A weekly conversation on some topics that were on @HT_ED's mind.
| | | Good morning! | | Tongues, none forked We’re back to discussing languages: regional, foreign, and classical. Some months ago, I wrote about why I think Indians (at least some of them) obsess about language . Here’s what I said then: “…the Language Census of India, 2011 has some interesting data. The so-called Hindi belt is mostly mono-lingual. For instance, just around 11.45% of Uttar Pradesh’s population is bi-lingual. The proportion is even lower (10.9%) for Rajasthan, and only marginally better for Madhya Pradesh (13.51%), and Bihar (16.10%). The proportion is 28.3% for Tamil Nadu, although there are other large states that do even better: it is 51% for Maharashtra and 42% for Gujarat. To be sure, the proportion is low in Kerala (24.4%), but 9.5% of the state’s population is tri-lingual; the language census does not count tri-linguals in the bi-lingual population. The proportion of tri-lingual people in Uttar Pradesh is only 1.29%. It is around 3.3% in Tamil Nadu. Among large states, Maharashtra does well – 17.5% of its population is tri-lingual. The Hindi belt fares poorly in terms of both bilingualism and tri-lingualism as clearly shown in the maps in the Language Atlas of India, 2011 .” Earlier this week, my colleague Sanjay Maurya reported that the Union government spent ₹2,532.59 crore on the promotion of Sanskrit in the last decade, 17 times the combined spend on five other classical languages, and almost double the spending on even Hindi, Urdu and Sindhi combined. I have nothing against Sanskrit — it is one of only four languages I know (I am currently learning a fifth) — but this is money that could have been spent better. Anyone who at this point feels the urge to interject with “… but Sanskrit is the best language for coding according to NASA” should read more. As Pope wrote, “There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And drinking largely sobers us again.” Languages are dealt with in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. The Seventh Schedule demarcates the powers of the Union and the states, and it was controversially amended in 1976 (through the infamous 42nd amendment) moving several state subjects (including education) to the concurrent list. | | Turning back the clock That wasn’t the most contentious of the changes in the foundational document made through that amendment. That would be the change in the description of India in the Preamble, from a “sovereign democratic republic” to a “sovereign, socialist secular democratic republic”. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s Dattatreya Hosabale said on Thursday that the inclusion of the terms socialist and secular needs to be reviewed . The suggestion was seconded a day later by Union minister Jitendra Singh. The Congress has taken issue with Hosabale’s suggestion. I believe it is time to review not just that, but also other changes introduced by the 42nd amendment, especially those in the Seventh Schedule. The fraying of the federalist framework envisaged by the Constitution can be traced to these changes. The 42nd amendment was passed during the Emergency, the 50th anniversary of which was marked on June 25. | | 50 years on If the Emergency remains relevant today, it is because it cast and continues to cast a long shadow over politics. As our columnist Prashant Jha wrote , “no other single event in India’s post-independence history has had more dramatic political consequences in the immediate term, than the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi exactly fifty years ago.” He went on to detail these changes — in the relationship between the State and its citizens (ending the “almost instinctive faith” that it was “an instrument of good”); and in political culture, alignments, and leadership. To be sure, as my colleagues Nishant Ranjan and Roshan Kishore pointed out , the Congress’ loss in the 1977 general election was because of an united Opposition which turned that election into the most polarised in India’s history, with an Effective Number of Parties (a measure that indicates fragmentation of the vote, with a higher share signifying more fragmentation) of just 2. In contrast, even the 2024 general election saw an ENOP of 2.4. ENOP is a good measure of polarisation; just as aggregate rainfall is a poor one of the Southwest Monsoon’s performance. | | Delhi’s missing monsoon The headline numbers are impressive. Since this monsoon arrived early (May 24), my colleague Abhishek Jha looked at rainfall from that date till June 26 and found that the aggregate rainfall in this 34-day period was almost 35% more than the Long Period Average for the same period, and the sixth highest ever. But he also found that while there was excess (20% more than LPA) rain in 52% of India’s geographical area, there was a deficiency (20% less than LPA) in 24%. And by visually comparing maps from 1961, he concluded that this year may have seen the ninth longest pause in the monsoon (20 days). But as I write this on a sunny Friday evening, the big mystery is the missing monsoon in Delhi. As the monsoons tracker of the Indian weather office shows, the monsoon has set in everywhere else except a small pocket that includes Delhi, and a bit of Rajasthan and Haryana. Delhi may be missing the monsoon (for now), but India is missing something else. | | India’s missing tennis players Time was when tennis lovers in India would look forward to Wimbledon (the Grand Slam starts Monday). That’s because Indians played well on grass, and the country boasted a handful (and only a handful) of players who had the ability to make the cut, or, at least surprise top seeds. That’s no longer the case now. Why? One reason could be the fact that Indians have moved on from grass courts; the second, a theory first posited by my former colleague Kunal Pradhan, could be that an entire generation (even two) of players realised that they could build more successful careers in doubles, with most giving up entirely on singles . | | | | Were you forwarded this email? Did you stumble upon it online? Sign up here. | | | | | | Get the Hindustan Times app and read premium stories | | | | | | View in Browser | Privacy Policy | Contact us You received this email because you signed up for HT Newsletters or because it is included in your subscription. Copyright © HT Digital Streams. All Rights Reserved | | | | | 
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