FUTURE of INDIAN LANGUAGES and INDIA

(`Scientific observation' and `answers' are the reactions expressed by C V Srinatha Sastry,
Bangalore, to `points to think' and `questions' in the original letter, after he received the same)
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Letter received through e-mail

Dear Friends,
The May 17 meeting in India International Center New Delhi was attended by individuals from
Planning Commission of India, Ministry of External Affairs, media, academics, etc. We had a very
productive discussion on the subject for about three hours. The discussion included the implications
for young learners, recent recommendations of the Knowledge Commission of India and the image of
rising India in the 21st century. Most people in the meeting wanted to ensure that this seminar would
be followed by some concrete action.

This meeting is a combined effort for all Indian languages. We are having another meeting in Bombay
on Saturday, May 24. The invitation is attached. If you can attend or else encourage your friends and
family members in the Bombay area to attend the meeting that would be helpful. The plan is to have
such a meeting in all major cities of India. We are in the midst of drawing a master plan. Your input is
welcome.
Best wishes,
Surendra Gambhir
An Invitation
19 May 2008
Dear friend,

We have pleasure in inviting you to a roundtable discussion from 6 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, 24 May,
2008 at the Kilachand Conference Room, second floor, Indian Merchants Chamber, Churchgate,
Mumbai. It will be followed by dinner.
The subject of the discussion is an issue we consider extremely critical to the present and future of the
Indian nation and society. The issue is - THE FUTURE OF INDIAN LANGUAGES.

points to think:
The whole of India, it seems, is dreaming of soon becoming a super power. At least the educated,
urban India is. The world has also come to concede that this may become a reality. At least the world
recognizes that India has the desire, potential and the capabilities to become a world power. This has
generated a new hope, confidence and enthusiasm in a large number of us. From global leaders to our
President, Prime Minister, the Planning Commission, the Knowledge Commission, authors, scholars,
economists, business leaders - all agree that the Indian talent, brain power and enterprise together
can make this happen.
All also agree that the first and the biggest vehicle of this achievement will be education. No
wonder bigger and bigger plans are afoot to equip our education system with adequate resources,
quality standards and reach. The Knowledge Commission has made several important
recommendations to the Prime Minister in this regards. One major recommendation is to introduce
English as a subject and as the medium of instruction in all primary schools from class 1. It also
wants major resources committed to improving the standard of English teaching in the country and
to raise 6,00,000 new English teachers. It wants 40 lakh teachers in the country to be especially
trained and retrained in English and English teaching.
Today almost every single village, every parent, no matter how poor, who understands the value of
education, are demanding English education for their children. State governments everywhere are
under tremendous pressure to introduce English medium instruction in government primary schools.
Many states have done it. Every one of them will do it before long. No one wants to be deprived of
this passport to progress, power and prestige. Every one agrees that English is and will be the biggest
means to making India the super power it wants to be.

