Society: Diversity in India
(Linguistic Diversity)
"Democracy is not law of majority but protection of minority"
★ What is diversity?
★ Its manifestation -
★ Issues with respect to diversity
- Linguistic nationalism
- Communalism
- Religious fundamentalism
- Regionalism
- Racial intolerance
- Ethno-nationalism
★ Is diversity a threat to National integration?
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Diversity - Collective difference which marks off one group from another is referred as diversity.
Every individual is governed by Livelihood and Culture. If either of them or both are dominated, then there is deprivation. However, with the third party (like Pressure groups, Media, Charismatic leaders, Political parties, etc) intervention there is 'subjective realisation of objective reality' which results into a feeling of relative deprivation which might lead to resentment.
Linguistic diversity
India is extremely linguistically diverse with 22 languages declared as the official language under the 8th Schedule of the Constitution. There are approximately 124 major languages in India with more than 652 dialects spoken in all over India.
Language is the most powerful instrument of cultural identity and has always remain the source of both cohesion and conflict. Often discords have emerged due to the feeling of relative deprivation and fear of domination by the majority language.
Issues with respect to linguistic diversity in India
After independence, Two major issues emerged with respect to linguistic diversity.
- Official language issue
- Linguistic reorganisation of the state
- 1950 - English is declared as associate official language till 1965.
- 1963 - Official language Act → English 'may' continue as associate official language.
- 1965 - Lal Bahadur Shastri → declared 'Hindi' as sole official language, which create resentment among non-hindi speaking people, which resulted in riots at many places.
- It created a situation of Supra State regionalism (i.e., North India vs South India)
- 1967 - Official language amendment Act - English will act as associate official language until non-hindi speaking state wants.
Official Language issue
The adoption of official language was a debate issue not only during framing of Indian Constitution but also post-independence.
Both Hindi and English were strong contenders (English was the language of trade and commerce, international diplomacy, exposure to western thoughts and was more developed. However, due to unequal relations with the Britishers it was not accepted as the official language).
Under Article 343 of the Constitution, Hindi was declared as the official language in Devnagri Script and English being the associate language till 1965. However, the over-enthusiastic attitude of Hindi supporters backfire and resulted into Supra State regionalism.
(Sanskritisation of Hindi took place in the name of purity, which makes it even more difficult to learn for non-hindi speaking people)
In 1963, Official language act was passed to ensure the use of English language beyond 1965. However, the text of the act was ambiguous and it generated apprehension. Finally, in 1967, Official language amendment act was passed which ensured indefinite policy of bi-linguicism.
Linguistic Reorganisation of states
There was a strong favourable case for linguistic re-organisation of state for -
- Provincial language to develop
- Massive spread of literacy (Elementary education should be provided in their mother tongue)
- Realisation of true spirit of democracy (for realisation of democracy in true spirit, politics and administration should be carried out in the language which is understandable to all)
However, after independence there were several problems -
- Partition (India and Pakistan) on communal lines
- Integration of Princely states
- Kashmir issue
- 1st Indo-Pakistan war (1947-48)
All of that created apprehension among the leadership that although linguistic reorganisation is desirable but the time is not right, since any effort to re-organise boundary might lead to political-administrative dislocation.
Despite that they created certain committees for reorganisation of states. Such as -
- S.K. Dhar Committee
- J.V.P. Committee
- Fazal Ali Committee (State Re-organisation committee) → 14 States and 6 Union Territories
First Linguistic State formed after independence - Andhra Pradesh (1953)
It took approximately two decades to deal with the problems of linguistic diversity.
In short, it can be said that linguistic diversity is the threat to national integration for atleast the first two decade after independence. However, the manner in which it was dealt by the government, it no longer remains a threat to national integration.
Par Se diversity is not a threat, it is only when on the issue of diversity people are being wrongly mobolised, manipulated, radicalised then it became a threat.
PYQ
To what extent linguistic re-organisation of states have contributed to Indian unity. Discuss.
Points that can be used
- The linguistic reorganisation can open a Pandora box/create a domino effect, whereby the demand of many new states based on language might arise.
- For example - Magadh, Maithili State, Gorakha state, etc.
- Conclusion - Language can be one of the criteria for re-organisation however economic viability, administrative convenience have to be given more prominence, otherwise it would have a domino effect.
Question for practice
Is linguistic diversity a threat to national integration?
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Note - This is my Vision IAS Notes (Vision IAS Class Notes) and Ashutosh Pandey Sir's Public Administration Class notes. I've also added some of the information on my own.
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