Linguistic Human Rights and the Tribes in India

Prashant Mishra , Hemendra Singh Chandalia

Professor David Crystal (2005) expresses his concern that 90percent of the 6000 or so languages in existence in the world today may face extinction in the coming years if sincere efforts to save and support them are not made in time. About half of the existing languages have already joined the endangered list. According to UNESCO, 96 percent of world’s languages are spoken by just 4 percent of people. Most of these languages are the mother tongues of the indigenous communities. In India too the situation is not very different. According to 1991 census, peoplespeak 216 mother tongues which are categorized under 114 languages. The eighteen Indian languages – Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kashmiri, Kannada, Konkani, Malyalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu,and Urdu listed in the eighth schedule and their 85 mother tongues are spoken by less then 4 percent of the population. A large number of these languages have less than 10,000 speakers. They are not specified in the census. Most of these mother tongues are spoken by the tribals and are at a high risk of extinction. Just as a big fish eats the small ones, so world’s dominant languages will swallow the smaller ones in due course oftime if steps required to retain and develop them are not taken. Today linguistic diversity is under greatest threat as forces of globalization in collaboration with information technology have started marketing languages which are also now being used as commodities. Standard languages used by a large number of consumers, having money spending capacity, have been given importance over the languages of the deprived sections like tribals who are at the peripheral end of consumerism due to theirmeagre income. People learn the language of prospects and shift to them. Therefore, a change in language policy to promote the

languages of the tribals has become very necessary. The language policy can be prepared keeping in view the provisions laid down in the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights. By respecting linguistic rights of the tribals, their tongues on the verge of extinction can be protected and the invaluable tribal knowledge system which has enabled then to survive over centuries in spite of all the odds faced by them can be retained.

Linguistic Discrimination of the Tribals:

Tribals not only face economic and social discriminations and exploitations but even their languages and culture have also been presented as substandard, inferior, uncivilized and primitive due to their upbringing in the hills and forests. Referring to the uneven treatment given to the tribals, National Tribal Policy 2006 Draft document states, “As compared to other sections of the Indian society, the tribal population has the lowest Human Development Index (HDI). In addition, they suffer from geographical and cultural exclusion, which are not captured in HDI. Similarly, lack of empowerment to make choices for themselves is also not accounted for. A large segment of the tribal population lives below the poverty line and suffers from ahigh infant mortality rate, severe malnutrition, various communicable diseases, lower literacy rates and an extremely slowpace of development. Under-development coupled with lack of access to proper administrative and judicial machinery in tribal areas further increases their deprivation” (National Tribal Policy 2006). Their inability to use a standard language further aggravates the discrimination against the tribals and reduces them to mere manual workers. Through constant reminding to the tribals about the low status of their mother tongues, a hostile atmosphere is created in the education centres which compel them to leave the studies earlier and engage them in the manual works.Tribals are not only denied the right to use their mother tongue as a medium of instruction in education but also are denied the right to use their languages for communication in government

offices and public and private undertakings. In India Hindi, English and some of the regional languages listed in the eighth schedule of the constitution are only used to carry out business and various transactions in offices, schools, colleges, media, defense and other government establishments. Even many of the regional languages are denied this right. The tribals in order tocommunicate their views, grievances and carry out other activities have to depend on some middle men who take advantage of their language handicaps and exploit them. The Macaulayan prejudice of regarding Indian languages as rude, unfit for scientific and educational domains is seen in the treatment metedout to tribal languages by the elites and dominant groups who seethem from the same glasses. According to Tove Skutnabb–Kangass, “Through glorification, the non-material resources of the dominant groups, including the dominant languages and culture, and may be specifically English, are presented as better adopted to meet the needs of ‘modern’, technologically developed, democratic post industrial information- driven societies – and this is what a substantial part of ESL (English as a Second Language) ideology is about. English and other dominant languagestend to be projected as the languages of modernity, science and technology, success, national ‘unity’, democracy, and other such positive features……………The non-material resources of the dominant groups, for instance minorities and indigenous peoples, includingtheir languages and culture, are stigmatized as being traditional, backward, narrow and inferior; they are marginalized, deprived of resources for their development and use. In this way they are made invisible or socially constructed as handicaps rather than resources” (Kangas2000:www.erlbaum.com).

