-: [rti4empowerment] Re: [Janshakti] Fw: Are we being ungrateful to Lord Macauley.

My problem is not with Hindi or Sanskrit or link language. My grouse is with the section that derides Macauley because they have nothing to show for themselves after his and British Raj moving on. Had it not been for Macauley our education system would have been far worse than it is. So would our economy ...... I mean had it not been for English, there would not be any Infosyis or HCL or TCS, and many other things. For that matter, had it not been for the British, our judicial system, roads, railways, electricity, towns, etc. would also have been much worse than they presently are. Unfortunately, we have failed to capitalise and build on and squandered the solid foundation the Britishers gave us.

But of course, this reader has much against the Congress and its past and present "leaders". Indira Gandhi squandered 2/3rds majority by her retrogade policies of "isms". Rajiv Gandhi was even worse ... he squandered a 90% majorty and went so far as to overturn SC ruling in Shahbanu case, and to boot out a very honest and capable Mr. VP Singh. Sonia Gandhi is in the same mould. Rahul is the worst, immature. They all lack the vision, they lack strategy but can think only in terms of tacticts and "schemes". One is happy it has been booted out, but unfortunately the BJP does not demonstrate the gumption to do the right things. Instead, thus far, it displays all the wrongs of the Congress: Sacking of honest vigilance officer in AIMS, de-teething Vigilance in Delhi, the election drama in Delhi, Swiss accounts, the many questionable faces inducted, the hair-brained "schemes" of Kayoto, bullet trains, statute, no action on pending cases against babus, failure to induct several-fold additional courts, etc., etc. There is too much talk, but little action (except like Congress, Manmohan Singh, Chidambram on the monetary/fiscal/industrial side but nothing on the administration-justice-police reforms side).

I think it is better for RSS-Irani-BJP types to stop worrying about trivalities and to concentrate on real issues of poverty, inflation, jobs, clean-responsive-cost effective administration and judicial systems, electrricity, water, schools, roads, hospitals (not the granite types), etc.

Victor

From: "Ramakrishna Chitrapu rkchitrapu@hotmail.com [Janshakti]" <Janshakti@yahoogroups.com>
To: India Force Yahoo Groups <janshakti@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, November 17, 2014 6:00 AM
Subject: RE: [Janshakti] Fw: Are we being ungrateful to Lord Macauley.

Well Mr Devinder.. what people were criticising... was not the english part of it...but I feel it is something different.
It was only Congress made things bad.. it has been their link language that was faulty... things were moving smooth as long as the Hindu was graduaally given importance but during 60's their stupid policy to put Hindi on the fast track
that made things flare up.. that the people of south can never forget. South Indians felt very comfortable with English. We shold appreciate how Indonesai developed a language which is a blend of languages which were in use in different parts of the country. 1947 was the best time to develop a language with Sanskrit as a base. By now there would have been a language
in the country acceptable to all.

Criticising Rahul was not for the language.. English is very much in use in south, more than in North will conrinue and cannot be got rid off. The whole world recognises it as the language of the world.

Now a stage has come when what ever Rahul says will be taken with a bucket of salt. People have lost faith in Congress. It does not command any respect. Time has come when it may be unceremoniously declared as a regional party. Let the party concentrate on its once strong fort UP and concentrate on regional development
and not talk of National Policies.. this is purely my personal opinion. May be right or wrong.
Ramakrishna

Each day is a little life: every waking and rising a little birth, every fresh morning a little youth, every going to rest and sleep a little death.
Arthur Schopenhauer

From: Janshakti@yahoogroups.com
To: Janshakti@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 18:58:07 +0000
Subject: [Janshakti] Fw: Are we being ungrateful to Lord Macauley.

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: "devinder.thakur@btopenworld.com" <devinder.thakur@btopenworld.com>
To: "ihro@yahoogroups.com" <ihro@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, November 16, 2014 6:55 PM
Subject: Are we being ungrateful to Lord Macauley.

Only day before yesterday Rahul Gandhi was speaking on why English was so necessary for India if it wants to make progress. He was at once criticised for being anti-Hindi. I think it I time that this issue be addressed openly and at a serious level.

The final verdict on Macauly's legacy comes from one of India's greatest historians, K M Pannikar  "It is the genius of this man ." he wrote "that gives life to modern India as we know it. He was India's new Manu , the spirit of modern law incarnate."

I think that Macauley's motives were more pragmatic than ideological as is sometime alleged in certain quarters. British administrators needed a link language to govern territories as linguistically diverse as Tamil Nadu, Bengal and Maharashtra. Almost two centuries on that administrative imperative for English remains stronger than ever before. Hindi, despite 70 years of vigorous promotion by the Central government is still spoken by less than half of India's population and remains more alien than English.

If one looks at India's modern history. Macauly rightly anticipated that English would give Indians rapid access to global advances in science, medicine and technology . Time has proved him right, as a whole swath of countries from Scandinavia to China , embrace English as their language of higher education. Macauley also envisaged that English would spread liberal political and economic values , eventually making them equals of their British rulers. And again history has proved him right when the Western-educated Indian lawyers led India into independence.

Pre-colonial Indian history has no equivalent of the Magna Carta. Without English India would have found it difficult to adopt the previously unknown concept of the rule of law, as distinct from the existing system of rule and religious taboos and sanctions. There would have been no judicial system in existence based on the equally foreign concept of equality before the law. And ultimately, without a unifying colonial administration with English as its lingua franca , there would have been no India as a political unit.

What is most valuable about our English heritage is precisely the reason why it is under attack from religious and cultural chauvinists .. The English language embodies and communicates liberal, secular and scientific thought. without the clumsy and cumbersome verbiage that Hindiwalas have had to invent to describe elementary aspects of the Constitution. English is our window to global movements, ideas and technology and our safeguard against narrow nationalism and arbitrary government. The real cleavage to day is not between English and Non-English speaking Indians but between a liberal, cosmopolitan and modern civil society and the religious extremists .. both Hindus and Muslims who want to return us to dark ages."

Devinder