A bunch of civil service aspirants, who appear to be from Hindi-speaking states, have descended on the nation’s capital and have been engaging the Delhi police in street battles for several weeks in a reasonably well-coordinated fashion.
It is also clear they have mobilised some Opposition parties to voice their demands in Parliament. To begin with, it appeared that they basically wanted to have English scrapped from carrying any weight in the UPSC’s selection process for civil servants. The Modi government’s response so far seems intended to appease these future bureaucrat, who now look determined to press for more than his/her pound of flesh.
This is unfortunate, to say the least. When the government cravenly surrendered on the demand to neutralise English as a factor in the aptitude test for aspiring bureaucrats, the agitators demanded more. They have not given up their challenge to the selection process. Now it is clear they wish to dictate the design and format of the aptitude test. This is unheard of in the annals of examinations and selection processes.
The reaction to all this from non-Hindi states has been adverse, and we may be sliding in the direction of language-related tensions in the country — which we thought had been dealt with by the late 1960s — if the government is not watchful. Doing away with English — and the aptitude test asks for no more than Class 10-level acquaintance with the language — is a distinctly bad idea.
Many leading countries (say China and Russia), where English was not traditionally taught in schools, are racing to learn it to compete on equal terms globally, but the Hindi chauvinists seem determined to dump this asset. In India, English is the readily available tool to link people who don’t speak each other’s language. We must understand that the context has changed, and English is no longer the language of British colonialism.
Not knowing this language today is a handicap. Also, it must be said, UP and Bihar, the Hindi belt’s largest states, have given this country some of its best civil servants, and continue to be important catchment areas for the all-India services.
So what are the so-called Hindi guerrillas talking about? With important bypolls looming in UP and Bihar shortly, and only a few months down the line Assembly polls due in Jharkhand and Haryana, it appears the NDA government is taking a political view. It should instead think of maintaining a sturdy civil service.
