Languages of India

We all know that India is a country of many languages, maybe one of the most diverse and varied in the world. But it is only after reading some literature from People’s Linguistic Survey of India that we knew that there are or rather, were, 780 languages in India but over a period of time, many have been wiped away and what have today is only 122 languages. This is a lot by any standards but to come down from 780 to 122 languages is shameful.

This painstaking work of counting and keeping track of the various languages in India is done by People’s Linguistic Survey of India. This organization conducted a survey, spread over four years and some 3000 volunteers, scouring around all over the country, to the remotest parts. Their survey has concluded that 220 Indian languages have disappeared in the last 50 years, and that another 150 could vanish in the next half century as speakers die and their children fail to learn their ancestral tongues.

This survey is huge – 35,000 pages and spread over 50 volumes. The first volume was released last year in September and last one is scheduled to come out in December 2014.

The objective of this Survey is to try and map the diversity of our country while trying to work out ways to preserve this rich culture. There has not been a survey of languages in the country for the last 80 years and no one really knows how many languages there really are in India. Also as per the findings, languages which are thriving and growing are Byari in Karnataka, Bhojpuri in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Khasi in Meghalaya, Mizo in Mizoram, Kumouni in Uttarakhand, Kutchhi in Gujarat and Mewati in Rajasthan. On the other hand, languages which are on the decline or close to distinction are Mehali in Maharashtra, Sidi in Gujarat,Majhi  in Sikkim (four people in one valley) and Dimasa in Assam.

This is a grand work by the Survey; hope we can do more to preserve the languages of our country instead of making it all into English, just as eating has today more about Dominos and McDonalds.