3. ""The flexibility shown by Indian political leaders helped our country avoid the kind of situation that Sri Lanka finds itself in."" Explain the statement with regard to the language policy followed in our country.
Answers
Answer:
(i) Sri Lanka believes in majoritarianism whereas in India equal rights are given to minorities.
(ii) In Sri Lanka, Sinhala is the only official language, whereas in India though Hindi is the official language but along with Hindi, 21 other languages have been recognised as Scheduled Languages.
(iii) In Sri Lanka, the government protects and fosters Buddhism, whereas India is a secular country.
Federalism in India is different from Sri Lanka because unlike Sri Lanka, the leaders of our country adopted a very cautious attitude in spreading the use of Hindi. According to the Constitution, the use of English for official purposes was to stop in 1965. However, many non- Hindi speaking States demanded that the use of English continue. In Tamil Nadu, this movement took a violent form. The Central Government responded by agreeing to continue the use of English along with Hindi for official purposes. Many critics think that this solution favoured the English- speaking elite. Promotion of Hindi continues to be the official policy of the Government of India. Promotion does not mean that the Central Government can impose Hindi on States where people speak a different language. The flexibility shown by Indian political leaders helped our country avoid the kind of situation that Sri Lanka finds itself in.