CHENNAI: Ashok Vardhan Shetty, member, High-Level Committee on Union-State Relations (HCUSR), on Saturday, said that there are attempts to impose Hindi or Sanskrit as a third language by stealth, while the fact is that only 7% of Indians are trilingual according to the 2011 Census.
Speaking at a national seminar on Union-State Relations here on the topics - language, education and health, Shetty said, “The so-called three-language formula has existed since 1968, except in Tamil Nadu. Yet the 2011 census reveals that only 7% of Indians are trilingual. What’s the point of having a three-language formula for 43 years? If at the end of it, only 7% of Indians can speak three languages.”
Shetty said just like potatoes, chillies, coffee and tea, which were not native to India but were introduced in the past 200–400 years, and became our staple foods, English, present for 250 years, is no longer foreign but has become an Indian language.
Shetty said for a Tamil or tribal student, Hindi is as foreign as English, since they belong to different language families. “ Usefulness is the key, and here, English prevails, being indispensable for education, science, law, business and diplomacy, and serving historically as India’s link language,” he added.
Justice Kurian Joseph, Chairman, HCUSR, said, “Responsible people often say nation first. I respectfully disagree. It is the Constitution first because it is the Constitution that has constituted the nation. Without this Constitution, it is not India - neither union, nor central government, nothing. What webs together the states and the people as a nation is the Constitution. So, it is the Constitution first, then comes the nation.”
Justice Jasti Chelameswar, former judge of the Supreme Court, speaking on the topics - federalism and the principle of subsidiarity and creeping centralisation in India since 1950 - said, “For the past 75 years, we have been fed with the belief that India is a federation. I have my own doubts about it. The Supreme Court has said it is a cooperative federalism and a quasi-federation, etc.”
“For the past few years, we have been hearing about getting rid of the colonial past. But your Constitution itself is a colonial legacy. Before the colonial rule, India never had a constitutional rule,” he said.
Justice AP Shah, former Chairman, Law Commission of India, spoke on delimitation of constituencies and election. Professor Dr G Mohan Gopal spoke on the role of the President and the governors.