Necessity of the Conservation of Tribal Languages:

Just as bio-diversity is very essential to maintain balance in eco-system, similarly linguistic diversity is also very important to maintain ethnic and regional balances. Languages arethe vehicles of culture and the treasure house of the traditional

knowledge system of the people. With the death of a language, theculture and the traditional knowledge system of the language community that is receptacled and preserved in their languages will be lost and posterity will be deprived of a whole knowledge system of the indigenous people who built it over centuries through observation and experience. Referring to the threat facedby indigenous languages from English in India, Uday Kumar rightlysays, “Language use in education, administration and mass media has been destroying or disintegrating the well-knit fabric of a multilingual, multiethnic and poly-cultural India. The use of a foreign language in education has created inequality by restricting or denying the right to the mass indigenous language groups. Similarly the lack of use of indigenous languages in administration and governance has debarred the masses from effectively participating in the process of socio-economic development. The control of English on mass media has handed overthe privilege to control and manipulate knowledge and informationlargely to the English knowing elites. ………The emphasis on a foreign language, as the medium of instruction in education, has prevented the spread of education among the masses, tending to create a wide gulf between the educated few and the uneducated many”(Kumar 2007:68). Hence in order to bridge the wide chasm existing between the ‘educated few and the uneducated many’ the linguistic human rights of the indigenous people to receive education in their own mother tongues be respected. Linguistic human rights of the tribals to establish the use of their languages in all the educational, administrative, cultural and socio-economic activities if recognized and honoured will then only be able to remove this wide disparity and will enrich the tribal languages to perform multi-functional roles in different domains of activities and walks of life. According to Sam, “ The tribal languages that face extinction because of the influence ofthe dominant language need to be given tools that would help themnot only preserve themselves but also to prosper and extend theirdomains of use”(Sam 2002www.languageinindia.com)

Human Rights and the Linguistic Human Rights:

Language rights cannot be treated in isolation. Language rights are closely associated with other fundamental rights of the individuals like the rights to expression, rights to culture and rights to education. Articles 27, 28 and 29 of the ‘UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights’ specifically state:

Article 27: “All language communities are entitled to an education which will enable their members to acquire knowledge ofany languages related to their cultural tradition, such as literacy or sacred languages which were formerly habitual languages of the community”.

Article 28: “All language communities are entitled to an education which will enable their members to acquire a thorough knowledge of their cultural heritage (history, geography, literature, and other manifestations of their own culture), as well as the most extensive possible knowledge of any other culture they may wish to know”.

Article 29:”Everyone is entitled to receive an education in the language specific to the territory where s/he resides”.

The above cited articles of the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights “not only make provisions to safeguard linguistic rights but also educational rights and cultural rights of the indigenous people. Some of the fundamental rights of which every human being is entitled by birth are– right to expression, right to participate in culture and right to education. All the three mentioned rights are related to the use of language. It is language that is used as a medium of expression to facilitate the

communication process. Language is also a carrier of man’s culture. Education is also imparted through the medium of language. To learn and speak a language is a man’s birth and natural right. Therefore, any attempt to deny and demotivate tribals to use their mother tongues for social, cultural and educational purpose is a violation of their human rights. Hence preservation of language rights is very essential as they help inmaintaining other human rights. To express oneself through the medium of one’s mother tongue is man’s linguistic right. If tribals are provided congenial atmosphere to use their local languages in private and public discourse, their fundamental human right of expression will be respected and ensured. Similarly if their languages are allowed to be used in various socio-cultural domains, their right to culture will be ascertained. Through the preservation of the tribal languages, their culture can be preserved and strengthened. Similarly by allowing tribal languages as the medium of instruction in the tribal areas and preparing instructional material in the same andemploying teachers from the tribal communities, we can help in preserving tribal languages and protect their educational rights.It will also decrease the large number of drop outs among the school going tribal children.

Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights: Some Important Provisions

The ‘Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights’ is a documentframed in line of ‘Universal Declaration of Human rights’ and signed by UNESCO, the PEN clubs, and several non-governmental organizations in 1996 particularly to protect linguistic rights of the indigenous people in order to save endangered languages. Universal declaration of Linguistic Rights, which came into beingas a consequence of imposition of the alien tongues on the natives by the colonial powers, to check linguistic discriminations, to save and develop endangered languages from the hegemony of standard languages, to remove linguistic

inequalities, to preserve linguistic and cultural diversity, to allow indigenous people to use their mother tongues in education,offices, media and other domains which have been monopolized by the users of the dominant languages, recommends the linguistic rights to be regarded among the fundamental rights of all the individuals and communities. According to Wikipedia “Linguistic rights (or language rights or linguistic human rights) are the human and civil rights concerning the individual and collective right to choose the language or languages for communication in a private or public atmosphere, regardless of ethnicity or nationality or the number of speakers of a language in a given territory”. Wikipedia further elaborates the domain of linguisticrights and explains them as follows: “Linguistic rights include the right to legal, administrative and judicial acts, education, and the media in a language understood and freely chosen by thoseconcerned. They are a means of resisting forced cultural assimilation and linguistic imperialism, especially in the context of protection of minorities and indigenous peoples”. UDLRcomprises of 52 articles. It takes into cognizance violation of linguistic human rights in different situations and areas. Some of the important provisions of UDLR are as follows:

All language communities have equal rights. Everyone has the right to learn any language. Everyone has the right to acquire more than one language. Everyone has the right to be recognized as a member of a

language community. Everyone has the right to use one’s language both in private

and in public. Everyone has the right to maintain and develop one’s own

culture. All the language communities have the right for their own

language and culture to be taught. Everyone has the right to use one’s language in the personal

and family sphere. All language communities have the right to codify,

standardize, preserve, develop and promote their linguistic system, without induced or forced interference.

All language communities are entitled to the official use oftheir language within their territory.

All language communities have the right to obtain in their own language all the official records and documents.

All language communities have the right to receive educationthrough their mother tongues.

All language communities have the right to preserve their linguistic and cultural heritage.

All language communities have the right to use their language in all types of socio-economic activities within the territory.

All language communities have the right to use, maintain andfoster their language in all forms of cultural expression.

All language communities have the right to obtain documents – forms, cheques, contracts, receipts etc in their own language.

Existing Provisions for Minority and Tribal Languages in the Constitution of India:

The Preamble of Indian constitution, “India is a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic” speaks of equal status, opportunities and freedom to all the citizens of the country irrespective of their caste, creed, religion and languages. The Indian constitution ensures freedom of speech and expression to all the citizens of the country. It regards cultural and educational rights among the fundamental rights of Indian citizens. There are sufficient provisions for protecting the rights and interests of the minorities. The constitution lays down:

1. “Any sections of the society residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script

or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same”.

2. “No citizen shall be denied admission to any educational institution maintained by the state or receiving aid out of state funds on grounds only of religion, race, caste, language or any other of them”.

Article 343 of the constitution recognized Hindi as the official language of the Union and English as the associate official language for a period of years. However, subject to the provisions of article 346 and 347, article 345 empowers the states to adopt Hindi or any one or more languages in use in the state to be used for official purposes of the state provided thatit is adopted by the state legislature. Thus article 343 paves the way for the adoption of regional and minority languages for official purposes in the state. Article 347of the constitution makes special provision for the recognition of a language spoken by a considerable population of a state provided that demand of its recognition is made by the people. It says:

“On a demand being made in that behalf the President may, if he is satisfied that a substantial proportion of the population of astate desire the use of any language spoken by them to be recognized by the State, direct that such language shall also be officially recognized throughout that state or any part thereof for such purpose as he may specify”.

Article 350 of the constitution provides sufficient provisions tosafeguard the linguistic human rights of the minority groups. It allows all the people to use their languages in the representations for the redress of grievances:

“Every person shall be entitled to submit a representation for the redress of any grievance to any officer or authority of the union or a state in any of the languages used in the union or in the state, as the case may be”.

Section(A) and (B) of Article 350 further provides provisions to provide facilities to the minorities for instruction in their mother tongue and appointment of a special officer for them to investigate matters related to the protection of their language rights:

Article 350(A): “It shall be the endeavour of every State and of every local authority within the state to provide adequate facilities for instruction in the mother-tongue at the primary stage of education to children belonging to linguistic minority groups; and the President may issue such directions to any state as he considers necessary or proper for securing the provision ofsuch facilities”.

