The Chief Minister Pema Khandu led Bharatiya Janata Party government has created budgetary provision in the recently presented annual budget to popularize and promote the national language—Hindi  in the frontier state.

This move will have the greatest impact on the hundreds of Hindi graduates and scholars who are unemployed despite their education. In more than 14 government colleges affiliated to Rajiv Gandhi University, there are several thousand students who have completed graduation with Honours in Hindi but their services are yet to be tapped.

The Arunachal Pradesh Rashtra Bhasha Prachar Samiti(APRBPS) championing the cause of Hindi language and its scholars, is absolutely right is saying that these young scholars are not able to find suitable livelihood opportunities because of entry barrier created in the form of “English as the only language in examinations”.

That said, the state government’s decision to push Hindi language in the state is not without challenges as the indigenous language and dialects are facing an all-time onslaught. The UNESCO in its recent survey has enlisted 33 languages of Arunachal Pradesh as endangered out of which four are critically endangered and on the verge of extinction. So, how will the state choose one over the other, will be interesting to see.

Ever since the NDA came to power at the Centre it has taken a clear stand in support of Hindi, pushing for it to replace English as the preferred language of the Government of India. PM Narendra Modi at several international platforms has spoken in Hindi thereby clearly sending a message.

Hindi and English are India’s two official languages for federal government business, although India’s constitution recognises a total of 22 languages. But with more than half of India’s 1.2 billion people using another language as their mother tongue, pushing Hindi as a language of the entire country is not just insensitive but also a tad impractical.

The primary aim of a language is communication. What makes a language versatile is the ease with which it can be implemented on different media. One of the key reasons of English is the ease with which it can be ported on different platforms. And this ease comes from the lack of additional appendages to alphabets (in Hindi Matrayein). Try filling a Government, school or college form in Hindi ; or try typing on Computer in Hindi, and you will know why English is the language of choice.

Speaking in ones native tongue is above all a matter of pride and this is most probably the reason why global leaders do so at important platforms. Therefore, all communities must have this entitlement and preference.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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