India is a land of rich cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity. It is the land of several languages and the origin of the influence of English dates back to pre- independence days and its journey from being the language necessary for administration and politics to the status of “official language” and then on to become the indispensable link with the rest of world as “Global Language” is interesting. To trace its history : the origin of English in India started with the expansion of British Rule in India as a whole. The British for their own selfish reasons promoted the learning of English language and Education. Under British rule in 1813, English language was introduced as a medium of instruction at all levels of education much against the opposition of many Indians. The idea of the British policy was to create an Indian class who should think like the British, or as it was said then …show more content…
Later on the missionaries built high schools with English as the language of instruction which obliged the Indians who wanted to study to have a good knowledge of English. In 1854, Sir Charles Wood Stated that English could be a suitable medium of higher levels of education, because a sound knowledge of English was a prerequisite to seek admission into any established university. The British rulers began building their universities in India from 1857. English became the first language in Indian education. The leaders of our country too supported the learning of English language as it lead to unity amidst the linguistic differences of the country. Thinkers such as Raja Ram mohan Roy associated English as the language of modernization and liberation and felt that it can dispel the ignorance of the people. Thus the system of English education founded on English literature continued till the
The British East India Company's lack of respect for the people of India, be it religious, economic, or administrative,
Many of us find ourselves in instances where when a guest comes to our house and changes things around according to them, rage of anger kindles within us because their actions are not according to our way of living. Similarly in the late 18th century, Britain set out ventures to the Indian Ocean. At this point in time, India already had an established government and had some portions of the country under the Mughal rule. Despite this, the British thought it would be profitable for them to set trading ports in India. Therefore, the British East India Company was created to help Britain communicate with the Indian government and help implement these ports.
Granted Dr. Lalvani would say the british created an unblemished government that worked in everyone’s favor it was oppressive towards Indian people due to the fact that they were not involved in the making of laws that directly affected them. In paragraph
The British rule in India during the Imperial period was extremely negative for the Indian people however, the British rule ultimately created a improved Indian nation. The British forced the idea of monoculture, were racist, created unfair trade and economic distress. For the Indian nation they did provide an education system, human rights, peace and created a more modern society. The British rule began in the early 1600s.
The British rulers of India helped settle 500 million diverse peoples with different religions all over India during their rulership, providing stronger communities held together by values of religion (Paragraph 6). However, the people of India were given little to no responsibility of themselves and their own nation (Document 1). Meaning the British also created a great divide of the native people and the British imperialists get to dictate what taxes and laws exist, all of which to only better the lives of themselves and did not pertain to the basic human needs for the people who actually lived in India. Paragraph 12 shows that the British did bring several different states of India into one unified nation to help establish an effective justice system, civil service, loyal army, and efficient police force to protect the people of India. On the other hand, document 2 shows that the Indians had no say in the taxes they had to pay to the British or how they spent their money as a nation.
Other issue, Britain support for Indian attacks on frontier settlements, also
Throughout the rule of the British in India, Europeans mainly controlled the government and police force, leaving the Indians with no voice and no protection. According to Dr. Lalvani, the British established an efficient administration over 500 million people. While this was beneficial to the British, the Indians had no control over the taxations and laws that affected them (Doc. #2). Since all of these laws and taxes were targeted to help the British, India’s freedom was stolen, as shown in the Rowlatt Act, a law that allowed the government to imprison people without trial.
British rule over india as a colonial state was effective and precise in the eyes of British supporters, but it was only this way through its discriminatory measures, separating Indians as well as creating conflict, and was thusly not in the benefit of India’s natives. At first glance, it may seem that Indians were advanced by the efficient rule which the colonists employed(Lalvani). However, this governing body was led by a tiny minority of native Indians, outnumbered 1 to 15 by British invaders( Document #2). This left them all but voiceless as the British installed drastic laws such as the Rowlatt Act, meant to disempower aboriginals by allowing the British to imprison supposed terrorists, meaning protesters, without a trial(Gandhi). Still, the British feared further revolt among Indians, and with so few of them there to enforce their laws they needed a police force staffed by the very people they sought to oppress.
The British however did not realize that by utilizing India’s resources, they were supporting India’s economy enough for them to no longer depend on Great Britain. As shown in document 1, this made it almost impossible for India to accomplish any of their goals because England did not trust them enough to support them. This can be reflected in Indian politician, Dadabhai Naoroji’s statement, “Our great misfortune is that you do not know our wants.” However Cecil John Rhodes, like many other Englishman at this time, believed that “[English] are the finest race in the world and the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race.”
Muslims still felt less important than the Hindus fearing Muslim interests wouldn’t be protected by the mainly Hindu congress. In conclusion for Dr. Lalvani to say that the British over all helped and positively impacted India completely disregards the fact that Indians had to go through so much loss and pain through struggles and challenges that India has to go through
They believed this justified the persecution of all other cultures. Nationalism also made the British culture feel superior to the Indian culture. The British tried to change the people living in their colony to believe and act the way they did. The British tried to change the Indian culture. They sent missionaries to India to try to convert the them to Christianity, which they felt was better than the Indian religions.
We are going to see to what extent we can say that Macaulay’s “Minute on Indian Education” reflects British society and the western point of view at the time. In a first part, we will focus on the opposition between Orientalists and Anglicists and in a second part, we will see about the western society seen as culturally superior compared to other nations and societies. On one hand, there was an opposition
3 Shakespeare’s Contributions In the early 16th century, The English language was not highly rated. It was rather seen as a language spoken day-to-day by the lower-caste society due to it sounding barbaric and lacking the sophistication that foreign languages required. Therefore, it was not promoted at schools. Children were taught Latin and Greek in schools, because they were the default languages for scholarly and ecclesiastical communication.
The British first came to India not only because of the abundance of raw materials, but also the mass potential they seen. The British East India Company, took advantage of the collapsing Mughal Empire, and broke away from their control to flourished their company. In 1857 the Sepoy army rebelled and that caused the British to come in guns blazing and take over the country. The British rule demolished India through, taxation on anything made in India, and the exportation of raw materials, which caused a plentiful amount of famine,and throughout all of this, the British kept most on India uneducated, and those they did educate, most were forced to become interpreters for the benefits it would make in taking over India and keeping the British in control. Political Paragraph British imperialism had a negative effect on the politics of India because of the corrupt justice system, and the utter lack of respect that killed masses of innocent people.
This led to widespread hatred of the British by the indigenous population. The Indians believed that one of the main goals of the occupiers was to Christianize Hindu and Muslim populations. This, and the heavy taxation imposed by the British East India Company, led to immense resentment and several uprisings of the locals during British Rule. After the Indian Mutiny of 1857 the British Government abolished both the Mughal Dynasty, which was the local Indian Government, and the East India Company. Control of India was then given to a British Governor-General who reported back to Parliament and the Secretary of State.