Article 350(B) : 1. There shall be a special officer for linguistic minorities to be appointed by the President.

2. “It shall be the duty of the special officer to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards provided for linguistic minorities under this constitution and report to the President upon those matters at such intervals as the President may direct,and the President shall cause all such reports to be laid before each House of Parliament, and sent to the Governments of the States concerned”.

The National Tribal Policy: It’s Recommendations for Tribal Languages as a Medium of Instruction:

The National Tribal Policy 2006 realizes the prejudices of the Non STs towards the Tribal languages, culture and practices which have been viewed as inferior. It recommends the use of mother tongue as a medium of instruction from class I to III, recruitment of local and tribal teachers and preparation of text books in tribal languages. Referring to “Enhancement of Human Development Index” among tribals the draft statement of the National Tribal Policy 2006 refers to the discrimination against tribals on the basis of their languages, culture and social practices and makes the following recommendations in 9.5(B):

“Most teachers in schools in ST areas are non-STs who tend to view tribal language, culture and social practices as being inferior to theirs. Psychologically, this has a strong negative impact on children, which again contributes to their dropping outschool. One way of tackling this problem would be to change the way ST communities are being educated. To enable comprehension oflessons taught, tribal children will be taught in their mother tongue at least in the Classes I to III. This step will be adopted particularly in case of uni-lingual tribes. Text books will be prepared in Tribal languages and will acknowledge the role of tribal leaders and tribes people in the struggle for India independence and their contribution in other areas. The portrayal of tribes people in the text books will be imbued with human dignity and empathy. This will be completed by the end of the Eleventh Plan Period”. (The National Tribal Policy2006:10).

Acknowledging the communication gap behind the deprivation of the tribes from the development and employment programmes, theNational Tribal Policy recommends the use of Tribal language to communicate with them. The policy says, “The STs live in far flung areas and, quite often, outside the reach of modern means of communication. This results in the STs being deprived of much

important and crucial information regarding development initiatives, employment programmes etc. ……It will be the endeavour of the Government to reach the Scheduled Tribes throughdifferent kinds of media, both audio and visual, electronic as well as traditional modes of communication…….The more crucial aspect of policy would be to reach them in their language and through the media within their easy reach” (The National Tribal Policy2006:10).

Violations of the Linguistic Human Rights of the Tribes:

Impositions, discriminations and forced conversions whether religious, linguistic or of any sort come under the purview of human rights violations. Generally violence against women, children, minorities, down-troddens, tribals and other vulnerablegroups has been studied in detail and forcefully accentuated in the media. Human rights violations in the linguistic context has not been given due attention so far. Now when so many languages have already perished and disappeared from the linguistic atlas of the world and so many have been enlisted in the endangered category and some have already receded to the moribund status, linguistic human rights violations in the context of tribal languages most of which are facing crises due to their restricteduses and limited number of speakers has become a serious issue. The following discussion studies the ways in which linguistic human rights have been violated and ruthlessly trampled in various ways

Imposition of a standard or prestige variety of a language on the indigenous people is a gross violation of their linguistichuman rights. Phillipson regards the imposition of English and other colonial languages on the natives as the hidden agenda of the colonial powers to force the colonized to use their language and ultimately to convert them to their ideology. The language,

the culture and the knowledge system of the indigenous people have been deliberately and systematically depicted by the dominants as inferior and unsuitable for performing educational, official and other functions. Macaulay’s minute on education clearly states the policy of linguistic colonization of the native Indians. The linguistic colonization resulted in the genocide of so many local languages and the emergence of English,French, and Portuguese as the official languages even after the independence of former colonies. Robert Phillipson regards the dominance of the language over others as linguistic imperialism and refers to the global promotion of English for political, economic, military and cultural purposes as the colonial design of the British. He defines “English linguistic imperialism” as “the dominance of English is asserted and maintained by the establishment and continuous reconstitution of structural (material properties such as institutions and financial allocations) and cultural (immaterial or ideological properties such as attitudes, pedagogic principles)” (Phillipson1992:47). Hecalls language hegemony as “linguicism” which he defines as “…..ideologies, structures, and practices which are used to legitimate, effectuate, and reproduce an unequal division of power and resources between groups which are defined on the basisof language”(47).

