On Monday, a controversy erupted over Hindi proficiency as compulsory at the school level even in non-Hindi-speaking states. While the appeal and grasp of Hindi has expanded across India, thanks largely to Hindi cinema, the country still has no consensus on it being made the official language of governance, let alone every child being taught and tested on it. Hindi may be India’s most widely spoken language, but the language of government and business is resolutely English. Knowledge of English, after all, is the path that large numbers of the poor see out of their poverty. Perceptions of English being a symbol of colonial domination, a legacy of a Raj best forgotten, are also changing.

Source: Mint June 03, 2019 19:30 UTC