Nagaland is the most diverse state in India, language-wise
6 years, 8 months ago

Nagaland is the most diverse state in India, language-wise

Live Mint  

The release of linguistic data from the 2011 census allows us to objectively conclude that Nagaland is the most linguistically diverse state in India, with Kerala being the least diverse. Inverting the HHI gives us an estimate of the “effective number of firms” in an industry, a concept that has been extended to other fields of economics as well. Now, the 2011 census gives language at two levels, which the census describes as “language” and “mother tongue”, but which can also be described as “major language” and “minor language” or “language” and “dialect”. Similarly, 78% of Bihar’s population speak Hindi, giving it 1.6 effective languages, but broken down to the dialect level, Hindi is only spoken by 26% of the population.

India Languages Hindi State Number Nagaland Dialect Hhi Effective Language  india  languages  effective  language  hindi  state  industry  states  number  dialect  hhi  languagewise  diverse  nagaland

History of this topic

Over 90% in Hindi-belt states speak only one language, rest of India is more bilingual: Data
2 weeks, 5 days ago

Over 90% in Hindi-belt states speak only one language, rest of India is more bilingual: Data

The Hindu  

The latest exchanges between Tamil Nadu and the Centre over Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan funds have reignited the long-standing language debate. Chart 3 shows the share of English speakers among native language speakers in 1991 and 2011. Chart 3 | The chart shows the share of English speakers among native language speakers A similar trend of declining or stagnating English proficiency …

Hindi gains ground via a demographic shift
3 years, 6 months ago

Hindi gains ground via a demographic shift

The Hindu  

When the Centre launched its NIPUN Bharat scheme to improve foundational literacy and numeracy among primary school students in July 2021, participants from non-Hindi speaking States complained that they were the ones left feeling illiterate as they could not understand either the speeches, nor the PowerPoint presentations on the scheme, all made in formal Hindi. “Fertility rates are higher among …

Hindi push assault on diversity, India’s spirit
5 years, 6 months ago

Hindi push assault on diversity, India’s spirit

Deccan Chronicle  

On Hindi Divas, when Union home minister and BJP president Amit Shah gave an impassioned speech about the “need of our country to have one language, so that foreign languages don’t find a place”, one wonders why he use ‘languages’ in plural! Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder of the Jan Sangh, which was the BJP’s predecessor, favoured Hindi but …

What percentage of people prefer to speak Hindi across States?
5 years, 6 months ago

What percentage of people prefer to speak Hindi across States?

The Hindu  

People in only 12 out of 35 States and Union Territories had overwhelmingly chosen Hindi as the first choice for communication. The 2011 Census data shows that most Indian States, apart from a handful of States in northern and central India, do not primarily speak Hindi but have adopted the language as a secondary language. image/svg+xml Uttar Pradesh | 97.4 …

On Hindi Diwas, Amit Shah pitches for ‘one nation, one language’
5 years, 6 months ago

On Hindi Diwas, Amit Shah pitches for ‘one nation, one language’

The Hindu  

Home Minister Amit Shah said on Saturday that the country should come together to promote Hindi. The Home Minister also said during the freedom struggle, the Congress conventions used to take place in different parts of the country and such initiatives empowered Hindi in those areas. PTI adds: Three-language formula should not be tinkered with: Congress Hours after Union minister …

How languages intersect in India
6 years, 4 months ago

How languages intersect in India

Hindustan Times  

If two random Indians meet, there is only a 36% chance that they can talk to and understand each other, a Hindustan Times analysis of 2011 Census data shows, given the large diversity in languages spoken across the country. For instance, more than 97% of the people in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand can speak Hindi, which is why it is …

Why linguistic diversity does not mean India is cosmopolitan
6 years, 7 months ago

Why linguistic diversity does not mean India is cosmopolitan

Hindustan Times  

That India is a diverse country in terms of languages is well known. A Mint article by Karthik Shashidhar applied the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index on recently released language data from the 2011 census to measure linguistic diversity across Indian states. If these firms had a market share of 90% and 10% respectively, the HHI would have taken a value of 0.82 …

Other tongues: the stunning lingual diversity of India
7 years, 4 months ago

Other tongues: the stunning lingual diversity of India

Live Mint  

The Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution lists the 22 official languages of India. Also, besides the many full-fledged languages outside of the Eighth Schedule, there are languages that could be termed as “variations on a theme”, i.e., retaining the body of a language and making some adjustments for various reasons. In 1961, the Urdu scholar Gopi Chand Narang published …

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