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Articles by Papia SenguptaSubscribe to Papia Sengupta

NEP 2020 and the Language-in-Education Policy in India

Vol. 56, Issue No. 43, 23 Oct, 2021
Papia Sengupta

The National Education Policy of India 2020 is a significant policy document laying the national-level strategy for the new millennium. It is ambitious and claims universal access to quality education as its key aim, keeping with the Sustainable Development Goal 4 of the United Nations Agenda 2030. One of the highlights of the NEP is its emphasis on mother tongue education at the primary levels in both state- and privately owned schools. The present paper critically assesses the NEP 2020, primarily in relation to the language-in-education policy. The paper argues that it presents a “contradiction of intentions,” aspiring towards inclusion of the historically disadvantaged and marginalised groups on the one hand, while practising a policy of aggressive privatisation and disinvestment in public education on the other.

 

Can Ideas Be Deleted?

Vol. 56, Issue No. 18, 01 May, 2021
Papia Sengupta

The recent reduction in the secondary and higher secondary school curriculum by the Central Board of Secondary Education has resulted in relief among most students while drawing criticism from teachers, scholars and academics who see a method into the presumably random deletion of topics to reduce the workload of students. The CBSE clarified that these are one-time changes resultant of the extraordinary situation arising from COVID-19. This article raises the critical question whether removing important conceptual notions as secularism, federalism and citizenship can lead to deletion of these ideas from the political discourse and public memory.

 

Hindi Imposition: Examining Gandhi’s Views on Common Language for India

Vol. 54, Issue No. 44, 09 Nov, 2019
Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement on making Hindi as a unifying language for the country had stirred up a fresh controversy on the issue of a “single” language. In his tweet, the minister appealed to Indians to work towards making Gandhi and Patel’s dream of one language came true. But, such an assertion about Gandhi is not fully correct. Though he wanted a common language for the country, but that language was Hindustani written in Devanagari and Persian script. The present-day Hindi, however, is markedly different from Hindustani, the admixture of Hindi and Urdu, which Gandhi had advocated.

Impulsive Imposition: Language and Politics of Majoritarianism in India

Vol. 52, Issue No. 52, 30 Dec, 2017
The declaration of making Bengali and Malayalam languages compulsory in state-run schools in West Bengal and Kerala has been seen as a step to promote regional languages in India. This article argues that these are reactionary steps to the centre's rigorous policy of promoting Hindi along with the larger agenda of negating federal principles. Such policies threaten the diversity and federalism of India. The states' fear of the central government's ideology of monopolising faith, education, and language will adversely affect the Indian political system, which is based on pluralism and accommodation. The policies of the centre as well as states should be viewed with precaution as they further advance the politics of majoritarianism.

Endangered Languages: Some Concerns

Vol. 44, Issue No. 32, 08 Aug, 2009
Papia Sengupta

A recent UNESCO report indicates that India has the largest number of endangered languages in the world. A matter of concern, besides the absolute numbers, is the distribution of these endangered languages across number of speakers. The languages under threat include both scheduled, non-scheduled as well as official languages of some of the states. Policies for protecting and promoting the entire range of endangered languages are needed if the linguistic diversity of India is to be preserved.

Linguistic Diversity and Disparate Regional Growth

Vol. 43, Issue No. 33, 16 Aug, 2008
Papia Sengupta, T Ravi Kumar

Disparate regional growth in India has seen economically faster growing "minority" cultural groups demanding a change in the horizontal devolution formula instituted in the federal system. This has created the possibility of friction between majority and minority cultural groups in the union of states. A new multicultural approach towards federalism is therefore necessitated which takes cognisance of this fact.

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