What does the new currency look like? |
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The new notes have entered circulation from November 10. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) revealed the new denomination on November 8, and this series of notes have a completely new design. The notes are being published at Mysuru, Karnataka.
The new 500-rupee note is 66mm x150mm in size and stone grey in color. On the back side of the note, an image of the Red Fort with Indian flag has been placed. Other features include intaglio printing of Mahatma Gandhi portrait, Ashoka Pillar emblem, bleed lines, and the identification mark to enable the visually impaired person to identify the denomination. |
Why can the new note revive the old language debate? |
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A particular feature of the new notes is the use of Devnagari numerals on them. While this may seem like a minor change in the design of the currency notes, there are significantly larger issues at stake here.
Clearly, the order limits the proposed use of Devnagari numerals by central ministries to Hindi publications if there is a need for it. It is unclear why the government changed what was clearly a robust and established policy that adhered to the Constitution by including Devnagari numerals in the new notes. This may be seen as a way to fulfill the current government’s objective of widespread use of Hindi. Note: The Devnagari script has roots in the ancient Brahmi script family. It got developed during the 1st to 4th century CE. The script was in regular use by the 7th century CE and it was fully developed by about the end of first millennium. The use of Sanskrit in Nagari script in medieval India is attested by numerous pillar and cave temple inscriptions, including the 11th-century Udayagiri inscriptions in Madhya Pradesh. |
When does this issue appear unresolved? |
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Granville Austin, an American historian and a leading authority on the Indian Constitution, once described the form of numerals to be used (whether to use Nagari numerals or the Arabic numerals) as “the sorest point” of the language debate.
Article 343, however, also says that following the initial period, parliamentary legislation is required for the use of Devanagari numerals: “Notwithstanding anything in this article, Parliament may by law provide for the use, after the said period of fifteen years, of (a) the English language, or (b) the Devanagari form of numerals, for such purposes as may be specified in the law.” But the Official Languages Act of 1963, which effectively extended the status of English as an official language indefinitely beyond the 15 years stipulated in the constitution, has nothing to say about numerals. As no law has yet dealt with this issue, the constitutional provisions and those of the 1960 presidential order stand. It also indicates that the issue hasn’t been resolved in a definitive way which was supposed to be done through an appropriate legislation acceptable to all quarters of India. Note: The new currency notes have the international forum of numerals too, in addition to the Devnagri numerals. |
Where are the roots of the larger language debate of India? |
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Who said what during the discussions on India's official language? |
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On 10 December 1946, R.V.Dhulekar (member of Constituent Assembly from a Hindi-speaking province) declared:
After Independence, when the case was made for Hindi to be the sole national language during the Constituent Assembly debates, it was bitterly opposed. Representative of the opposition are these remarks of T. T. Krishnamachari of Madras:
As the opposition to Hindi grew stronger, Nehru tried to reassure the concerns of non-Hindi speakers. Speaking in the parliamentary debate on a bill introduced to include English in the Eighth Schedule, Nehru gave an assurance to them (on 7 August 1959):
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) view on Hindi’s qualifications for official language status was reflected in Annadurai's (DMK founder) brilliant response to the "numerical superiority of Hindi" argument:
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How does English provide a safe haven to accommodate India’s diversity? |
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Even though the idea of a standard national language is not new and has been toyed with by several countries in the past, India’s lack of homogeneity in this regard has been its greatest achievement.
India has the same constraint and the same opportunity. English is probably the only language that has no particular association with any particular community yet is widely spoken (or aspired to be spoken). In fact, India today has the second largest English-speaking population in the world (behind the US) and the country’s economic rise is largely because of this language. So much has been achieved even though hardly 11 per cent of India is conversant in English. As India indulges itself in globalization, the rise of English is inevitable. It is time leaders in India stop trying to standardize one Indian language which might seem like an imposition to non-speakers of that language, and instead focus on easing the communication between the diverse communities and regions in a language that is native to none. The idea is not to take away the peculiar cultural diversity of India but to create a system where every Indian is on an equal footing through ease of communication. |