Hindi imposition and its discontents

• The criticism of the imposition of Hindi on non-Hindi-speaking states has once again come under the spotlight in the wake of recent recommendations by the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language.

Historical background

• The roots of this linguistic controversy go back to times of the debate in the Constituent Assembly on official languages.
• Hindi was voted as the official language by a single vote in the Constituent Assembly and the Indian Constitution, in 1950, declared Hindi in Devanagari script to be the official language of the union.
• It was also added that English shall continue to be used as an associate official language and would be phased out in favour of Hindi after a period of 15 years.
• However, at the time of the completion of these 15 years, severe anti-Hindi protests took place in the country in several non-Hindi-speaking states.
• The Official Languages Act was introduced after the completion of the 15-year period which upheld Jawaharlal Nehru’s assurance that English would continue to be in until the non-Hindi speaking people wanted it.

Agitation of Tamil Nadu against “Hindi imposition”

• The state of Tamil Nadu has had a long history of protests and discomfort against the imposition of Hindi.
• In August 1937, the then Presidency of Madras, the regime headed by C.Rajagopalachari had resolved to make Hindi compulsory in secondary schools.
• E.V. Ramasamy who was famously known as Periyar undertook and led an agitation against this decision to make Hindi compulsory making it the first such protest.
• However, in February 1940, the British government, a few months after C.Rajagopalachari’s resignation, made Hindi optional.
• Further in January 1965, the second round of protest started in the wake of Hindi becoming the official language of the Union government along with various approaches of the Central government on this issue.

Key recommendations made by Parliamentary Committee on Official Language

• The reports suggest that the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language has recommended the use of Hindi as the medium of instruction in central institutions of higher education in the Hindi-speaking States and regional languages in other States.
• As per various reports, English will be permitted to be used as a medium of instruction in all technical and non-technical institutions only if it is absolutely essential.
• Technical institutions : IITs, IIMs and All India Institute of Medical Sciences
• Other categories: Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas.
• Committee has also recommended the removal of the use of English as one of the languages in various examinations held for the recruitment to various Central services
• . The Committee has suggested that prerequisite Hindi knowledge among the candidates must be ensured.

Alternative suggested by the critics of “Hindi imposition”

• The Chief Ministers of the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala have sought equal treatment of all the languages mentioned under the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
• The Chief Minister of Kerala has particularly said that the question papers for competitive examinations must be prepared in all the languages.
• The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has asked the Union government to undertake such efforts that promote all languages and ensure equal treatment of people of all languages with respect to education and employment.