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Scientific Observation:
Let us agree with the above thinking process that India should be the super power in the world.
However, all these dreams, ambitions, hopes etc. can be realized and can become true by not just
introducing English as the medium of instruction right from the first standard in primary schools. It
is important to understand the following scientific aspects of introduction of English in schools:
 The objective of education is to make children intelligent in various fields of learning.
 Education means
♦ Children remembering the things that they have seen, read and hear about.
♦ Showing interest to know more about what they have already learnt.
♦ Thinking about the ideas, concepts, subjects etc. implanted in their mind, as and
when required.
♦ Recapitulating, analyzing and churning learnt things and by doing so, coming to
know of novel ideas
 These are the important mental qualities to be developed in the early age which are
expected and desired by one and all, which leads to intelligent personality development necessary
to achieve the above said goals.
 The following are the results of deep research conducted by psychologists all over the world
♦ The above four most important basic characteristics concerning the brain of a man will develop
in childhood and only up to the age of 12 years.
♦ Only those children who develop such qualities will learn better and become men of intelligence
in future.
 To achieve these things, to bring our children to that mental state, for our children to become
intelligent, the language of learning in their early age (up to age 12) is very important.
 It is very important to note that the language to be used for instruction up to the age of 12 years
should be scientific, structured, unambiguous, context independent and phonetically coherent.
 Indian languages are most scientific, structured, unambiguous, context independent and
phonetic.
 English is most unscientific, unstructured, ambiguous, context dependent and non-phonetic.
 Many internationally known scientists whose mother tongue is English and many Indian linguists
have expressed the merits of Indian languages and the demerits of English language.
 There is a great confusion in the spelling and pronunciation of most of the words in English. More
than 90 percent of the children who are forced upon with English medium in their elementary
stages of learning are suffering with problems like
♦ Their brains do not blossom and they cannot develop interest in learning.
♦ They cannot comprehend any subject properly, cannot do independent thinking on the
subject of learning. They just memorize things without knowing the real contents of the
subject.
♦ They become machines to remember, originality in thinking will not develop and these
will hinder development of creative thinking.
♦ They feel learning activity is an inevitable load of work and will not have much interest
and enthusiasm to go to school.
 Most of these issues are also applicable to children whose mother tongue is English.
 Hence, for Indian children, till they attain the age of 12 years, the medium of instruction
should be their mother tongue.
 We should note that all Indian languages under our constitution are phonetic
languages and have the same structure with their base in Samskruth. They differ in the script. As
per the above scientific and communicative facts
♦ It is proper and appropriate that the language for primary education in India should be
the state language (or mother tongue other than English) at least till the children attain the age
of 12 years.
♦ English is not all suitable as the medium of instruction at the primary level.
♦ Children will have the capability to learn three or four languages
simultaneously. Hence they can learn effectively in the medium of any of the Indian sister
 languages and also learn two or three other Indian languages like Hindi, Samskruth etc. But
English cannot be included in this list of languages of study.
 It is a well-known fact that most of the students, Engineers and
scientists of foreign countries with English as their mother tongue are far inferior in their I.Q. in
comparison with their Indian counterparts.
 Children in primary education who are exposed to an Indian language
(language of the state in which they are situated) as the medium of instruction till they attain the
age of 12 years can comprehend, learn, express and think better and will have good capacity in
writing on their own with the development of a tendency to express their independent thinking.
 Since English is inevitable and essential, it could be introduced as a
language only after the fifth standard. Then the children
♦ can just spend their mental energy on the spelling and other
problems of English only to the required extent, without hampering the other activities of the
brain.
♦ will not just indulge in memorizing the lessons. The important
tendency already developed in the earlier classes to think about the subject will continue to
work in their mind.
♦ English, which they learn as a language will be more meaningful
and interesting.
 At present, the most important action to be taken for the
general requirement is that English should be taught as a language only from the 5 th standard and
it should be communicative and also conversational. Teachers have to be instructed properly
towards this methodology and if necessary, training should be given to them for this purpose.
 While conversing with children if the teachers ask very simple questions
in English, induce children to answer in English and guide them in this direction, then the fear of
English can definitely be removed from the minds of the young folk.
 Lessons in English text books should project Indian atmosphere, society, history, culture,
heritage, etc. They should also reflect co-existence and ideals of life. This is because the purpose of
learning this language in the beginning is only to develop skills in English for smooth
communication, use of English in higher studies in science, technology and for other general
purposes.
 English may be considered as the medium of instruction from the 8th standard or Pre-university
level.
 In fact we should realize that real intelligence will develop in the child, only if English is avoided
up to the age of 12 years at least. Learning English after good development of mental faculties will
be more advantageous for the children. In fact, in a short period of just one year or a maximum
two years, they can easily pickup English and learn it well for its best use in their higher studies.
They will be better equipped both in English and good intellectual mind when they come to higher
studies.
 If these procedures are adopted, then only all the ambitions expressed in the beginning can be
achieved. These will not happen if English is introduced from the nursery or first standard.

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Question 1:
In this tower of Babel of the great Embrace English national consensus some of us want to raise a few
humble questions.
If the current trends continue what will be the status of all Indian languages two generations from
now?
Answer:
All Indian languages will die. Many surveys conducted say that most of them are already in the death
bed

Question 2:
Who and what kind of people will be reading, writing and speaking in them?
Answer:
Only old people and handful of other people do inevitable reading of these books Indian languages
and very few read Indian language books to do research to get degrees.

Question 3:
Will these languages become only 'bolis', means of oral communication?
Answer:
Yes, that too only for a few years, before they totally vanish.

Question 4:
Or they will remain the natural languages of expression of the creative, routine, social, education,
political, administrative, business, academic, literary genius and activities of their respective
communities as they have been so far?
Answer:
Not at all. Indian languages will be used only for routine purposes for a maximum of one decade from
now.
Question 5:
What majority educated Indians do in these languages all that they do today, two generations later,
i.e. read, write, and speak?
Answer:
If the present thinking process and procedures to introduce English continues, then these languages
will not exist at all to do anything with them.

