1. Language Policy
for a
New India
Sankrant Sanu
DRAFT - V1 - 06.17.2014

2. भा
षा
नी
ति
Part 1: Myths about English-
medium education
The cultural impact of language policy
DRAFT - V1 - 06.17.2014

3. भा
षा
नी
ति
Myth: The “World” is English-medium
Fact: Global Reality is Multilingual
• 91.5% of the world does not speak English as a native OR second
language!
DRAFT - V1 - 06.17.2014

4. भा
षा
नी
ति
Are the richest countries English-speaking?
• All of the top 20 richest countries by GDP/capita provide
access to engineering/professional education in the mass
languages of the people.
• Only 4 of the top 20 richest are English-speaking countries
On the other hand…
• 18 of the poorest 20 countries don’t provide access to
higher and professional education in the common native
language
• 6 of the poorest 20 countries use English-medium higher
education exclusively versus only 4 of the 20 richest
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5. भा
षा
नी
ति
Fact: A language becomes “modern”
• Hebrew-medium Technion University in Israel is ranked #1
for technology innovation in challenging conditions
• Hebrew was a dead language for 2000 years before being
revived 50 years ago
• It is ranked #18 worldwide for Computer Science
On the other hand…
• English-medium IITs in India is not even ranked in the top
100 worldwide
• English-medium IISc in India is ranked between 50 and 100
in Computer Science.
DRAFT - V1 - 06.17.2014
Political will and policy

6. भा
षा
नी
ति
Multi-nationals already operate for multi-
lingual world
• Global Reality is Multilingual (see pie chart below).
• Corporates have already adapted their business strategy to
‘Internationalization’ & ‘Localization’ in global marketplace.
• Computing is already moving toward software development in
various human languages, and multilingual user interfaces.
• The future is seamless multilingual computing and business support.
DRAFT - V1 - 06.17.2014
This is a Microsoft
presentation. India is not
taking advantage of this
multi-lingual emphasis of
multi-nationals

7. भा
षा
नी
ति
Is Business and Professional Success
Linked to English?
• Of top 1000 MNC’s in Asia, 792
are from Japan, South Korea,
Taiwan.
• These companies internally use
their own languages
• The top management of these
companies have usually studied in
their own languages of their
degrees!
• Their core employees did their
engineering, etc. in Japanese,
Korean, Chinese.
DRAFT - V1 - 06.17.2014

8. भा
षा
नी
ति
School Location Ranking Language
Tsinghua University China #2 in China,
#15 (Asia)
Full-Time MBA (Chinese)
Part-Time MBA (Chinese)
International MBA (English)
Waseda Business
School
Japan #2 in Japan,
#33 (Asia)
Japanese or English.
GSAPS is also at the forefront of innovation in
the use of information technology and in
bilingualism.
Seoul National
University
Korea #1 in Korea Korean with some English.
Dongguk University Korea Buddhist
University
Korean.
The CEO of Samsung Corporation studied in
Dongguk in Korean medium.
COMAS Israel Largest
program in
Israel
Hebrew
Instituto de Emprasa Spain #4 in the world Spanish
HEC Paris France #1 in Europe French (Bi-lingual option available)
SDA Bocconi Italy Largest in Italy Executive MBA in Italian
Some top non-English Business Schools worldwide
DRAFT - V1 - 06.17.2014

9. भा
षा
नी
ति
Part 2: Critical need for a new
approach in India
Systematic versus haphazard language growth
DRAFT - V1 - 06.17.2014

10. भा
षा
नी
ति
Declining language proficiency in India –
both, English and Indian languages
• India slipping from 14 to 21 in international rankings of
English language proficiency among non-native English
speakers.
• Yet, the rush to English-medium schools grows in India –
even where there is no English spoken in home
environment.
• Rush to English-medium producing school graduates who
are linguistic cripples
• They can express themselves neither in their own language nor with fluency
in English.
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11. भा
षा
नी
ति
English-medium privilege in India is
engineered
• State policy creates English-medium privilege
• People don’t “want” to study in English-medium but the
rush is because
• Massive government-run higher education sector privileges English
• High economic value courses, engineering, medicine, MBA exclusively
in English
• Government websites, higher education website, resources, largely in
English
• Explicit policies set forth in the infamous Macaulay minute
have not been reversed
• The myth that the rest of the world operates likes this when
it doesn’t
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12. भा
षा
नी
ति
The crucial need for intervention – Economy
not “heritage”
• Prakritization – the process of using Indian languages across
all disciplines and fora.
• Prakritization will boost the economy and maximizing our
human resource development.
• It will capitalize on and project soft power.
• It will create stronger, more relevant emphases in social
sciences
• It is a futuristic step that capitalizes on the scientific nature
of Indian languages on the advantages of Sanskrit.
• Language policy based only on “preserving heritage” is
backward looking, and will lead to the death of Indian
languages.
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13. भा
षा
नी
ति
Soft power of language
• Language carries and projects culture
• Major push by world civilizations for their languages
• China has a massive scholarship program for foreign students to learn
Mandarin
• France funds and project using Alliance Francaise
• Saudi Arabia funds Middle East and massive push for Arabic studies in its
circles of influence
• US and UK project soft power via Anglicization
• Fund international awards and created native “celebrities”
• Arundhati Roy gets “Bookers”, Pankaj Mishra, $150K Yale awards
• Ford Foundation funds research for how English yields better salaries in India
• Goal is to keep India and its intellectuals in the Anglo-Saxon cultural orbit
• India not capitalizing on “pull” generated by yoga/new-age movement
and Indian film industry
DRAFT - V1 - 06.17.2014

