How India Lost A Golden Opportunity To Have A National Language
The recent comment by India's Union Home Minister has sparked an interesting debate. In his speech given in Hindi to a group of students of an institute in Noida, he said in 'English bolne se gyan nahi hota (one doesn't gain knowledge just by speaking in English). One should speak English when needed'. He further added "I am not talking about only Hindi but all Indian languages. Khali angrez nahin bano. Pehle Bharatiya bano. (Don't become an Englishman. Be an Indian first)". Leaving the political battle and media outcry that followed this comment, I was intrigued as to why he was crying over spilt milk. Due to India's large population, Hindi, being the language spoken by the majority, has become the fourth most spoken language in the world. There are 2 more Indian languages that have made the cut to the top 10 - Bengali and Punjabi. However English, placed third, is widely used and accepted all over the world. India is no exception to this, d...