Question 6
Then do you also see, as we do, that in 20-30 years educated India will conduct all or most of her
serious business of life and work in English? Or will at least be struggling, scrambling to do so?
Answer:
Indians will do all business of life and work in English, but will be struggling, scrambling to do so, as
English is most unscientific and is only a source of trouble in all thinking and intellectual activities.
Such problems are being faced even by the people whose mother tongue is English! We are also
bringing the same confusions, troubles etc. to our country.

Question 7:
If yes, what will be the status, patterns of use, and areas of use, prestige, power, and impact of these
languages at that time?
Answer:
This question will not arise, as these languages will not be there at all.

Question 8:
What will be the place of these languages in the wider educational, social, economic, political,
administrative, intellectual, cultural, scientific, literary and business life of their respective societies
and regions?
Answer:
This question will not arise as these languages will not be there to use.

Question 9:
What kind of an India will it be when almost every educated Indian will use only English to speak,
read and write in all serious endeavors, and be unable to do these in their respective mother tongues
or regional languages just as children/youth raised in only-English schools and home do even today?
Answer:
It will be only called as India. It would have lost all its cultural, social, economic, scientific,
intellectual ideas and concepts and will just exist.
Question 10:
What kind of Indians will they be?
Answer:
Indians will become total followers and replicates of western countries in many respects.
Question 11:
How Indian will then be?
Answer:
A person having no independent identity in all sorts of thinking and just depend, follow, wait for
ideas, development etc. from the west.

Question 12:
What will happen to all the great invaluable knowledge, heritage, sensibilities, ways of life, cuisine,
life styles, dress codes, social codes and morels, customs, literatures, culture and cultural memories
etc. that these languages have been naturally communicating and transmitting to generation after
generation?
Answer:
All will be there just in libraries, computer memory etc. To read all these one has to go for English
versions of the same. It is impossible to write and express properly in English any Indian literature on
Indian culture, Dharma, philosophy, literature etc. Hence we cannot communicate them to the next
English-generation.
Question 13:
What kind of thinking cultures, thought processes, aspirations, life styles, dreams, modes and sources
of entertainment, sources of information and knowledge, interests and hobbies, dress codes, social
manners and mannerisms, value systems, the very sense of being Indian - will these generations
have?
Answer:
The thought processes being in English, all the things mentioned above will not be Indian and only
the name will be Indian.
Question 14:
Will the relegation of native languages to a secondary status and conducting ourselves through
English impact the understanding, thinking and decision-making processes of our future
generations?
Answer:
There will not be native languages at all. Capabilities in understanding, thinking and decision-making
processes will be reduced in our children as they depend only on the most Unscientific, unstructured,
ambiguous, context dependent language English when they are young (mainly up to the age 12 years).
During this period only, these qualities and capabilities will develop. These qualities would be high if
they study in Indian languages which are most scientific, structured, unambiguous, context
independent and phonetic. But they will not be studying in Indian languages. Thus we can easily
understand the fate of our future generations.
Question 15:
Has the country even begun seriously recognizing and considering this vast, nation-wide, deep and
fairly visible phenomenon of change in the patterns of language use, language status and the inter-
language relationships that is afoot almost relentlessly, irresistibly, perhaps irrevocably?
Answer:
Unfortunately, so far People are not thinking about the usefulness of our languages for the healthy
and wealthy development of mind, scientific analysis of medium of instruction etc.

Question 16:
Have we as a country and society started thinking it through? Have we considered its implications -
political, cultural, economic, and social?
Answer:
Dangerous effects like losing identity of India in all Cultural, economic, social and political fields will
take place. At least from now onwards this should be the thinking process.

Question 17:
Is this phenomenon worth a serious thought and analysis?
Answer:
Very serious and should be thought out by intellectuals, thinkers, experts and all people through out
India.
Question 18:
Does something need to be done about the future of our languages?
Answer:
Not introduce English/Remove English till the child attains the age of minimum 12 years. Let the
state language be the medium of instruction up to 8th standard.
Even though the mother tongue of a child is different from the state language, the child can very
easily learn the state language with very little efforts. Thus, there will not be any problem in its studies.
We should note that along with the state language, at least two more Indian languages (Samskruth and
Hindi in non-Hindi states/some other language in Hindi states) can be taught to the great benefit of the
children. All these languages having the same structure will not create any confusion among the
students. In fact, they help children to develop their mental qualities useful in their future studies in all
fields. It is to be noted again that studies in Indian languages will have a positive effect in
understanding even science subjects in future, as the children would have developed many intellectual
capabilities due to such type of learning Samskruth and other scientific Indian languages. English
teaching can only be initiated from the fifth standard and all these will end up with bright future and
very fruitful results in the education and intelligence of our future generation. We have to observe the
very healthy and important quality namely `BHAASHA SAAMARASYA' among Indian languages.
Any Indian should feel by his heart that we all are Indians, all Indian languages are brotherly, we have
to learn the language of the state where we stay, because of this our knowledge base will increase and
it is good for us. This results in the wonderful growth of our country in all intellectual and other fields.