14. भा
षा
नी
ति
How English-obsession holds back India’s
computer literacy
China India
Literacy 95% 74%
English literacy 0.73% 20% (5% fluent)
Internet Users 40% 11%
DRAFT - V1 - 06.17.2014
• In China, computer usage is learned in Chinese.
• In India, to be computer literate you first have to
be English-literate.
• India’s English-obsession has created unnecessary
barriers for computer learning.

15. भा
षा
नी
ति
Continued English language privilege in
India’s Institutions
•UPSC Examinations
• English-language comprehension section compulsory.
• Move to make UPSC exam English-only in 2013 was
backed-out after public outcry.
•The Armed Forces
• Officer Cadre is English-speaking while lower rungs are
Indian language speakers – language apartheid.
•The Legal System
• Prakrits only in lower courts – mainly English in higher
courts.
• Law is codified in English and its idiom. Judicial Reform
must include language re-standardization.
• Central government laws and policies framed in English
DRAFT - V1 - 06.17.2014

16. भा
षा
नी
ति
Consequences of Current System
• Cost of re-education to a different language for higher
studies.
• Does a child in Japan or South Korea or China face this?
• Massive underdevelopment of Human Resources.
• English-obsession holds back India’s Computer literacy
• Keeps India poor and erodes self-confidence of the masses
• Declining Language proficiency in India – both, English and
Indian languages!
• The world asks – “English or Hinglish? Which will India choose?
• Haphazard versus Systematic language policy
• Continuation of colonization through language.
• Inability to project India’s own soft power – lost
opportunities.
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17. भा
षा
नी
ति
Part 3: Policy Recommendations
A comprehensive and nationally coordinated policy for all languages
DRAFT - V1 - 06.17.2014

18. भा
षा
नी
ति
Aims of the New Language Policy - 1
•Boost the economy with broad-based access to
professional education in Prakrits without language
discrimination.
•Spread English as a 2nd language in Prakrit-medium
schools, remove glass ceiling of English-medium
education.
•Equal access for Prakrit-medium candidates in all
civil services and judiciary.
•Strengthen the Prakrits’ global competitiveness via
national-level co-ordination.
DRAFT - V1 - 06.17.2014

19. भा
षा
नी
ति
Aims of the New Language Policy - 2
• A national Sanskrit-based technical vocabulary to strengthen
Indian languages, and deepen linkages with related
civilizations to tap classical knowledge bases.
• Create an environment conducive to cross-pollination
between Indian languages based on the common Sanskrit
foundation.
• Remove barriers to learning multiple Indian languages (such
as different scripts) in order to expand the reading base and
encourage interoperability.
• Facilitate study and research of the social and political
sciences in Indian languages in order to balance the
dominant Western viewpoint and control of these
disciplines.
DRAFT - V1 - 06.17.2014

20. भा
षा
नी
ति
Use European Union Language Policy as
template
• India is bigger than all of Europe, with 1.25 billion people vs 750
million
• Indian languages have a bigger base of native speakers
• European Union recognizes 24 official languages, all public
communication, laws released in all the languages
• Each country has engineering, medicine, law, business in its own
languages
• Yet, there is a European parliament and legal system that functions
well
• Internally European Union conducts business in German, French and
English.
• Most European languages draw on Latin vocabulary, as Indian
languages draw on Sanskrit
DRAFT - V1 - 06.17.2014

21. भा
षा
नी
ति
Indian union
• Each state to have full fledged engineering, medicine, law, including
courts in their own language with national coordination of common
technical vocabulary
• Central laws should be released in all Indian languages, drawing on
this Sanskrit-based common vocabulary
• Language translation services should be available in all courts and
Supreme Court so pleadings can be done in any official language of
choice.
• The common Sanskrit vocabulary should aim towards transitioning
towards Sanskrit as the language of the central government with
Hindi used on a transitional basis.
• Common script and technical vocabulary will lead to higher
interoperability
DRAFT - V1 - 06.17.2014

