Following the recommendations of a Parliamentary Panel set up by the NDA government in 2011, the Centre is planning what may be construed as Hindi imperialism. It wants to have Hindi officers in various departments, encourage translations from Hindi to English and ensure that Hindi and English are on a par. Adoption of Hindi however should be a voluntary decision. It should also be left to market forces. It should not be imposed from the top. India boasts of unity in diversity and there is no substance in the argument that it should have one language. Hindi is not the language in Eastern and South India. India is multi lingual like Belgium and Switzerland. Official coercive measures include getting ministers to make their speeches in Hindi making Hindi compulsory in CBSE schools and Kendriya Vidyalayas until Class 10, having a Hindi teaching Scheme in all higher centres of advanced education defying the need for University autonomy and so on.
It goes without saying that parents should decide what languages their children should learn at school especially as there are such great regional languages as Bengali and Tamil. Even regional languages films are doing fine. English is the language of global business and is necessary for securing good jobs in India and abroad. It is the basis if IT and business Process Outsourcing. Even politicians send their children to English medium schools. What will happen to some prestigious public schools in the country if Hindi replaces English? Indian schools should be free to design their language mix to cope with a globalised world.
