HINDI HEARTLAND! REALLY?

On New Year’s Eve while some of our friends encircled a bonfire, singing Auld Lang Syne, we researched an interesting new term: Hindi Heartland. This can be interpreted in two ways. The first can imply that the culture expressed by Hindu people is centred in this area. The second is more general because this could mean that the heart of Indian culture lies largely in those citizens whose mother tongue is Hindi.  The second interpretation would naturally be rejected by those fellow Indians who do not accept Hindi as their mother tongue.

Hindi and English are the two official languages of our land. India also officially recognises 22 major languages spoken by its citizens. A language is the verbal response of a person to his or her environment and society. It is therefore a medium of that person’s culture. Our Constitution accepted this significance when it established linguistic states. This was done in 1956 by the State’s Reorganization Act. The purpose of the Act was to ensure that people who spoke the same language, lived in the same state.  Some of the new states were also created to uphold differences based on culture, ethnicity or geography. Nagarland, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand.

Clearly, our Parliamentarians realised that the strength of India lay in its diversity. It is much like the varied sizes of the fingers of a human hand coupled with the dexterity of the reversible thumb. Put in other words, India is a mosaic of chips of various sizes and colours forming a brilliant mosaic.  Every chip supports all the others and is dependent on them. India is not a monolith.

The reorganization of the States also highlighted their strengths and weakness. This fact was emphasised by demographer Ashish Bose in the mid-1980s. He created the term ‘BIMARU STATES’. BIMARU was an anagram based on the names of 4 of India’s poorest states: Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. It also resonates with Hindi speakers because BIMAR means sickness.

All around the world poverty-stricken people tend to have larger families than the rich do. Their children suffer from malnutrition but they have to go out to work in order to help feed their families.  So the cycle of poverty, malnutrition and ignorance is increased. States that lie beyond the Bimar circle prospered because they had more disposable income. They did not need to have a large number of children. They gained in health and education. Kerala has the highest literacy rate in India at 94%, then Lakshadweep at 91.85, followed by Mizoram at 91.33 and finally Goa at 88.70.

Now comes the irony of democracy.  Government of the people, by the people and for the people are represented by their Parliamentarians. These representatives are expected to speak for their voters. The greater the number of voters, the larger the number of MPs. And the larger the numbers of MPs, the greater the clout they have in making the laws of their country.

Here are the numbers of MPs that represent the Bimaru states in Parliament  as well as those who represent the states with the most educated population:

BIMARU States are Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The total RajaSaba members from these states are 69 while the LokhSaba members are 174.

The Parliamentary Members from the most educated and literary states are Kerala, Lakshadweep, Mizoram and Goa and they have 12 RajaSaba members and 22 LokhSaba members.

We along with many other citizens in India have been disturbed by the recent happenings in Parliament. It is difficult to believe that the brand new building in which our law makes sit have so many inbuilt flaws that two people were able to breach its security. We cannot believe that this is not a well planned act that must have required a great deal of planning far beyond the premises of Parliament. We do not also understand why Parliament passed laws in the absence of its suspended members. Every word, every line, every paragraph in a Legislation needs to be analysed, balanced and deliberated upon. This could not have been done with so many Members being unable to voice their opinion.

We, and every thinking Indian should be deeply disturbed by what happened in our Temple of Democracy. Or must we believe in the old saying ‘WHERE IGNORANCE IS BLISS IT IS FOLLY TO BE WISE’.

(Hugh & Colleen Gantzer hold the National Lifetime Achievement
Award for Tourism among other National and International awards. Their credits include over 52 halfhour documentaries on
national TV under their joint names, 26 published books in 6
genres, and over 1,500 first-person articles, about every Indian state, UT and 34 other countries. Hugh was a Commander in the Indian Navy and the Judge Advocate, Southern Naval Command. Colleen is the only travel writer who was a member of the Travel Agents Association of India.) (The opinions and thoughts
expressed here reflect only the authors’ views!).