22. भा
षा
नी
ति
Every Child in their Mother Tongue
DRAFT - V1 - 06.17.2014
Enabling a complete ecosystem for Prakrits

23. भा
षा
नी
ति
A Sanskrit-based Technical
Vocabulary
• Apart from Technology resources, India also has classical
Sanskrit as a Cultural resource to support language diversity.
• Sanskrit is a meta-language – a platform to support
multilingual civilization.
• Sanskrit is being used as a language for semantic networks
(to express “meaning”) in Computer Science
• Standardization of technical vocabulary for the sciences and
humanities across all regional languages.
• Sanskrit and Prakrits mutually enhance one another and
create an ecosystem.
DRAFT - V1 - 06.17.2014

24. भा
षा
नी
ति
Creating Indian Language Professional
Education
•Engineering, medicine, MBA in Indian languages
• IIM’s, IIT’s, Engineering Colleges, Medical colleges
• Have parallel local language-medium instruction on same
campus
•Equal access in all competitive examinations CAT,
JEE, UPSC, Defence services, the Bar, etc.
•Develop an international Sanskrit-based technical
vocabulary
• Having a vocabulary and translation institute
• Words in English can be parenthetical
• Invite scholars from Malaysia, Thailand, Nepal, Sri Lanka,
etc
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25. भा
षा
नी
ति
Language in the Education System –
(i) School level
•2-language formula at Primary level:
• Prakrit compulsory with either English or Sanskrit as 2nd
• Computer Literacy through native Prakrit language
•3-language proficiency at High School level:
• Fully functional in at least one Prakrit
• Basic spoken Sanskrit and grammar
• Functional English with emphasis on reading
comprehension and writing vs literature
• Curriculum includes common structure and introduction
to all Indian languages
•Social Studies at Secondary School level
• Use Sanskrit terminology as primary
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26. भा
षा
नी
ति
Language in the Education System –
(ii) Higher Education
• Higher education in all disciplines to be made available in the
Prakrits.
• All diplomas, bachelors degrees and graduate degrees must
demonstrate subject-specific proficiency in a Prakrit.
• Sanskrit as an optional subject for technical, professional
education.
• Engineering & Medicine to use English/Latin technical terms
with parenthetical Sanskrit equivalents.
• Sanskrit a compulsory subject for all subjects related to
humanities such as law, sociology, political science, journalism,
history, etc.
• Humanities must use Sanskrit/Prakrit terminology as primary.
• Unified Prakrit-English textbooks – English terms to have Prakrit
equivalents in parentheses and vice versa.
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27. भा
षा
नी
ति
Script Unification
• Scripts have evolved based on technology and political
expedience.
• Most Indian languages are based on a common underlying
‘varna-mala’. Like European languages, they can easily
adapt to common script.
• Move towards a common script will
• Make it easy to learn multiple Indian languages
• Promote cross-language interoperability
• Promote national unification
• Options for a Common Script:
• Enhanced Devanagari++
• An older, ancestor Indic script not in use currently
• A newly invented script best tailored to new technological devices
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28. भा
षा
नी
ति
Government Publications and
Communications
• Central Government websites, publications and
communications
• Mandatory to be in Prakrits and Sanskrit, English optional
• E.g. Canadian government website must also be in French by law
• National Language: start with a common Sanskrit vocabulary,
script and move towards Sanskrit as link language.
• State websites, publications and communications
• Mandatory to be in State Language, must have common script version
• Language of legislation and legal system (priority to be given to Prakrit
texts in case of ambiguity).
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29. भा
षा
नी
ति
Private Sector Compliance
•Product labeling - mandatory Indian language
labeling
• Medicines, Films, Food products
•Language of services (must be offered in the
Prakrits).
•Language of commercial signing (Prakrit required).
•Labour relations & business (businesses wanting to
deal with the state must apply for Prakritization
programs).
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30. भा
षा
नी
ति
Respect for Regional Dialects
•Let states recognize additional Indian languages and
dialects
• Konkani, Marwari, Bhojpuri, Avadhi, Magadhi etc.
• In State language curriculum
• Allow primary school exchange in local dialect
• Let child feel their own dialect is recognized and honored in
school, rather than making it rustic or inferior.
• Students must feel pride in local dialects rather than consider it rustic or
inferior to any standardized language.
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31. भा
षा
नी
ति
Adapting “Indian English”
• Standardizing Roman transliteration of Indian languages
• Spell checkers, other tools
• Should be in software as “Indian English”
• Use Sanskrit terminology for social and political concepts
within Indian English. E.g., “dharma” instead of “religion”.
• Law should be codified using Sanskrit and Prakrit
terminology. These terms should be used even when English
is used in courts.
DRAFT - V1 - 06.17.2014

32. bhashaneeti.org
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