Recently the phenomenon of globalization has become a great threat to the diversity and plurality of linguistic world. Globalization which accelerates the process of commercialization,industrialization and urbanization as a result has started affecting the socio-linguistic lives of the masses. As per 1901 census(Table 1.1), the population of rural India amounted to 89%(213million) and the urban population was 10.8(26 million).Butafter 100 years, according to 2001 census the urban population rose to 27.78 % and the rural population declined to 72.2%. If the urban population continues to grow at the same rate, it can be assumed that by 2050 the urban population will constitute 35% of the total population of India. This calculation is based on the rate of increase in urban population in the last century. But

in the present century, due to globalization, it is estimated that due to increase in the pace of urbanization, the urban population will constitute 50% of the total population of our country. Also looking at the table 1.2, the total number of townswith population above 1, 00,000 increased from 6,652 in 1901 to 1, 76,722 in 2001. It is predicted that by 2050 more than 80,000 towns with population above 1, 00,000 will join the list. Referring to the rise of the middle class and the figures of consumption of the middle class supplied by The National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) Gurcharan Das(2000) predictsthe half of the population of India to join the middle class between 2020 and 2040. He writes, “A true measure of India’s failure is not its poverty but its inability to create a middle class. India’s middle class was less than 10 percent of the population in 1984–85, according to the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER). Since then it has more than tripled but is still less than 20 percent. If the economy grows 7percent over the foreseeable future and the population 1.5 percent, if the literacy rate keeps rising, and if we assume the NCAER’s historical middle-class growth rate of the past fifteen years, then half of India will turn middle class between 2020 and2040” (Das 2000:351).The increase in urbanization and the rise ofthe middle class will ultimately drive the rural population to shift from their local languages towards the standard languages used in the urban centres. This trend has already started being visible. As a consequence of globalization and industrialization,the tribals, who are engaged in agrarian occupations so far have been now lured by the prospects of wealth offered by industrial occupations. The result is that tribals have started migrating tourban industrial centres. Sometimes tribals are also displaced from their habitats due to acquisition of land by the government for building of dams and industries on the forest lands. Due to migration and working in urban areas, tribals started using the standard languages which are used in these centres. Their issues born after their migration from their native forests habitats nowdo not listen to their native tribal languages but standard languages like English and Hindi used in the urban industrial andcommercial centres and start learning the same. As all the economic, industrial, commercial activities are carried through

standard languages which leave no scope for the speakers of localdialects but to shift to the standard languages associated with the centre, power and wealth. The locals and the tribals aspire for progress and gradually start dissociating from their socio-linguistic peripheral position. According to Amiya Basu, “Speakers of minority languages everywhere probably suffer from an inherent insecurity which is reflected in their move towards amajority language, and the majority language media constantly plays on this insecurity ……combined with the legitimate desire for upward mobility, the psychological insecurity often prompts minority speech communities to assimilate to ‘standard’ majority languages ……Evidence tells us that when a speech community develops a negative self-image, when it believes it is linguistically backward, decline sets in. It is then that a minority language becomes vulnerable to all kinds of external pressure” (Basu2004:4-5).This language shift takes place voluntarily and cannot be regarded as a violation of linguistic human rights. But when tribals send their children to schools, their children are instructed through the medium of a language, –be it Hindi, English or some regional language which is not theirmother tongue. According to the Sixth All India Education Survey (1999), 41 languages are taught as schools languages and only 19 are used as media of instruction at different levels. As is evident from the table 1.1, 33 languages are used as media of instruction at the primary level. This number decreases to only 18 at the higher secondary level. At the graduate level generallyHindi or English is used as the medium of instruction. However, technical, management and the other professional courses are taught through the medium of English. In spite of the recommendations of National Tribal Policy 2006 for imparting education through tribal languages up to class III, the indigenous languages have been completely ignored so far. In thisway, the medium of instruction which is not their own mother-tongue but language of others is imposed upon them. As a result, large number of tribal children could not complete even primary education. The alien and the hostile medium of instruction imposed upon them becomes impediment in the way of their educational progress. This violates the linguistic human rights of the tribals.

