<p>India is a land of many languages, and everyone wants his or her own language included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.<br /><br />The Eighth Schedule (ES) lists the official languages of the country. Initially, there were 14 languages listed in the schedule, it now has 23. A majority of Indians speak the languages listed.<br /><br />It is an interesting list. Among the 23, three languages — Nepali, Bengali and Urdu — also happen to be the national languages of our neighbouring countries; Sanskrit, Sindhi and Urdu are not region-specific languages; Kashmiri is not the official language of Kashmir; English is not listed, but is the associate official language of the Union and the official language of the seven states of the Northeast and the Union territories. Hindi finds a place in the Constitution as well as in the Eighth Schedule; Konkani and Santali are written in multiple scripts.<br /><br />While the Eighth Schedule recognises that India is a multilingual country, there are still 1,300 ‘mother tongues’ that have been left out it.<br /><br />The Constitution does not mention any qualifying criterion for a language to be included in the Eighth Schedule. Languages have to be in use in the domains that modernity demands. When the Commission for Linguistic Minorities recommends the inclusion of a language into the Schedule, the Union government includes it through an amendment to the Constitution.<br /><br />The following points mentioned by the Santali Bhasha Morcha in a memorandum can be considered as parameters for selection: the language’s representatives must have the support of cultural associations and other organisations; it must belong to a particular language group and have a large number of speakers; it should have a large corpus of literature, recognised by the Kendra Sahitya Academy; and, it must have its own script and publications like newspapers, magazines etc, besides being taught in schools and colleges.<br /><br />Languages included in the Eighth Schedule get cultural incentives, employment opportunities, monetary and pedagogic benefits, membership of the Official Languages Commission, <br />benefits in the Parliament, such as translation. Hence, many language communities demand, quite vociferously, to be included <br />under the ES. There are, of course, political considerations too.<br /><br />Thirty-eight more languages are waiting to join the ES. They are: Angika, Banjara, Bazika, Bhojpuri, Bhoti, Bhotia, Bundelkhandi, Chhattisgarhi, Dhatki, English, Garhwali, Gondi, Gujjari, Ho, Kachachhi, Kamtapuri, Karbi, Khasi, Kodava, Kok Barak, Kumaoni, Kurak, Kurmali, Lepcha, Limbu, Mizo, Magahi, Mundari, Nagpuri, Nicobarese, Pahari, Pali, Rajasthani, Sambalpuri, Shaurseni, Siraiki, Tenyidi and Tulu.<br /><br />The ES coaxes language communities to further develop their languages to find a place, and pushes the listed languages, too, in that direction. The newly coined category of Classical Languages looks like an upgradation of scheduled languages.<br /><br />Arbitrary relationship<br /><br />The ES lists 23 languages and excludes the rest on non-linguistic grounds — absence of script, written literature and print media. In reality, a languages and its script share an arbitrary relationship. All written languages of the world are written in about a dozen scripts. But languages in India have rich oral traditions.<br /><br />It would be a dream come true to see all languages of the country find a place in the Eighth Schedule. But wouldn’t doing so undermine its very nature? Moreover, if more languages are to be brought under the ES, that would demand a decision on the necessity of a national and international link language/s.<br /><br />The issue of any one language community holding linguistic advantage over others needs to be addressed. The role of language in pedagogy needs redefining. This also demands that monolingual people become multilingual, and not the other way round.<br /><br />The dual task of sensitising the urban population to the need to retain their own mother tongues along with the languages of upward mobility, and coaxing the rural population to open up to the benefits of learning other languages can be daunting.<br /><br />A massive effort of translation seems to be the only answer. The need of the hour is bilingual, trilingual and multilingual translators in all languages of India. Languages and people grow by drawing from each other - vocabulary, concepts and world views.<br /><br />Hindi, English, 23 languages under the ES, 38 more waiting in the wings for an entry into it, and six languages with the Classical Language status! The ES is a step towards celebrating the linguistic diversity of the country, provided neither the Union government nor the state governments resort to imposing languages on people. The core idea of ES is to honour the linguistic rights of the language communities of India. The ES recognises the role of regional languages in better administration of a federal set-up. <br /><br />The Constitution also recognises the language rights of linguistic minorities. In all this, there is one underlying truth we need to understand: the mindset that demands the use of one language in all domains is Western, European and Colonial — not Indian.<br /><br />(The writer is Associate Professor and Head, Dept of English, <br />Nehru Memorial College, Sullia)<br /></p>
