A+| A| A-
Linguistic Monopoly?
As the state promotes the predominant use of Hindi, there is a danger of India slowly becoming a one-language nation sans a multilingual and federal identity.
For about five years we had encouraged Mangala, our domestic help, to open a bank account in a local public sector bank (PSB) to which we could regularly credit her monthly salary. One day, on returning home from the bank branch, she said, “Anna, I could not send the money to Dileep (her son) at Chikmagalur today. The application form for money transfer is in Hindi and English. I could not fill it up. The bank staff would not fill it up either. What shall I do?” Mangala knows neither our rajbhasha (Hindi) nor English.
The other day, when I visited a branch of another PSB, out of curiosity I glanced through the many instructions printed in the passbook. Everything was in Hindi and English. Kannada literally did not exist.
Dear Reader,
Or
To gain instant access to this article (download).
(Readers in India)
(Readers outside India)
