Maternal Affairs

told in a reader’s Digest Once it happened that a child while filling the form asked his mother to open her mouth. Peeping over the child’s shoulder, the parents found “pink” confidently written in place of “mother tongue.” Earlier the United Nations had resolved to mark 21 February, the date chosen by idea-sponsor Bangladesh, as International Mother Language Day to celebrate and promote linguistic diversity. Today, the appeal of the concept is such that India’s right-wing government, seen as bent on Hindi uniformity across the country, is going with the flow. Citing findings that primary education is best delivered in a child’s home language, Home Minister Amit Shah spoke on the occasion to explain why our new policy emphasized phonetically familiar schooling. He also urged Indians to “take a pledge to make maximum use of our mother tongue”. However, on its disqualifying benefits, the evidence is unclear. Languages ​​exhibit large network effects, with lingua franca providing top value. In globalized times, English has a distinct edge in its global reach. While diversity is important, we need linguistic equality beyond the color of our tongues.