“With language you are at home anywhere.”
-Edward de Waal
A considerable amount of
different countries’ constitutions
include clauses pertaining to the English language. In India, the
evolution of constitutional provisions has happened over time.
The Indian constitution initially
recognized English as an associate official language alongside Hindi.
It was always meant to be gradually wiped out to make for the Hindi language. But
the official act of 1963 allowed the continued use of English for
official purposes until a certain period
of time (15 years). This time limit was later removed in 1967 and allowed
English to persist in constitutional and
legal proceedings. The provisions aim to balance Hindi promotion with
India’s linguistic diversity, ensuring
English remains a crucial tool for communication and governance at the national
level.
-Submitted by Akarsh V.
*************************************************************
The constitution had provided for the establishment of official language
commission,5 years after the commencement of the constitution. Accordingly a 21
member commission headed by B.G Kher was set up in 1956 and made public in
1957.
The commission recommended that Hindi should
be increasingly used for official purposes in place of English but felt that it
should not be possible to say whether
this language shall be in a position to replace English by 1965, as provided in the constitution.
The commission was of the view that in future English should be taught in Secondary schools principally as a language comprehension and not as a literary language, except where it taken voluntarily.
In order to satisfy the people, the Prime
Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru said in January 1958 at Guwahati session of Congress “I am
all in favour of study of English being continued and even made more widespread
. But confess that I do not understand how we can lay down for the future that
English should be our all India
language. In any event I see no reason why we should hostile any decision or
fix strict time limits in a matter of this kind”.
References
Unique language academy
englishbyjuanico.com
http://www.jagranjosh.com
Linguistic politics by Deepika Ghahatraj
-Submitted by Thertha S. Kumar
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