<p>India is a land of many languages, and everyone wants his or her own language included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.<br /><br />The Eighth Schedule (ES) lists the official languages of the country. Initially, there were 14 languages listed in the schedule, it now has 23. A majority of Indians speak the languages listed.<br /><br />It is an interesting list. Among the 23, three languages — Nepali, Bengali and Urdu — also happen to be the national languages of our neighbouring countries; Sanskrit, Sindhi and Urdu are not region-specific languages; Kashmiri is not the official language of Kashmir; English is not listed, but is the associate official language of the Union and the official language of the seven states of the Northeast and the Union territories. Hindi finds a place in the Constitution as well as in the Eighth Schedule; Konkani and Santali are written in multiple scripts.<br /><br />While the Eighth Schedule recognises that India is a multilingual country, there are still 1,300 ‘mother tongues’ that have been left out it.<br /><br />The Constitution does not mention any qualifying criterion for a language to be included in the Eighth Schedule. Languages have to be in use in the domains that modernity demands. When the Commission for Linguistic Minorities recommends the inclusion of a language into the Schedule, the Union government includes it through an amendment to the Constitution.<br /><br />The following points mentioned by the Santali Bhasha Morcha in a memorandum can be considered as parameters for selection: the language’s representatives must have the support of cultural associations and other organisations; it must belong to a particular language group and have a large number of speakers; it should have a large corpus of literature, recognised by the Kendra Sahitya Academy; and, it must have its own script and publications like newspapers, magazines etc, besides being taught in schools and colleges.<br /><br />Languages included in the Eighth Schedule get cultural incentives, employment opportunities, monetary and pedagogic benefits, membership of the Official Languages Commission, <br />benefits in the Parliament, such as translation. Hence, many language communities demand, quite vociferously, to be included <br />under the ES. There are, of course, political considerations too.<br /><br />Thirty-eight more languages are waiting to join the ES. They are: Angika, Banjara, Bazika, Bhojpuri, Bhoti, Bhotia, Bundelkhandi, Chhattisgarhi, Dhatki, English, Garhwali, Gondi, Gujjari, Ho, Kachachhi, Kamtapuri, Karbi, Khasi, Kodava, Kok Barak, Kumaoni, Kurak, Kurmali, Lepcha, Limbu, Mizo, Magahi, Mundari, Nagpuri, Nicobarese, Pahari, Pali, Rajasthani, Sambalpuri, Shaurseni, Siraiki, Tenyidi and Tulu.<br /><br />The ES coaxes language communities to further develop their languages to find a place, and pushes the listed languages, too, in that direction. The newly coined category of Classical Languages looks like an upgradation of scheduled languages.<br /><br />Arbitrary relationship<br /><br />The ES lists 23 languages and excludes the rest on non-linguistic grounds — absence of script, written literature and print media. In reality, a languages and its script share an arbitrary relationship. All written languages of the world are written in about a dozen scripts. But languages in India have rich oral traditions.<br /><br />It would be a dream come true to see all languages of the country find a place in the Eighth Schedule. But wouldn’t doing so undermine its very nature? Moreover, if more languages are to be brought under the ES, that would demand a decision on the necessity of a national and international link language/s.<br /><br />The issue of any one language community holding linguistic advantage over others needs to be addressed. The role of language in pedagogy needs redefining. This also demands that monolingual people become multilingual, and not the other way round.<br /><br />The dual task of sensitising the urban population to the need to retain their own mother tongues along with the languages of upward mobility, and coaxing the rural population to open up to the benefits of learning other languages can be daunting.<br /><br />A massive effort of translation seems to be the only answer. The need of the hour is bilingual, trilingual and multilingual translators in all languages of India. Languages and people grow by drawing from each other - vocabulary, concepts and world views.<br /><br />Hindi, English, 23 languages under the ES, 38 more waiting in the wings for an entry into it, and six languages with the Classical Language status! The ES is a step towards celebrating the linguistic diversity of the country, provided neither the Union government nor the state governments resort to imposing languages on people. The core idea of ES is to honour the linguistic rights of the language communities of India. The ES recognises the role of regional languages in better administration of a federal set-up. <br /><br />The Constitution also recognises the language rights of linguistic minorities. In all this, there is one underlying truth we need to understand: the mindset that demands the use of one language in all domains is Western, European and Colonial — not Indian.<br /><br />(The writer is Associate Professor and Head, Dept of English, <br />Nehru Memorial College, Sullia)<br /></p>
