English Vinglish

After its thumping electoral victory, the Bharatiya Janata Party interpreted the massive mandate as one for good governance and strong decision-making, implying it will deliver both. By caving in to pressure from predominantly Hindi belt political parties and excluding the English language skills component of the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) from being graded, it has failed on both counts. Already, emboldened by their win, agitators are pressing for the axing of the quantitative skills section as well, on the ground that this “discriminates” against humanities students! Worse, by accepting the demand for an all-party meet on the issue, it has shifted decisions about how candidates for civil services should be chosen from the ambit of educators and administrators into the realm of politics and politicians. This is singularly unfortunate. Our politicians have many admirable qualities, but the ability to look beyond immediate political gains is not one of them.

Language, particularly English, the language of our erstwhile colonial masters, is an emotive issue in India. Language also reshaped the contours of post-Independence India, with States being created on linguistic lines. Language — particularly the alleged ímposition of Hindi on non-Hindi-speaking States — saw a bitter North-South divide in the 1960s. It is therefore not surprising that the debate over whether or not aspirants to the civil services should be tested on basic English skills — which is what the CSAT attempted to do, when it was introduced in 2011 — has been clouded by issues of class, equality, inclusion, social mobility and, above all, power. Psephologist and Aam Aadmi Party ideologue Yogendra Yadav even used the term “linguistic apartheid” to describe the divide between English-speaking haves and non-English-speaking have-nots.

There is no dispute that the line that divides classes in India is English. But in the ideological heat of the debate, there are some simple, if unpleasant, truths that are overlooked. Whether we like it or not, English is the only genuine link language in our polyglot country. Moreover, it has entrenched itself as the language of higher administration, the judiciary, the corporate sector, and professions ranging from medicine to accountancy. We often either ignore or underplay the advantage it gives our human resources pool over competitors from other regions of the non-English speaking world. Better numeracy and English skills of our workforce enabled our IT sector gain an advantage in the global marketplace. The same skills are needed by the administrators of an aspiring global economic superpower as it engages with the world. Given the central role and overwhelming presence of government in our lives and the many developmental challenges to overcome, the bureaucracy is crucial to driving inclusive development. Simply dropping a key skill requirement in the name of inclusion is not the solution.