India - Viable in future?

The latest attack by Bala Saheb on Sachin's remark of Indian has once again proved that regional politics are here to stay. The majority of Indians agree with Sachin's statement and I think the attention that it got from the media will help Maharashtra Navanirman Sena (MNS) and Shiv Sena in the long run in Maharashtra politics. 

What are the political parties upto? Everybody wants to safeguard their own turf by playing regional card. The four South states are playing this language card for a long long time and now Maharashtra joining this bandwagon this can lead to serious repercussions. CPM is keen on keeping West Bengal and Kerala at any cost and Mamata Banerjee is interested in Bengal rather than Railways. This does not mean other states are not into regional politics. States like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Orissa, UP, Bihar and the NE states are into regional politics very strongly but their group-ism is so strong that no outsider can see it or feel it. Imagine this, can a Gujarati become Punjab CM? Absolutely never in any life time! or a Punjabi becoming Karnataka CM? Highly impossible and unthinkable. So, Where is India?

Almost every other foreigner and literature pundits are amazed by our diversity and pluralist society. Even our literary scholars say we are united in rich diversity. Is it true? Are we united? Bengalis are united with Bengalis, Tamilians are united with Tamils and so on. Where does the Indian-ness come from? Where could we find the Indian-ness? Only when India plays Pakistan in a cricket match! When the match is over its back to normal again. I become a malayalee and you become a bihari! Where is the Indian & India? With the popularity for IPL the Indian-ness will most probably die down. IPL may well become a tool for regional politics like for example Shiv Sena sponsoring Mumbai team or DMK taking over Chennai Superkings. Everything is possible in India!

Regional languages divide our nation and politicians are smart to use this as their weapon to remain in power. Why do we like being after or behind China? It's always China and India. Why are we not making some one think India first and China second? Agreed that China opened up their economy way before India did but India needs to have the goal of beating China first in the region. To do this India has to be united but our so called leaders are compromised in regional politics that they cannot think of this in the near future. The leaders are so tied-up in local/regional issues India is at the last item in their queue. The different languages too doesn't help. A Tamilnadu MP writes a request to the Lok Sabha speaker to render his speech to parliament in his regional language reason being - he doesn't know the national language. If the speaker allows it then there will be barrage of requests from other state MPs to speak in their own regional language and the other thing is if he succeeds in his request then there will be huge celebration down south! Who is going to stop it? Nobody cares! Everybody in politics is for gain. 

A recent debate on NDTV brought this language issue and again a MP from Tamilnadu is suggesting that they cannot afford to lose the regional language in their state and if a common language is needed then English can be common medium. Where does this idea come from?? I am appalled and dumbfounded by this statement. There is a national language called Hindi and roughly 40% above of Indians speak and understand Hindi. Why can't we accept Hindi as a medium of communication? I had written about the national language Hindi & continued in Hindi Adv. We are ready to accept English, a foreign language as a medium but opposed to Hindi. Wah! The regional language/issue is the key weapon to be in power.

With Karnataka and Kerala having disputes of water sharing with Tamilnadu, I do not see them states of India. The people in respective state act like they are from different countries. Here too, people in Tamilnadu suffer due to lack of water which is a necessity and local politicians at all 3 states play the game as long as they can. They make sure that the disputes remain disputes for decades and no solution is found in the distant future leave alone near future!

The sense of Indian-ness is taking a backseat as the days goes by. What unites us to be called as India and Indian? I am proud to be Indian but nobody looks at me as Indian inside my own country. Either they call me South Indian or Gujju or Bihari or Bengali or so on. The way you are segregated in a group reflect the way we think of India. Even outside country if a fellow Indian meets another Indian the first thing they inquire about is which part of India? and that sets the tone for future communication. 

What keeps us going to remain intact as India?

Is it because of our history? 

Is it because of culture that we gain strength from being united? 

Is it because of absolute democracy?
Is it because of fear? 

I am puzzled and do not find answers.

What happens if a state like Maharashtra declares independence and declares itself as a country? I sincerely hope that this regional politics does not lead to this kind of situation in future.

National Language - Hindi... Continued.

After the break....

Government Sense - In terms of government if Hindi had been the official language then everything is clear. There will not be any dispute in understanding by the sender or receiver between govt officials. Look at the central government forms.... everything is in Hindi/English and prominent is Hindi. There is a fear of misunderstanding among South Indians when it comes to filling up of central govt., forms. For example, PF forms, this is one of the important forms which gets rejected because of incomplete information or incorrect information. We are required to consult a broker for filling up the forms who then charges us a small fee. This situation could be avoided if we all had known Hindi.

The Pros of avoiding Hindi by South Indians....

English - Our English is far better than anyone in the world barring the English themselves. Bangalore has made it to a world class city in a short span of one decade simply because of English speaking talent available.

FDI Foreign Direct Investments - The investment from large MNCs pour in South India whereas it is low in North India. Chennai has become the hub for automobile parts manufacturing and Hyundai is one of the large investor.

People Capital - Due to the knowledge of English and technical education, the South Indians are able to travel all around the corners of the world and are able to adapt to the situation. The North Indians hate 'firangis' and I do not criticize them, after all it was the firangis who ruled us for more than 100 years!

Conclusion:
Weighing the pros and cons, the end result is we have lost a unified India. We loved English (myself included), it was like an obsession to learn the foreign language but we forgot that Hindi is our national language. The main agenda of the protestors of anti-Hindi was we would lose the identity as locals and the local language Tamil. If you look at the North Indians, by learning Hindi in their curriculam they have not lost their state identity. Gujarthis are proud of their language, same way goes for Marathis and the Bengalis. Who likes to lose their identity? No one!!!! Infact, we could have adopted the Hindi imposition and still proud to be called as Tamilians or Telugus or Malayalee or Kannadigas. The self-immolation protests in Tamilnadu against the Hindi imposition put a permanent seal on Central Government not to talk on this issue in future.

It is my dream to see a unified India where language is not a barrier to communication or trade. We should be proud to show our face as Indians not as North Indians or South Indians. India, where people speak one language for the world outside but still plural inside.

If I have left something or missed something let me know.

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...