Language Data of 2011 Census

What is the issue?

Recently, the Census of India made public the language data based on the 2011 Census.
It appears to inadequately reflect India’s linguistic composition, and is inconsistent with global ideas.

Why now?

What are the highlights?

Mother tongues - Citizens submitted 19,569 names of mother tongues, technically called “raw returns”.
However, authorities decided that of these, 18,200 did not match “logically”.
This was based on the previously known linguistic and sociological information.
The left out “raw returns” represent nearly 60 lakh citizens.
Because of the classification regime, their linguistic citizenship has been dropped.
A total of 1,369 names, called “labels”, were picked as “being names of languages”.
Others - In addition to these shortlisted “mother tongue” names, there were 1,474 other mother tongue names.
These were placed under the generic label “Others”.
These linguistic “Others” do have languages of their own.
But the classification system has not been able to identify what or which languages these are.
Scheduled - The 1,369 labels have been grouped further under a total of 121 “group labels”.
These group labels have been presented as “Languages”.
Of these, 22 are included in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution, called “Scheduled Languages”.
The remainder, 99, are “Non-scheduled Languages”.

How was language data diluted?

The 1961 census enumerated in full the languages in the country.
India learnt that a total of 1,652 mother tongues were being spoken.
Strikingly, this figure was fixed at only 109, in the 1971 Census.
The logic was that a language deserving respectability should not have less than 10,000 speakers.
This had no scientific basis but the practice continues to be followed.

What are the concerns?

Hindi - It is found that most of the groupings are forced.
E.g. under the heading “Hindi”, there are nearly 50 other languages.
Bhojpuri spoken by more than 5 crore people comes under “Hindi.”
It notably has its own cinema, theatre, literature, vocabulary and style.
Also, nearly 3 crore population from Rajasthan with its own independent languages is under Hindi.
The Powari/Pawri of tribals in Maharashtra and MP, Kumauni of Uttarakhand are also added to Hindi.
Clearly, the report shows an inflated figure on those speaking Hindi as their mother tongue.
There is a similar and inflated figure for Sanskrit.
This is done by counting the returns against the question about a person’s “second language”.
English - The use of English is not seen through the perspective of a second language.
Counting for this is restricted to the “mother tongue” category.
In effect, it brings down the figure substantially.
But a significant number of Indians use English as a utility language.
It is relevant across education, law, administration, media and health care.
To some extent it is the language of integration in this multilingual country.

Why is language significant?

Legacy - Language facilitates access to education, protecting livelihoods, preserving culture and knowledge traditions.
Because of its nature, a language is not visible and fails to concern anyone except its very last speaker.
Death of a language is covered in silence and when a language disappears it goes forever.
It takes with it the knowledge gathered over centuries and its unique world view.
UNESCO - UNESCO has progressively developed its vision of global linguistic diversity.
Significantly, it had debated “Multilingualism in the Context of Education for All”.
It has proclaimed and observed February 21 as International Mother Language Day.
In 2001, the ‘Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity’ acknowledged the linguistic heritage of humanity.
UNESCO has also brought out an Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger.
Thus, in the community of nations, the Indian census is bound to be discussed.

What lies ahead?

Failure to protect a language and its loss is indeed a form of violence.
The recent data seems to be helping neither educators nor policy makers or the speakers of languages themselves.
Language data should help in a greater inclusion of the marginal communities and not otherwise.
India’s linguistic diversity should become an integral part of the national pride.

Source: The Hindu