Official Language Issue

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Official Language Issue

In this article , we will look deal with topic titled ‘Official Language Issue in India after Independence.’

 

 

  • Our leadership was very clear that India cant have any language as national language since it would lead to curbing the diversity vis a vis language.  However, in order to carry out Official Tasks , there was a need of Official Language.
  • There were majorly two contenders
    • Hindi
    • English

Despite the richness , English language (eg : it was language of diplomacy, international commerce etc) it occupied a very unnatural place in India due to unequal relationship with Britishers . Hence,  our Constitution declared Hindi in Devanagari Script along with Roman Numerals will be our Official Language and English will continue as Associate Official language till 1965 .

 

  • Issue of the time-frame for a shift from English to Hindi produced a divide between Hindi & non Hindi areas.
    • Proponents of Hindi wanted immediate switch over
    • Non Hindi areas advocated retention of English for a long if not indefinite period.

Nehru was in favor of making Hindi the official language, but he also favored English to be continuing as an additional official language.

 

  • Due to the over-zealous attitude of Hindi language proponents to Sanskritise the language on the name of purity led to the emergence of Supra-State Regionalism wrt language. Hence, to contain these riots and violent activities, 1963 Official Language Act was passed . According to this act, English may continue as the official language post 1965. However, this may clause created apprehension among the South Indian states and finally the issue was addressed with the passage of 1967 amendment to Official Language Act according to which the Veto power was given to South Indian States wrt English as Associate Official Language.

 

Question

  1. Implementation of language provision in the constitution proved to be a formidable task even though Congress was in power all over the country. In this regard , discuss the challenges and the manner in which the language issue was resolved .

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