Question 19
What can be done?
Answer:
Create awareness among the public, children and their parents, administrators, decision makers etc.
and bring pressure to follow a scientific procedure in selecting the state language as the medium of
instruction from the beginning for the benefit our children (future generation).
Question 20:
What role can you and we play?
Answer:
A nationwide awareness in terms of written material, seminars, meetings etc. should be organized.
Pressure should be brought on the people in power to think and act in the best interest of our
children and the country.
I am bringing these facts into picture by writing articles in Newspapers and written an article in a
book which also contains articles by Dr. C R Chandrasekhar, a very famous Doctor in NIMHANS, Dr.
Purushothama, an ENT doctor, Sri G Ramakrishna, an educationist - all from Bangalore. The book
with the title `SHIKSHNADA BHASHE mathu BUDHDHIVANTHIKE (Language for Teaching and
Intelligence) has been published by Navakarnataka Publications, Bangalore.
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-Some of us are concerned, deeply concerned, about these questions. We consider this an imminent,
gathering crisis to the idea of Indianness itself.

May be we are wrong, completely and utterly. May be we are hallucinating. May be we are paranoid.
But as Andy Grove, legend of Intel, said - only the paranoid survive.
But we still want to seek answers to these questions. We want to understand this phenomenal change
that is taking place. We see the future of our languages, and all that comes with them and leaves with
them, being written in our homes every single day. And we are worried. We want to understand its
implications and impacts.
We want to have a dialogue with every major language group in India to think about it together. For
we believe these questions confront every Indian language. Questions of life and death, of the
conditions of their existence.
We are not against English, decidedly not. We see its usefulness, its contribution, its potential. But we
also don't want our languages to lose their current though fast eroding centrality, prestige, strength,
dignity, use and growth. We seek a new linguistic equilibrium in India. We don't want any Indian
language to be weakened.
We are worried but not without hope. We have some ideas, some strategies in mind. We want to put
them before our friends and seek their ideas, support and guidance.
We have started this dialogue with a discussion on Saturday, 17 May, 2008 at the India International
Centre at New Delhi. It was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Delhi, Mrs. Sheila Dikshit. Mr.
Ashok Vajpayee, chairman of Lalit Kala Academy, noted author and critic presided.
Representatives of the Planning Commission, UNDP, UNAIDS, ActionAid, newspaper editors, news
channel heads, business leaders, intellectuals, development activists, academicians, economists,
journalists, IT professionals, publishers and eminent citizens participated.
The second dialogue will take place at Mumbai on 24 May, 2008 in collaboration with Maharashtra
Rajya Hindi Academy.
Thereafter, we want to take this dialogue to every major state capital and meet with eminent leaders
from all fields in their respective languages.
Then we want to hold domain/subject- specific discussions and workshops with thought leaders
throughout the country. Some of these domains/areas are - language and primary education,
secondary education, higher education, technical education, science & technology, IT, governance,
judiciary, politics, literature, culture, economics and economic governance, business, development,
rural development, health, agriculture, media, management, advertising and marketing, policy
making, religion and spiritualism and environment.
The third part of the plan is an all India language dialogue. The fourth is an international event.
We also need serious, rigorous research in all these areas and their relationship with language.
We want to associate with this initiative not only those who are already sensitized, concerned and
active about their languages. We also need those whom our languages need, even if they are presently
indifferent to these concerns.
We cordially invite you to join this movement. We welcome and solicit your views on the issue even if
you don't agree with us. We also appeal for your support. The task will demand huge manpower, time
and resources. You can contribute with money, time, expertise and specific capabilities you have.
We await your response. And we await you on Saturday, 24 May, 2008 at the Kilachand conference
room, II floor, Indian Merchants Chamber, Churchgate, Mumbai from 6 to 8 pm. We will be
honoured if you have dinner with us thereafter.
Please confirm your participation.
Yours sincerely
Rahul Dev Dr. Surendra Gambhir Vijay K. Malhotra
Samyak Foundation University of Pennsylvania Ex-Dir., OL, Rlys