ENGLISH SHOULD BE CONTINUED LIKE AN INDIAN LANGUAGE

The title of our country is Unity in Diversity. We are so diverse; so strong too. Most of our languages have originated from the same root. If we wanted a single language network we should have thought about years before. If we wanted to retain Hindi and erase all other languages including the Dravidian languages of South India, we could have done it. Now the predetermined attempt to eradicate English from India can be welcomed if we are convincingly told the reason for it. No Indians have any inborn attachment for English language. More than the fact that the English compelled us to learn this language, we have opted it for our survival.

According to a report of the Ministry of External Affairs, there are 32 million NRIs and OCIs residing outside India. Every year 25 lakhs Indians migrate  overseas, which is the highest annual number of migrants in the world. These migrants consist of people of high academic qualifications, specialised engineering graduates and management experts. However, beyond all these qualifications, all of them needed a language for communication and that is mostly English language.

When we remove English from our curriculum we must first arrange twenty five lakhs jobs every year within our country. A popular Malayalam proverb seems to be apt here. "Neither will the dog eat grass nor will it let the cow eat it." When this hated language can provide survival of few crores of people, someone says that no further people should go out with the help of this hated language. If that is right they should also say that they will provide job for all. It is like that, the former will not be allowed and the latter is made to be impossible.

Though we consider English as a foreign language, we can find countless number of English words have close links with Sanskrit and many other Indian languages. The English numbers, months and words like man, father, mother, heart, grass, upper, under, tailor and such many words have close links with our languages.

Considering all the consequences it is the government to take the final decision.

K V George