75 years of Independence | Misreading the language spectrum
2 years, 4 months ago

75 years of Independence | Misreading the language spectrum

The Hindu  

While deciding on the language question in India, the Constituent Assembly had clearly recognised that the unity of India could get adversely affected if the language policy got slanted towards the imposition of any single language over others. On Hindi and Sanskrit The 2011 Census — which is still the latest — had stated a total of 19,569 ‘raw returns’ of mother tongues. Thus the number of those who consider Sanskrit a ‘sacred’ language is much higher than the number of Hindi speakers. It is a practice of the Census to include even the ‘second language’ claimed by people in the tally of the ‘total number of speakers’. The last Census showed some 24,000 Indians out of a total 121 crore claiming Sanskrit as their ‘mother tongue’.

India Language States Knowledge Census Languages Hindi Hindus Number Sanskrit Speakers Linguistic Independence Misreading  75  linguistic  knowledge  india  language  speakers  number  census  sanskrit  hindi  languages  independence  misreading  spectrum

History of this topic

Shah: Hindi has an unbreakable bond with every Indian language
3 months, 3 weeks ago

Shah: Hindi has an unbreakable bond with every Indian language

Hindustan Times  

Hindi shares an “unbreakable bond” with local languages and there can never be a competition between Indian languages, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Saturday as he extended greetings for Hindi Diwas. Emphasising the connection between Hindi and all Indian languages, Shah said the country’s progress is intertwined with the enrichment of these languages. The official language Hindi has …

Hindi has unbreakable relation with every Indian language: Amit Shah on Hindi Diwas
3 months, 4 weeks ago

Hindi has unbreakable relation with every Indian language: Amit Shah on Hindi Diwas

Hindustan Times  

All Indian languages are our pride and heritage, and the official language Hindi has an unbreakable relationship with every Indian language, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Saturday, extending his greetings on the Hindi Diwas. The official language Hindi has an unbreakable bond with every Indian language,” Shah posted on X in Hindi. I am confident that by taking …

Hindi has unbreakable relationship with every Indian language, says Amit Shah
3 months, 4 weeks ago

Hindi has unbreakable relationship with every Indian language, says Amit Shah

The Hindu  

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said there is no competition between the official language Hindi and other Indian languages rather they are friends and complement each other. The Home Minister said under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a lot of work has been done to strengthen Hindi and local languages in the last 10 years. Mr. …

Looking beyond Sanskrit
4 months ago

Looking beyond Sanskrit

The Hindu  

India commemorated Sanskrit Day on August 19 to highlight and promote the richness and antiquity of Sanskrit. While Sanskrit has played a significant role in our cultural, religious, and intellectual history, focusing solely on this ancient language may overlook the rich literary traditions of other Indian tongues. Rich literary traditions However, India’s linguistic landscape is incredibly diverse, encompassing numerous ancient …

Hindi should be generally accepted as the language of work with consensus: Shah
4 months ago

Hindi should be generally accepted as the language of work with consensus: Shah

The Hindu  

Union Home Minister Amit Shah was unanimously re-elected the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language on Monday, the Ministry of Home Affairs said. “We should take care that the speakers of any local language do not have an inferiority complex and that Hindi is generally accepted as the language of work with consensus and agreement,” he said. New …

Just Like That | India is a linguistic and cultural treasure trove, a thousand tongues bind us
1 year ago

Just Like That | India is a linguistic and cultural treasure trove, a thousand tongues bind us

Hindustan Times  

India has the second largest number of languages in the world: 740. However, after 15 years, with the continuing opposition of non-Hindi speaking states, the Official Languages Act of 1963 allowed English to continue indefinitely until legislation to the contrary. Some people consider Urdu to be the language of Muslims, and only a pure Hindi devoid of Urdu words is …

Daily Quiz | On Hindi Diwas
1 year, 3 months ago

Daily Quiz | On Hindi Diwas

The Hindu  

Daily Quiz | On Hindi Diwas Copy link Email Facebook Twitter Telegram LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit YOUR SCORE 0 /6 RETAKE THE QUIZ 1 / 6 | What is the script in which modern Hindi is written? YES NO Answer : Home Minister SHOW ANSWER 3 / 6 | This language was called Deodhai. YES NO Answer : Bodo SHOW ANSWER …

INDIA, THIS SIDE | Languages not liked by Hindutva ideology suffer existential crisis
1 year, 6 months ago

INDIA, THIS SIDE | Languages not liked by Hindutva ideology suffer existential crisis

The Hindu  

Published : Jun 15, 2023 11:00 IST - 7 MINS READ One’s mother tongue is closest to any person as is one’s mother. Highlights The decade-wise proportion of various language speakers to India’s total population indicate that in 1961 the Bangla speakers were 8.17 per cent of the total population, half a century later, their proportion had decreased to 8.03 …

India’s myriad tongues and the English debate
1 year, 8 months ago

India’s myriad tongues and the English debate

New Indian Express  

I don’t know how many people still remember Pandit Lakshmi Kanta Maitra, member of the Constituent Assembly. I am going to quote part of what he said in Constituent Assembly debates on September 13, 1949: “Wherever I have travelled, if I have not been able to make myself understood in any other language, I have been able to make myself …

Hindi Diwas 2022: Amid New Row by HDK, News18 Reads into Politics Over World's 3rd Most Spoken Language
2 years, 3 months ago

