Monday, September 22, 2008

National Language - Hindi.

This thought has been going on for over a 6 months and above. India is seen as North India and South India. South India represents the four states Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala where the majority of citizens do not know Hindi. The rest of India is represented as North India and almost 90% know Hindi ie., read, write and speak. I take 90% since I am not sure of North East states.

In the above comparison you can see that India is basically divided into people who know Hindi and people who do not. Although India constitues 28 states and 7 Union Territories with 21 official languages and with a 1652 dialects the majority speak Hindi. India - Facts

Let us (South Indians) look at what we have lost by opposing to Hindi education when it was made as compulsory language to be taught in schools.

Communication Sense - If the South Indians had opportunity to learn the Hindi language as part of their curriculam from the primary school, I see no communication barrier between a Delhi resident and a Madurai resident, for example. They could have comfortably spoken in Hindi and would have made communication clearer and better. Now, with no Hindi background a South Indian feels deprived that he has no common language between a guy in Mumbai and Chennai. The common language English is used between Indians but that is a foreign language... why should we use a foreign language when Hindi is our own?.

Business Sense - The major major loss is the business or trade. If you look at the textile shops, big as in malls or small as in towns in South India they are owned by North Indians. Why? Simple....The major textile manufacturers are located in Gujarat and other parts of West India. They are primarily Hindi speaking citizens and do not like to work who do not know Hindi. Hence, they come down to South India, setup their own shops in these cities and towns, do brisk business, take profits and invest in their native state.
What happens if our Tamil or Telugu guy had studied Hindi, comfortable with Hindi, communicates well in Hindi the North Indians will not find a place to settle in South India since all the businesses are conducted well by the locals.

Transportation Sense - This can be a subsect of Business sense but I like to discuss in a separate paragraph. Since I am from the transportation industry I can explain a bit. All the truckers in South India except Hyderabad and northern parts of Karnataka will run upto only Bangalore. Bangalore is the main hub for goods that is sent from South India to North India. Why? The same reason... Our drivers are not equipped with a common tool called Hindi. The truck from Punjab or Himachal Pradesh can come upto Bangalore for delivery & pickup of goods but a Kerala or Tamilnadu truck cannot pass Bangalore because lack of Hindi knowledge. South Indian drivers are intimidated or even afraid to go beyond Bangalore.
What if our drivers had some knowledge of Hindi? I am sure drivers would atleast know to read the local language and if they knew some basic Hindi too.... they can go that extra mile. The trucks from South India can criss cross all over India. Does this make sense?

Taking a break for few min...

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