English as a language was introduced by the British. When the British faced a shortage of manpower to run their businesses and Govt machinery, they introduced English in Bharat.  Though the intent of the British was their own benefit, English as a language has helped Bharat immensely. How? Lets understand.

The benefit can be explained in 2 folds.

  • First, ECONOMICAL.
  • Second, POLITICAL.

How English has benefited economically? 

India is already a dominant economic power in World. And a de-facto leader in the South East Asian region. This happened in last 4-5 decades.

We all know, how the socialistic economic principles Gandhi dynasty had immensely increased the difficulty in running business.

IN spite of that,

  1. Bharat has produced great IT companies like Infosys, TCS, WIPRO, HCL and many more.
  2. Bharat has become the most preferred destination for business purpose outsourcing.
  3. Bharat is the de-facto hub for medical tourism.
  4. All the biggest IT companies (Google, Microsoft and Twitter) in world are headed by Bharatiyas.

Bharat, today, is the back office of the world because of English speaking Bharatiyas.

This not only makes the world economy dependent on Bharat, but this has elevated millions of people from poverty and feeds millions of families.

China beat us in low cost manufacturing (because they realized that socialist ideology is stupid long before Bharatiyas did), but Bharat beat China in  services.

WHY?

The answer is ENGLISH.

Bharat had (and still has) a large English speaking population where as China had not.  Had Bharat not having an English speaking population, there would have no Infosys, no TCS, no BPO industry in Bharat.

States like say Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka are far ahead of states like UP and Bihar. Among many other reasons UP, Bihar (and even Rajasthan) remained backward as they neglected English. They did not teach English in schools for several decades from our Independence. What happened? They fell behind in taking advantage of the IT, BPO boom.

What makes Yogiji a legendary CM? He realized that not being strong in English is keeping UP backward and hence now Govt schools in UP started teaching English from primary level.

BUT, Bihar is still not realizing this and doesn’t teach English to young children citing reasons which I feel illogical.

How English has benefited Bharat politically? 

Lets consider the below questions.

  1. Why did Pakistan break down?
  2. Why erstwhile Soviet states and satellites like Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland are so vociferously resisting Putin?
  3. Why Singapore and Israel are thriving as nations in spite of having several languages like Bharat.

Pakistan broke down because they wanted to make East Pakistan (today’s Bangladesh) adopt Urdu(language spoken in west Pakistan).  The ego of Benaglis got hurt as they perceived that Urdu is being imposed on them. Had Pakistan adopted English as the language of communication, then this would not have happened. Russia broke down because they mercilessly suppressed the languages spoken in Ukraine, Latvia, Turkmenistan and satellite states.

Lets come to Israel. When the Jews migrated to Israel they spoke several languages. However, they decided to adopt Hebrew, which is the holy language of the Jews, and not spoken by anyone. So no linguistic community got the feeling that some one elses’ language is being imposed on them.

Singapore adopted a 2 language system. English was made compulsory and people could choose to learn another language of their choice. So no community got the feeling that some one elses’ language is being imposed and they have English as the language of communication across all linguistic communities.

The European Union is slowly but steadily progressing to become one country like USA. People have even started calling EU as United States of Europe (USE). It has been nearly decided that their language would be English.  Why? they need a common language. If they choose say German, it will make the non-Germans feel that Germans are imposing their language on others. UK has now left EU. With English being no ones’ language, all in EU are accept English whole heartedly.

Same is the case with Hindi. If Govt pushes Hindi too far, it may even potentially tear Bharat apart. Most non-Hindi speaking states have adopted English (in addition to their own language).

Why articles 348 and 349 of Indian constitution give emphasis to English? The reason is simple. English is no ones’ language. So no one gets a feeling that some one elses’ language is being imposed on them. Sanskrit may have been a better alternative(as no one speaks Sanskrit), but I think it is too late.

So, what be the done?

Answer is: Continue the way it is happening today. Give emphasis on English. More we Bharatiyas are conversant with English, the better we will be integrated with the world on political and economic affairs.

  1. Make English compulsory from very early classes. States shall have the liberty to choose 2 languages from among the local language, Hindi, Sanskrit and a foreign language till class VIII.
  2. In IX and Xth, in addition to English, students can choose one language from among local language, Hindi, Sanskrit and a foreign language.
  3. The medium of instruction may be English or any language the Govt may decide.

English is the de-facto International language today. With US, EU, Australia and even China adopting English, Bharat moving away from English would be nothing short of hara-kiri.

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