Mother tongue, English and Progress

There is overall consensus over a fact that for development or progress we have to (rather must) use English instead of our mother tongue. We have neglected our languages for long and supported English and after 50 years no one is analysing benefits of English.

One opinion is that if we would have encouraged our own languages, we would have been lagging behind like African or Arabic countries. Then I saw figures. When we consider per capita income (PPP) Saudi Arabia ranks 27, South Africa ranks 45 and India ranks 93.Average lifespan in Saudi Arabia is 67.In South Africa it is 64 and in India it is 57. In terms of literacy Saudi ranks 120, S.A ranks 97and India ranks 136!!

So above opinion is certainly laughable. Now someone may say that this progress of Saudi or SA is due to English only!!But fact book informs us that in both countries education including science education is taught in Arabic and Africanise respectively.

Now experts point their fingers to Japan. This is a myth that English has replaced Japanese .English was used to develop Japanese especially for science education. If Japan was miracle of 70s, china is miracle of 80s and 90s.China has developed its own space programme and nuclear weapons. Not a single Chinese scientist can talk English fluently. After North Korea crisis, China has emerged as a de facto power in Asia.

Someone may argue you can not compare a colonised country with a relatively free country. This is a valid point. Let us compare India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Bangladesh. All of these countries were under British occupation and liberated in 1947.In 1947, development in all these countries was more or less same.

Country	Lifespan(in Years)
	Women	Men	Average
India	58	57	57
Pakistan	57	56	56
Bangladesh	54	55	54
Myanmar	61	57	59
Sri Lanka	74	68	71

Country	Per Capita Income (Rank)
India	93
Pakistan	76
Bangladesh	91
Myanmar	Not available
Sri Lanka	66

Above facts show that India is lagging in every aspect. When we consider HDI India ranks 127. (Now every body is celebrating as it has increased to 126!!!)

There is propaganda in India that without English, development in science tech is not possible. In terms of expenditure and no of scientists India ranks 4^th, in terms of no of papers India ranks 11^th.But In terms of quality of papers India ranks 70.India ranks 54^th in IT but Pakistan ranks 55!

Critics may point out that growth in IT was possible only due to English. But what jobs are we getting? Programming .Not because we can talk English but also we charge less cost!

Export of cheap labour can not be considered as an indicator of growth in a country. Actually reverse is true. But larger question is whether we should continue our policy of “everywhere English” for few jobs? Without speaking English real rates of wages are increasing in Japan and China. Everyone who wanted to do a business in Japan must learn Japanese.

South Korea, Germany, Russia, France, china and Italy are major IT powers. To get some job in these countries we must learn respective languages. So entire argument of English essential for computer related jobs is flawed. What is the result? We tend to recognise only English as universal language. We are largely ignorant about other languages. We do not know Spanish which may become language of USA after 25 years. We do not know Chinese. Do we know Hindi or Tamil? Other countries are acting fast. Oxford University teaches Marathi! America is learning Arabic.

Now we have CII report as a proof. It says “Few IT companies have invested in creating their own intellectual property. Soon Indian IT will be competing with lower cost countries. This is not sustainable preposition. Important markets like France, Germany, Japan and China are not yet tapped “

Conclusion is we are at a bottom in South Asia. Advocates of English may suggest reasons like population and democracy. Bottom line is that people who do not want to make it possible to use their own languages can not progress in any other sector.