No medical school conducts courses in any of the Indian languages even though India has one of the oldest and most sophisticated traditions of medical knowledge and expertise. The medium of instruction and examination in all our schools of architecture as well as the course content is in English, even though India has an exceptionally well-developed and distinct architectural tradition of its own. No business management school would condescend to teach in any Indian language even though the entrepreneurial genius of our traditional business communities is legendary. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to find training manuals for plumbers, electricians or masons in Hindi, Marathi or Tamil. As a result, people who take to these occupations end up acquiring half-baked knowledge as apprentices on the job by observing the work of others, or by word of mouth.

India is one of the very few places in the world where pharmaceutical companies do not bother to write the names of the medicines they produce in any Indian language. Imagine what it means for those who are barely literate to decipher their prescriptions and understand the nature of treatment and medication prescribed to them. Our lawyers draft petitions in English on behalf of even those clients who do not know a word of English. Court proceedings, especially at the higher levels, are all carried out in English.

Unfortunately our political leaders do not consider this new source of inequality and disempowerment worth any attention because attacking this source of deprivation would require serious thought and effort There are no quickfixes here.

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