Hindi Diwas 2022: Amid New Row by HDK, News18 Reads into Politics Over World's 3rd Most Spoken Language

News 18  

The controversy over Hindi imposition is back in news in Karnataka as JDS leader and former CM HD Kumaraswamy after writting a letter to Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday and urging his government not to celebrate ‘Hindi Diwas’ by utilising the taxpayers’ money has now called for protest against the Hindi Diwas. Ajay Devgn Vs Kiccha Sudeep The …

Exploring the ‘Idea of India’: A Multilingual Tapestry of Linguistic Diversity
2 years, 7 months ago

Exploring the ‘Idea of India’: A Multilingual Tapestry of Linguistic Diversity

The Hindu  

There is a raging debate in the country about the ‘idea of India,’ though the phrase is rarely explained by those who use it. It may refer to the many origins of India’s diverse populations and cultures, or may even be used as a synonym for what we think was or is the Indian ‘civilisation’. However, by ‘civilisation’ one implies …

Recognising territorial links to languages essential for Indian federalism
2 years, 7 months ago

Recognising territorial links to languages essential for Indian federalism

The Hindu  

Historically, the symbiotic relationship of a language with the idea of a nation has been marked by much contestation across the world since the nineteenth century. At the 37th meeting of the Parliamentary Official Language Committee held on April 8, 2022, Home Minister Amit Shah commented that in all the north-eastern States Hindi would be made compulsory until Class 10. …

DC EDIT | India has many languages
2 years, 8 months ago

DC EDIT | India has many languages

Deccan Chronicle  

The exchange between a Kannada and a Hindi film star on the popularity of their language was just another in a series of discussions on national languages that tend to go nowhere because of the complexity and numbers of India. It appears the reach of regional films in today’s high-tech environment is getting longer adding weight to the argument that …

Ahmedabad: India has many languages, but all of them carry same 'bhav', says Mohan Bhagwat
2 years, 8 months ago

Ahmedabad: India has many languages, but all of them carry same 'bhav', says Mohan Bhagwat

Firstpost  

Bhagwat’s remarks on languages comes amid allegations that efforts were being made to impose Hindi language on non-Hindi speaking states in the country Ahmedabad: India has many languages, but all of them carry the same ‘bhav’ or feeling, which is the source of the country’s solidarity, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat said here on Thursday. Bhagwat’s remarks on languages …

Is one language enough?
4 years, 3 months ago

Is one language enough?

The Hindu  

While negotiating independence from Dutch colonial rule, Indonesian nationalists decided that a reformed version of Malay would become the official language. Debates in the Constituent Assembly In contrast, the issue of adopting a national language could not be resolved when the Constituent Assembly began drafting India’s Constitution. On the one side were members from the Hindi-speaking provinces who moved a …

CISF Officer Asked If I’m Indian For Not Knowing Hindi: Kanimozhi
4 years, 5 months ago

CISF Officer Asked If I’m Indian For Not Knowing Hindi: Kanimozhi

The Quint  

Critics however point out that this is not an issue with an individual officer from a central force, but the larger belief being pushed in India that Hindi is the national language, or that Hindi is more important than other Indian languages. Currently, there are 22 official languages recognised in the eighth schedule of the Indian Constitution, and it includes …

Hindi card for a Hindu Rashtra
5 years, 3 months ago

Hindi card for a Hindu Rashtra

The Hindu  

THE phrase “one nation, one language” used by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Hindi Diwas in New Delhi on September 14, contradicts the very idea of India as a nation, and its unique linguistic-cultural diversity. The Indian nationalists were aware of the violence and genocidal effects of associating language/race/culture evident in post-War division of Europe, and hence negated the …

Hindi push assault on diversity, India’s spirit
5 years, 3 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 …

Amit Shah, speaking on Hindi Diwas, stresses on need for unifying language to mark India's identity
5 years, 3 months ago

Amit Shah, speaking on Hindi Diwas, stresses on need for unifying language to mark India's identity

Firstpost  

Amit Shah on Saturday stressed on the need to have a unifying language that becomes a mark of India’s identity in the world New Delhi: On the occasion of Hindi Diwas, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday stressed on the need to have a unifying language that becomes a mark of India’s identity in the world and keeps “foreign …

Hindi Diwas 2019: History, significance and all you need to know about world's fourth most spoken and one of India's official languages
5 years, 3 months ago

Hindi Diwas 2019: History, significance and all you need to know about world's fourth most spoken and one of India's official languages

Firstpost  

Hindi Diwas 2019: Every year on 14 September, the nation gears up to celebrate Hindi Diwas, which marks the significance of the day when the Constituent Assembly after Independence adopted Hindi as the official language of India. After the Constituent Assembly took the decision in 1949, the Rashtrabhasha Prachar Samiti, Wardha on 1953 requested to observe 14 September as Hindi …

News Analysis | Hindi imposition and the T.N. resistance
5 years, 7 months ago

News Analysis | Hindi imposition and the T.N. resistance

The Hindu  

A wave of protests from political parties in the Dravidian heartland of Tamil Nadu has forced the Narendra Modi government to amend the Draft National Education Policy 2019 and withdraw the proposal to teach Hindi as a third language in schools in non-Hindi speaking States. Again, fierce opposition prompted the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to reiterate his promise that …

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