No, the link does not go through 10, Janpath, New Delhi. This post is on something a lot more
secular, like the ATMs in Vatican City [1] and a message stuck to the walls
just outside the doors of an Indian public sector unit.
See
for yourself.
While
there is someone to criticize the fact that instructions at the Vatican City ATM
are given in Latin - Cash dispensers in
Vatican City are, incidentally, unique in providing the option of instructions
in Latin – there is none to question the claims in the PSU’s claims.
The
fact is the contracts given out by the PSU are in English! I think it is
important for the PSU to follow its own claims / dictats / recommendations.
I
had to let out a throaty, sneering laugh when I read that Hindi is an easy
language to work with! May be it is, may be it is not, but the claim has to be
made by someone who has taken the effort to learn it. And, one does not take
any effort to learn a language if that were his or her mother tongue, which I
believe should be the case with the writer of this message.
I
have no problem in requesting (the tone of the last sentence) people to begin
interacting in Hindi. But, the claims that precede it give the game away. It is
about promoting one language while taking down all the others – if Hindi is
easy to learn, all the other languages are difficult, the inescapable
conclusion. So, the logic behind the use of Hindi is its ease of use. This,
besides being circular, is an untenable position.
It
is OK to promote a language in the interest of efficiency, however falsely this
may be reckoned, but only in a non-comparative way.
When
will people learn? The Vatican has not learned it. The Indian PSU is not
learning it. And, that is the link between Vatican and the Indian PSU: resistance to learning.
Raghuram
Ekambaram
References
3 comments:
How I hate these Hindi chauvinists. Will never forget the slogan in Kanpur's GPO - "Hindi na jan ne vala desh drohi hai". That central govt agencies post such BS always make my blood boil.
Now you know how contagious stupidity is, Amrit! Kanpur late '70s is Delhi 2012!
RE
These kind of assertions go through because that would have been the initial draft put up by the Hindi Officer ( someone whose raison de etre and drawing salary is knowing and working in that one language). Seniors who by default have to approve such publicity matter on file perhaps do not even look at the draft put up for approval and routinely lend their signature, (I suspect also because the entire noting seeking the approval is in Hindi too).So you have this kind of false claim that Hindi is the 'National' language. It is NOT. It is only the Official language.
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