination purposes.
Finally it may also make sense for at least the Indo-Iranian and Dravidian languages of India having a common script based on Nagari or Brahmi. I strongly believe that Tibeto-Burman and Austro-Asiatic languages of India should also be accomodated within this script, but this would need more study.