Hindi should become third language in the south for economic advantages it provides, not through patronage or propaganda

After attempts were made to replace English with Hindi as the link or bridge language to unify the nation, there was a massive backlash from the south and the Indira Gandhi-led government introduced amendments to the Official Languages Act, 1963. Amid objections over Hindi being made a compulsory language in all non-Hindi speaking states, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has revised the draft National Education Policy to state that students are free to choose any language they wish to study in. Back in 1957, the Official Language Commission had pointed out that ‘Hindi is understood to a considerable extent outside the Hindi speaking areas, in the market places in cities, at railway stations and in places of pilgrimage where persons hailing from different regions of India and not knowing English have the occasion to converse.’ After attempts were made to replace English with Hindi as the link or bridge language to unify the nation, there was a massive backlash from the south and the Indira Gandhi-led government introduced amendments to the Official Languages Act, 1963. The resolution had stated that compulsory knowledge of either Hindi or English shall be required at the stage of selection of candidates for recruitment to the Union services or posts and that ‘all the languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution and English shall be permitted as alternative media for the All India and higher Central Services examinations’.