Confronting the Raj

This chapter looks at English in India throughout wavering national policies shaped by a lingering caste mindset, a growing class system tied to language, a vast multilingual landscape, and a nationalist government seeking to unite the country through Hindi. It considers the compromise in the 1949 constitution naming Hindi as the official though not the national language, while English has continued as a “subsidiary official language” under the Official Languages Act of 1963. Focusing on education, the chapter examines the preference among parents for their children to learn through English. It delves into the proliferation of private schools, including low-fee schools where the quality of English teaching is especially poor. It discusses the 2009 Right to Education Act and its failed attempt to impose standards and equalize access. It further addresses longstanding disagreements between Hindi and non-Hindi states on using Hindi or English as the country’s “link” language and recent reforms in the Three Language Formula that make only fleeting reference to English despite the vital role of English in the economy.