Table1.1:Sixth All India Educational Survey 1999 (NCERT)

Stage Fifth Survey Sixth Survey

Primary 43 33

Upper primary 31 25

Secondary 22 21

Higher Secondary 20 18

Table 1.2 Rural and Urban Population (Source: India Year Book 2005)

Census Year Population(Million) Percentage of total population

Rural Urban Rural Urban

1 2 3 4 5

1901 213 26 89.2 10.8

1911

1921

1931

1941

1951

1961

1971

1981

1991

2001

226

223

246

275

299

360

439

524

629

743

26

28

33

44

62

79

109

159

218

286

89.7

88.8

88.0

86.1

82.7

82.0

80.1

76.7

74.3

72.2

10.3

11.2

12.0

13.9

17.3

18.0

19.9

23.3

25.7

27.78

Note:

1.India and Manipur figures are final and include estimated figures for those of the three sub-divisions, viz, Mao Maram, Paomata and Purul of Senapati district of Manipur as population census 2001 in these three sub-divisions were cancelled due to technical and administrative reasons although a population censuswas carried out in these sub-divisions also as per schedule.

2. The 1991 Census could not be held owing to disturbed conditions prevailing in Jammu and Kashmir. Hence the population figures for 1991 of Jammu and Kashmir have been worked out by ‘interpolation’ on the basis of 2001 final population.

3. The 1981 census could not be held in Assam. The figures for1981 for Assam have been worked out by interpolation.

Table 1.3 Growth of Urbanisation by Class of Town( Source:India Year Book2005)

Class of town Population in ‘000s

1901 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

1,00,000 and above

50,000-99,999

20,000-49,999

10,000-19,999

5,000-9,999

Less than 5,000

All classes

Urban population as percentage to total Population

6,652

3,011

3,994

5,281

5,186

1,572

25,696

10.84

27,812

6,109

9,745

8,412

7,983

1,925

61,986

17.89

40,518

8,659

13,154

9,934

5,449

629

78,343

17.29

61,863

12,108

17,103

11,861

4,824

496

108,256

19,91

95,952

18,195

21,584

14,543

5,386

760

156,420

23.34

1,40,067

23,629

28,688

17,074

5,650

663

215,772

25.70

1,76,722

34,098

41,957

22,307

7,746

772

283,603

27.81

Note:

Excludes figures for Jammu and Kashmir in 1991 where 1991 Census was not conducted owing to disturbances. For comparative purposes, the figures of Jammu and Kashmir have also been excluded for 1901 to 1981.

Excludes figures for Assam in 1981 where census of 1981 was not held.

1. Data includes Jammu and Kashmir and Assam.

Restrictions on the people to use their mother tongue freely are a violation of their linguistic human rights. All the human beings have the linguistic right to transact their day to-day affairs in their mother tongues. However, in the case of languages too power relations decide the language policies of thecountries. The mother tongues of the politically and economicallypowerful groups become the prestigious languages and are allowed to be used in official, educational and all the other important purposes. In India, the languages listed in the eighth schedule are used for official purposes. But the criterion for inclusion of language in the eighth schedule is not an objective and a logical one. As D.P. Pattanayak says, “There is no logic in the Eighth Schedule. Kashmiri, which is not a state language, is included. So is Sindhi. State recognizes official languages like Manipuri and Khasi are not included, thus indicating that numerical strength is not a criterion for inclusion” (Pattanayak1997:96). Even schedule eighth discriminates against tribal languages. In media and education, English, Hindi and regional languages are given preference over minority and tribal languages. Though articles 350A and 350B of the constitution categorically states “It shall be the endeavour of every state and of every local authority within the state to provide adequate

