English is no longer a foreign language, it should always be a communication language: Shetty
Chennai: Retired IAS officer and former vice-chancellor of the Indian Maritime University K Ashok Vardhan Shetty on Saturday strongly opposed the imposition of Hindi and insisted that English should be recognised as India’s permanent link language. Shetty argued that history has proved that India’s unity lies not in linguistic uniformity but in embracing diversity. “From potatoes and tomatoes to coffee and tea, none of the essential ingredients of Indian cuisine are native to India. They came to us only a few centuries ago, yet today they are an integral part of our culture. Similarly, English is no longer a foreign language. After 250 years, it is a completely Indian language,” he said.
He stressed that both Hindi and English are equally foreign in origin, with Hindi belonging to the Indo-Aryan family and Tamil to the Dravidian family, but insisted that “the issue is not of foreignness but of utility.” He said English has proven indispensable as a global language, a medium of higher education, diplomacy and even in India’s freedom struggle. Calling the three-language formula of the National Education Policy 2020 “unrealistic and unwise”, Shetty urged schools to focus on increasing literacy in the mother tongue and English. He proposed to abolish the three-language requirement and recognise more languages by expanding the Eighth Schedule.
