Greater exposure to the outside world has enabled Kashmiris to broaden their perspectives and to challenge beliefs and stereotypes about their own culture and identity. Many of these beliefs and stereotypes were imprinted on the Kashmiri psyche by centuries of oppression. By observing the nature of society in other places – whether they are other states of India or foreign countries – Kashmiris have noticed the pride and commitment with which the various nations and ethnic groups of the world adhere to their cultures and languages. This has made the Kashmiri people think about the neglect and inferiority complex that has surrounded their relationship with their mother tongue.
Since the resumption of elected government in Kashmir in 1997, activists and organisations have sprouted championing the cause of the Kashmiri language. Due to their efforts, the J&K Government has introduced Kashmiri as a compulsory subject in schools. Yet, even though the decision was taken in 2000, it has taken nearly a decade to implement it, and even now there are still many wrinkles to be ironed out.
Although the decision to introduce Kashmiri as a subject of study in schools is laudable, no-one seems to have thought about how Kashmiri can be made more relevant to formal contexts in the daily lives of people. After all, even though Kashmiri has never been taught in schools, it has flourished in informal contexts and vigorously maintained its supremacy in such domains. Thus, whether it is political speeches, sermons in mosques, discussions at a Wazwan, or even jokes and banter by schoolchildren in Burn Hall and other elite schools, Kashmiri has surprisingly shown vitality in these contexts. An attempt to speak in English on these occasions will invariably be seen as pompousness.
What is, however, surprising is that as soon as the conversation or situation becomes formal, Kashmiri disappears and is replaced by Urdu or English. Hence, written material is absent in Kashmiri and produced almost entirely in Urdu or English. Official business in the Government is transacted in English at the higher levels and Urdu at the lower levels. To the extent there are any private sector jobs at all, knowledge of English is considered essential for professional or managerial roles, although this should not obscure the fact that it would be exceedingly difficult to work as a lawyer, doctor or even business manager in the valley without a proper knowledge of Kashmiri.
This raises the important question as to whether it is sufficient to make Kashmiri compulsory in schools for the language to thrive. In my view, it is not sufficient. It will not by itself allow Kashmiri to penetrate the formal domains of communication. It will not lead to a greater number of Kashmiri books, newspapers and websites than is currently the case. The reason is simple: at the moment, Kashmiri has no connection with any formal domain, whether it is government business or the private sector. Even though ten years of Kashmiri learning will enable a matriculating student to be able to speak, read and write the language fairly fluently, it will not mean that such a student will start using Kashmiri in his or her post-school daily life. It is more likely that he or she will use English.
In order to truly promote Kashmiri and ensure a cultural renaissance, it is necessary to connect Kashmiri to the job market, to make it relevant to the careers of students and to transform it from a mere spoken language into a language of formal communication. It is therefore important for Kashmiri and the other major spoken languages of Jammu and Kashmir to be declared as additional official languages. Section 145 of the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution provides that Urdu and English are to be the official languages of the state. What is therefore needed is an amendment to this provision so that Kashmiri, as well as the other principal languages of the state, are made additional official languages.
To connect Kashmiri to the job market, the Government should also introduce legislation that prevents discrimination on grounds of language. Thus, candidates taking the K.A.S. examination should be permitted to take the whole exam in Kashmiri. Government departments should be allowed to entertain documents and correspondence in Kashmiri, as well as permitting any official to conduct work in the language. Recruitment for government jobs in Kashmiri-speaking areas should give preference to those candidates who are proficient in Kashmiri and who intend to use the language for daily work. Private sector employers should also be required to facilitate the use of Kashmiri by their employees. It is rather bizarre that a Kashmiri is required to possess knowledge of foreign languages just to a get job in his own home state, even though he will spend most of his life communicating with fellow Kashmiris. A Tamil, Marathi or Bengali does not face the same predicament.
By connecting Kashmiri to daily life and by making it necessary to have fluency in it and to use it, the Government will create a market for Kashmiri cultural goods. The reason why there are millions of Chinese language websites is because that language is used. No amount of Kashmiri teaching in schools will create a demand for websites, books, channels and other media unless and until Kashmiri is made a part of daily life in more than just informal contexts.
However, perhaps the most important, yet difficult, barrier of all is that of the psychological obstacle that prevents the Kashmiris of today, particularly the youth, from viewing themselves, and therefore their mother tongue, as somewhat lesser than or outside of the other more ‘accepted’ languages of the Indian nation. These barriers are understandable given the legacy inherited by decades of conflict and the consequent handicap in economic, political and social progress. Efforts to short circuit these problems by imitating the language of those who are perceived to be symbols of success and prosperity (i.e. Westerners) in an attempt to advance personal aspirations and dreams are forgivable, but they result in an inadvertent yet worrying suppression of the development of a true and seamless Kashmiri identity.
A renewed belief in this identity may be the impetus that is really needed to make the Kashmiri language relevant to the future progress and success of tomorrow’s Kashmir. If the mass protests in the summer of 2008 are anything to go by, the national subconscious may well be prepared to be mobilised into presenting an explicit defence of its identity that would include reference to language as being a key component.

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Lastupdate on : Fri, 25 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
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