facilities for instruction in the mother-tongue at the primary stage of education to children belonging to linguistic minority groups”. But minority and tribal languages are deprived of this right to be used as a medium of instruction in education. Due to political and economic backwardness of the tribals, their languages have been pushed to the low prestige status and many false myths regarding their backwardness, verbal deprivation, under development, primitiveness have been invented about them. Tribal languages also do not have any presence on the electronic media, print media and internet. Complaining about the absence ofminority and tribal languages in educational sphere, Clarence Maloney says, “Obviously in all the “developed” countries of Europe and East Asia, all education is in people’s languages. Even in small countries such as Finland, Hungary and Israel schools and colleges are almost all in people’s languages. However, in Europe anyone who finishes academic high school has studied two other languages so there is no problem about employment; advanced higher education, conferences, trade and tourism. This is the correct model of development, which India isnot following” (Maloney2006). Maloney’s protest against the language policy of India seems appropriate as the situation is quite reverse in India. The minority and the tribal languages arediscriminated by regarding them as unfit to be used in offices, media and education. Gautam Banerjee reflects upon the causes of the neglect of Mother Tongues in India and rightly says, “In factwhat has happened in India is that a longstanding neglect of Indian languages during British rule has resulted in the popular belief that they are incapable of imparting a modern education, including science and technology. English as a colonial language continued to be the official language after independence in virtually all Asian countries that were under the British rule. In some cases it was retained to avoid ethnic tensions, in all cases it was retained because of its prestige and association with power. In contrast, the vernaculars of MTs were viewed as backward and inferior, and so were not developed. The prestigiousstatus of the English Language and its dominant role in Globalization added to the absence of the political will to implement policies that would promote the use of Indian languages, have also lead to the almost complete marginalization

of Mother Tongue education in some parts of India. Even today, there are a few states in India where there is no Mother Tongue medium of instruction from Middle school onwards(Mizoram)”(Banerjee2006:62). In all the important domains,the linguistic human rights of the tribals are infringed upon as standard languages are imposed upon the tribals who are compelledto use them. This is linguistic insensitivity towards the tribals. The dominant groups use their mother tongues in offices,education and other fields of work but do not allow the indigenous people to use their languages for the same purposes. The tribals become language handicaps in the use of language not their own and consequently have to face maltreatment by the administration, police and judiciary to whom they are not able toexplain their problems and woes. Their language constraints and handicaps become the cause of discrimination, exploitation and maltreatment. This confusion is further aggravated by the people and the groups having vested interests. They advocate Tribals, dalits and the minority ethnic groups to switch to Christianity and English as a remedy to end their poverty and linguistic and caste based discrimination against them. Gail Omvedt, in his article, “Why Dalits Want English”, advocates learning of Englishimportant in breaking the Brahminical caste-system and hegemony. He recommends, “Why English? Not because it is sacred or somehow holy, but because it is a language of access and power, a key to the world stock of knowledge and the wealth and success that depends on this. “English the Dalit goddess is a world power today”, claims Prasad. It is about emancipation: it is a mass movement against the caste order”(Omvedt2006). The article recommends wrong solution for a right cause. It echoes the nefarious colonial design of evangelization of Indians to subjugate them culturally by estranging them from their religions, culture and languages. Advocating Dalits and Tribals to learn an alien dominant language as a means of emancipation from the hegemony of upper caste Brahmins and elites is uprootingthem from their native culture and shifting them to accept the dominance of an alien culture and a language. This is like savingthem from one trap by throwing them into another. Maloney’s remark in this regard is more apt and pertinent when he writes, “If the masses of population are to be fully brought into a

smooth process of modernization while also building on cultural tradition it has to be done through the people’s language”(Maloney2006). By protecting the human rights and the linguistic rights of the Tribals and the vulnerable groups, they can be brought into the main-stream of the population. Convertingthem to other religions and languages is rather a violation of their cultural and linguistic rights. Those people who recommend tribals, dalits and minorities to move to prestigious languages forget that it is not language which empowers people but it is people who empower their mother tongues. When tribals, dalits andminorities will advance economically and politically their languages will automatically be regarded as important and will betreated equally with the languages of the dominant groups. The need is to adopt such types of educational, economic and social policies which will respect the human and linguistic rights of the tribals and provide them equal opportunities and congenial atmosphere to use their mother tongues freely in all spheres of activities. When the development of the tribals is encouraged within the perspectives of human rights and linguistic human rights, their progress and inclusion in the mainstream of national activities will be guaranteed even by maintaining their distinguished ethno-cultural identities.

References:

Banerji, Gautam.2006. “A Living Heritage We Should Cherish”. University News Vol. 44 No. 05 Jan 30–Feb 05.

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…………………………………………………………

Dr.Prashant Mishra

Professor and Head

Department of English

Government P.G. College Neemuch

NEEMUCH(M.P.) 458441.

Drprashant_mishra@yahoo.co.in

Dr.Hemendra Singh Chandalia

Professor and Head

Department of English

JRN Rajasthan Vidyapeeth University

UDAIPUR(Raj)

hem_sonaa@yahoo.com