Linguistic Issues in India

Languages are tools for human communication, either spoken or written, with the usage of words in a structured and functional way. An issue, in the social context, can be defined as any matter that directly or indirectly affects few or all members of a community, that is problematic and controversial in nature, and cannot be handled single-handedly. A linguistic issue, is one which arises from the differences in languages, in a said geographical area. India is well known for its diverse languages. It is also known for the various issues arising among the language groups. Some issues have been nipped at the bud. Others have progressed to become problems, with common lives at stake. In India, where states are formed, based on home languages, linguistic issues and geographical issues are very closely related. Here is an overview on languages in India and issues concerning them. By the Indian Constitution, under the 13th article of its provision for having a bearing on education, three articles and a schedule are allotted under the title official language. Article 344 states the Commission and Committee of Parliament on official language. The 8th schedule lists all languages recognized by the constitution. There are 22 in all, including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Urdu, Gujarati, and few dialects. Sanskrit too is included, for the sake of cultural sentiments. Article 350A states the provision for every state to facilitate use of mother-tongue for primary instruction. The State has full rights to promote the state tongue. Article 351 is for the Central government to ensure development of Hindi all over the country. This, the Center, has done by making it compulsory in all Central government organizations, for functional Hindi. Hence, what constitutional provisions are there for development of languages, are put to full use, by the government of India. There have been many issues in the country regarding linguistic issues. One is the Telangana issue in Andhra Pradesh. This issue, where the people of Telangana want a separate state, is age old and still remains unresolved. Much violence has been seen with regard to this. Another issue that has a linguistic base, is the conflict in Maharashtra between the Maratis and the Bihari immigrants, particularly in Mumbai, around the early 2000s. Over 200 Biharis were killed in this agitation and scores fled to their home state as refugees. The most recent linguistic issue is the one over the Mullaperiyar dam in the Idukki district, between Tamil Nadu and Kerala. According to this, the 116 year old dam poses as a threat to Keralites living in the region around the dam, if it collapses. So, Kerala seeks construction of a new dam and demolition of the old. Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, feels that demolishing the present dam will result in severe economic losses for farmers benefiting from the irrigation facilities that the dam enables. This has caused much agitation in border and also in the two capital cities. There was even news that a Malayali man was stabbed to death, in Chennai. There has also been a conflict over the Center making Hindi as the governments official

language. This decision has not been accepted by the Southern states, particularly Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu voted for English as the official language, but the Center and the State have reached a consensus that nonHindi speaking states can use English for official business. There are quite a few issues that remain unresolved, however old they may be, and some other issues that could have been resolved better. Still, being a land of multiple languages, conflicts too are bound to come up now and then. The resolution of these conflicts should be given more importance and focus, instead of the problem itself, like how it is in recent times.