08/09: Argumentative Essay #1 - Should India Have A National Language?

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70 years on, India is still fighting over a national language | India News - Times of India

Should India Have A National Language?


The matter of deciding on a national language is a very long debate in India. Hindi is heralded as the de facto national language (Chand, 2011), in complete disregard of the fact that India is a country with diverse linguistic communities. India having a national language would be against the essential values the Indian Constitution was built upon. The question as to whether India should have a national language has one logical answer; India’s cultural complexity is such that it would be wildly unfair to reduce it under the banner of one national language. 


The Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution currently lists twenty-two constitutionally recognised scheduled languages as being the official languages of the Republic of India (Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India, n.d.). There are demands to add about 38 more languages spoken in India (Constitutional Provisions Relating to the Eighth Schedule, n.d.). Hindi and English are the two official languages used for governmental purposes. However, the Indian Constitution does not officially recognise any of these languages as being the national language of India. From a historical perspective, this was a conscious decision made by the leaders who conceived the ideals in the Indian Constitution. India was home to very different cultural identities with their language. To the people, their language was an intrinsic part of their cultural identity. In this scenario, elevating a language that is essentially the same as all the other languages in terms of sentiment would be perpetuating the inequality that they had worked so hard to eliminate. 


The reason that backs Hindi as a chosen candidate for the national language is the assertion that Hindi is the most spoken language in India. Hindi is the mother tongue of 43.6% of the population in India (Firaque, 2022). This statistic alone, however, cannot explain the nuances of the situation. There are about 120 other languages spoken in India. Hindi speakers are a community found in certain geo-cultural niches in India. They are mostly comprised of North Indians. Hindi is not as widely used in the southern or northeastern states of India. To the people here, Hindi does not evoke any form of nationalist harmony or kinship, because they do not identify with the language itself. In addition to this, declaring Hindi to be the national language would result in a rift between the native and non-native speakers of the language. There would be an inequality of opportunity and access for people who do not read, write or speak the language. Another fact that makes this unacceptable is that making Hindi the national language has distinct majoritarian undertones, which goes against the very principles upon which our constitution was founded. 


India deciding on a national language is, hence, an exercise in futility. The absence of a national language is one of the most crucial factors that hold up the ideal of India as a nation that finds unity in diversity. India's cultural diversity is unlike any other country, so it would not be ideal to follow the example of other nationalist movements when it comes to this discussion. The current arrangement of constitutionally recognised official languages is a well thought out system and it is also fair to all the citizens of the nation; hence it would only make sense to continue with it. 





References


Chand, V. (2011, February 25). Elite Positionings towards Hindi: Language policies, political stances and language competence in India. Journal Of  Sociolinguistics, 15(1), 6 - 35. Wiley Online Library.

 /doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2010.00465


Constitutional Provisions Relating to the Eighth Schedule. (n.d.). Constitutional provisions relating to Eighth Schedule The Constitutional provisions relating to the Eighth Schedule occur in art. Retrieved September 8, 2022, from https://www.mha.gov.in/sites/default/files/EighthSchedule_19052017.pdf


Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved September 8, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighth_Schedule_to_the_Constitution_of_India


Firaque, K. (2022, April 12). Explained: The languages India speaks | Explained News. The Indian Express. https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-the-languages-india-speaks-7865060/

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