Protest against imposition of Hindi/Modern Indian languages upon North-East students
23 March 2013
Today NEFIS (North-East Forum for International Solidarity) organized a massive demonstration consisting of around 200 people to protest against the imposition of Hindi/Modern Indian languages upon the students of the North-East, to most of whom these languages are alien. This being an issue that concerns all the students from the North-East and other marginalized communities of our country NEFIS took the initiative to organize a joint protest of students from all the communities across the North-East. We gathered at 2pm at the Vivekanand Statue, Faculty of Arts, Delhi University and held a public meeting.
Speakers from various different communities of the North-East spoke to the gathering and condemned the chauvinist tendency of the University administration. This was followed by the raising of slogans and a procession was taken out up to the front gate of Arts Faculty where it was stopped by a bus load of policemen. The dean and the proctor came and tried to disrupt the meeting. At this a scuffle broke out during the course of which the deputy dean passed a racist remark which enraged all present.
The gathering then refused to submit a memorandum and send a delegation to the university administration until they apologized for the racist remark. After two hours of active sloganeering the deputy dean finally came and apologized to us. After this we sent a ten member delegation consisting of representative of many communities of the North-East including Assamese, Nagas, Meities, Kukis, Tangkhuls, Aos etc and even a Tamil delegate.
The administration gave assurance to the delegates that they would look into the matter and asked them to come again on Monday. Subsequently the forum decided to give a call for protest on Monday again and continue the struggle till our demands are accepted. We finished our meeting with slogans like ‘People United Shall Always be Victorious.’
In the coming academic year Delhi University administration is going to introduce a new syllabus according to which it would become compulsory for students of all courses to do a foundational course during the first year of their graduation. In this foundation course they would be required to opt for a language which would either be Hindi or one of the Modern Indian languages (MILs). It is our opinion that the compulsory imposition of Hindi and other MILs would cause immense hardships for the students who belong to communities that speak neither Hindi nor one of the MILs.
There would be problems even for the communities that speak MILs like Manipuri, Assamese etc because the infrastructure and faculty strength for these languages is too small to be able to cover the whole of university. This step amounts to nothing less than cultural chauvinism on part of the university administration directed against the communities from the North-East because most of them are not adept in any of the languages of the mainland India.
The new syllabus, if it is allowed to come into force, would put the students of the North-East under serious disadvantage vis-ŕ-vis students of rest of the country. This gross neglect of the special needs of the students of the North-East is not a new thing. It is our observation that in the framing of university polices the interests of the students from the North-East is always neglected. It is for this reason that we made this fresh instance of bias an occasion for us to rise above community lines and put forward a united protest to safeguard our common interests.
Yours Sincerely
Chinglen Khumukcham
NEFIS (North-East Forum for International Solidarity)
To,
The Vice-Chancellor,
University of Delhi,
Delhi-110007.
Memorandum 22.3.2013
Subject- The issue of compulsory course in Hindi/MILs in the proposed new syllabus leading to linguistic discrimination on part for the university toward students of the marginalized communities.
Respected Sir,
We are submitting this memorandum to register our deeply felt sense of resentment against the new course structure that is to be introduced by the University next academic year onward. It has come to our notice that as per the requirements of the new course structure it would become compulsory for every student to learn either Hindi or one of the Modern Indian Languages (MIL) as part of the foundational course. Sir, we are certain that your wise office is aware of the fact that according to your understanding MILs consist only of the languages recognized by the 8th schedule of the Constitution of India which consists of Assamese/Axomiya, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi Kannada Kashmiri Konkani Maithili Malayalam Manipuri (also Meitei or Meithei), Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.
Even from this narrow list, the university has the infrastructure/faculty to offer only a very small number of languages. This means that the languages of a number of communities from all parts of India and particularly the North-East would not be offered to the students by the university. We consider this dismal situation a result, not of the inadequacy of our respective languages but a by-product of the long standing bias and neglect on part of the government of India and the respective state governments in ensuring that the distinct cultural identity and dignity of the marginal/minority groups and communities is preserved.
The fact that the languages of so many communities/marginal groups is not given due recognition is not accidental but the unfortunate result of the insolent attitude of an arrogant state that chooses to impose its culture and language upon marginal groups/communities in the manner of a haughty conqueror. It is sad that now the university too has taken cue from the state in promoting cultural chauvinism.
Universities should ideally be the centers of progressive ideas and take the lead in rooting out the biases rampant in the society but unfortunately Delhi University is failing to live up to this expectation. The name ‘university’ itself suggests that it cannot belong to a narrow clique or vested interest group. A university is a place where all kinds of ideas come together and are allowed to co-exist and vie with each other. Through our protest we wish to impress upon your office that it is against the very spirit of the ‘university’ that a small clique/council/office/bureaucrats be allowed to legislate upon its future.
This is particularly so in the present case because the imposition of the languages of majority/dominant communities upon students would affect the fates of not just the present lot of students studying in the university. This in fact is a decision that would affect students to-be in future too and moreover students to-be not just from Delhi or the North-India but from all parts of the country. Given the wide scope of the ramifications of this decision, it is beyond our comprehension as to why it is being taken in such a peremptory, secretive and bureaucratic manner.
The gravity of this issue demands that a decision be taken only after rigorous debates, in consultation with wide sections of the society and keeping in mind the particular needs of the marginalized groups/communities. We must declare any attempt to the contrary as a step emanating out of the overweening ambitions of a narrow clique too eager to earn laurels through the implementation of speedy ‘reforms’. Through this memorandum, we wish to convey our warning to your office and your bureaucratic clique that we will not tolerate this chauvinist degeneration of the university syllabus.
Our demands:
1. Any clause that seeks to impose the compulsion to learn an alien language upon students, whose languages are not yet being offered by the university, should be implemented only after adequate discussions and in consultation with the broad sections of the society, particularly its marginalized/vulnerable sections.
2. Take immediate steps to develop the infrastructure, adequate faculty and syllabus for the languages hitherto not offered by the university.
3. Till the time the above becomes possible remove the clause of compulsory course in Hindi/MILs in the new syllabus for the students whose native languages are not covered by it.
Yours sincerely,
* This info was sent to e-pao.net by North-East Forum For International Solidarity who can be contacted at nefis(dot)delhi(at)gmail(dot)com
This Press Release was posted on March 23, 2013.
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