Hindi as the Lingua Franca of India

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Hindi is an Indo-European language spoken mainly in North and Central India. It is part of a dialect continuum of the Indo-Aryan family as it is evident from it's boundaries which is prevalent in the form of Panjabi, Sindhi, and Gujarati in the northwest and west, in the form of Marathi in the south, in the form of Oriya in the southeast and in the form of Nepali in the North. Hindi is also referred to as a standardized register of Hindustani that was made the official language of India on January 26, 1965, although English and 21 other languages were also recognised as official languages by the Constitution of India. Article 343(1) of the Constitution of India recognizes Hindi script as the official language of the Union. Hindi is the predominant language in the states and territories of Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttaranchal, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh. It is also widely spoken the cities of Mumbai and Hyderabad. There is no clear demarcation of the borders of the Hindi-speaking region, as Hindi merges gradually into neighbouring languages.

Varieties of Hindi are minority languages in a number of countries, including Fiji, Mauritius, Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and United Arab Emirates. Hindi in the broader sense is the second-most spoken language in the world, after Mandarin. About 500 million people speak Hindi natively, in India and abroad, and the total number of people who can understand the language may be 800 million. According to 1991 census 40.22% of the Indian population can speak Hindi, and 77% of the Indians regard Hindi as "one language across the nation". More than 180 million people in India regard Standard Hindi as their mother tongue, making it the fourth-most spoken language in the world. Another 300 million use it as second language. Outside of India, Hindi speakers number 100,000 in the USA, 685,170 in Mauritius ,890,292 in South Africa, 232,760 in Yemen, 147,000 in Uganda, 8 million in Nepal, 5,000 in Singapore, 20,000 in New Zealand, 30,000 in Germany. .

Hindi has evolved from Sanskrit, by way of the Middle Indo-Aryan prakrit languages and Apabhramsha of the Middle Ages. Originally the term Hindustani ("of the land of the Hindus") was the name given by the Turco-Persian Mogul conquerors of India to Khariboli, the local form of Hindi at their capital, Delhi, and nearby cities. Hindustani gradually absorbed large numbers of Persian, Arabic and Turkic words, and with further Moslem conquest it spread as a lingua franca across northern India. It remained the primary lingua franca of India for the next four centuries, although it varied significantly in vocabulary depending to the local language. With the partition of India in 1947, the new states of Pakistan and India chose Persianized and Sanskritized registers of Hindustani as their national languages. These they called "Urdu" and "Hindi". Standard Hindi, the official language of India, is based on the Khariboli dialect of the Delhi region and differs from Urdu in that it is usually written in the indigenous Devanagari script of India and it is much less Persianized than Urdu. A more scholarly, Sanskritized form of Hindi developed primarily in Varanasi, the Hindu holy city and is based on the Eastern Hindi dialect of that region.

Hindi as the Lingua Franca of India

Lingua Franca is term that denotes - a common language used by speakers of different languages or a language used by people of diverse speech to communicate with one another, often a basic form of speech with simplified grammar. Hindi spread throughout North India as a contemporary lingua franca. Its speakers range from illiterate workers in large cities to highly educated civil servants. Many city dwellers learn Hindi as a second or third language even if they speak another regional language, such as Marathi, Bengali, or Gujarati. Hindi has acquired more importance than ever before as professionals have become increasingly mobile. And they have a great need to know Hindi as a means of communication. While those aspiring to a career advancement also need to learn standard Hindi. Speakers of other Indo-Aryan languages tend to chose Hindi for their third language in school because of similarities in grammar, vocabulary, or script with their own mother tongue and because it has a wider use than another regional language.

Hindi, especially in the less highly Sanskritized form used in everyday speech, is barely distinct from everyday Urdu, which before independence was called Hindustani. However, Hindi has long had it's users who were extended beyond the regions where it is the majority language. Hindi is also the Lingua Franca at pilgrimage sites in all regions and is used to deal with devotees from all parts of the country. It is used by wandering Hindu holy men in their discussions with each other and is used frequently in preaching. Many publishers issue Sanskrit classics on religion, astrology, medicine, and other subjects with Hindi translations, cribs, or commentaries to help purchasers who may not be confident of their Sanskrit ability. India's Cinema industry too patronises Hindi. Though the Cinema Industry is composed of cinemas in several other languages, the Hindi cinema dominates the Indian motion picture market and Hindi films are released all over the country without any subtitles or dubbing. There are other regional languages like Marwari (in Rajasthan) and Magadhi (in southern Bihar) that lack literary forms and are considered as variants of Hindi. Hindi now predominates in a number of states, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh, and in the National Capital Territory of Delhi.

Actual Status

In spite of Hindi being the National Official Language of India and in spite of being a base language for other Indian languages, Hindi is not actually Lingua Franca of India. The main reasons for this are:

Lack of Political Initiative - Political interest in promoting Hindi does not fall in the agenda of the Politicians. Neither does it find any place in a election manifesto. Certain sections of media itself has belief in this view too. The status of Hindi even in the Hindi speaking states has deteriorated over the last 50 years. The policy makers are not really successful in promoting it effectively. If Hindi is not getting due recognition in its own states, how can it attain the true status of an official language.

Regional Divide - Apart from the general divide between the North and the South, there is also a Linguistic Divide. South India is home to Dravidian states. These states are not really willing to readily accept Hindi as an official language. These states utilize their local languages for official purposes and English as the link language. In their opinion Hindi is the language of the underdeveloped rural areas of North India. Even when Hindi was made compulsory, the southern states did not accept it as it raised fears that it will threaten the identity of local languages. 'English ever, Hindi never.' became a popular slogan at that time. They will promote English but not Hindi.

Impassive Attitude - A major reason for the lack of interest in Hindi has has been brought about by the people themselves who have failed to give the language its due status. Instead English is being importance. People consider English language as a Symbol of modernization. Even after 50 year of India's Independence English remains as popular and perhaps even more popular than ever before. English is Worldwide accepted as an International Language. Therefore fluency in the language has become a status symbol. Knowledge of it provides self confidence and brightens one's job prospects. There is also an increase in the number of English medium public schools owing to this view, especially in the Hindi belt. Parents send their children to convent schools or give them an English medium public school background. An increase in the number of institutes which groom the students in English conversation is also on the rise.

Fluency in the national language has a great role in the integration of not only the students from across the country but also it's citizens as well. And it can become the lingua franca. Just like in many other countries, one of them being Thailand which fiercely promotes Thai Language as they willingly accord it a high status, India too needs to raise awareness on 'Be Indian, Speak Indian' philosophy. Hindi needs to be promoted and taught along with the regional languages. Some students are exceptionally good in their mother tongues but they should learn other languages like Hindi too. It will only add a gain to one's reputation. A greater emphasis on Hindi is the need of the hour. Hindi is necessary not just because it is the Official language but because it has the a bigger role, that of uniting, progressing and strengthening India on the platform of oneness owing to a common language.