English an Obstacle in the Development of Native Languages and Culture
English is an Obstacle in the Development of All Indian regional Languages Before independence, our rulers-the British had a definite policy in keeping us uneducated. They had seen a successful experiment in Africa, naming it the Dark Continent, a overpopulated teeming mass of handy slave like labour who never questioned their authority, asked for their rights or objected to be treated worse than animals. All because of their lack of literacy. The advantage with India was that 80% of our population resided in the villages, with an overwhelming majority dependent on agricultural farm for food and income. It was also in the interest of the landowners and moneylenders to have the farmers illiterate so that they could be exploited, their possessions grabbed and exhorbitant interests charged on petty loans. This is how these farmers ended up as bonded labour over a period of time. Thus exploitation has been going on for centuries and it is only recently that the stigma of adult education is being gradually eroded. The advantages of literacy is now being realized even in the villages and the concerted efforts over national television channels have been effective. Most of the government aided schools all over India use the regional languages as their mode of education, with English as a subject in elementary form. The general atmosphere of indiscipline together with political and bureaucratic interference leads to lack of quality education and these students find it out of their depth when they go in for professional courses. The basic problem being the lack of development of regional languages vis-à-vis subjects of science and technology. The books of regional language on varied subjects of science such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Calculus, Statistics and Information Technology have not been developed to the level of books in the English language. The usage of words relating to technical terms in