English, the lingua franca, is the global language. It is accepted all over the world and thus has a high preference in education and academics of any nation. In, India also, English language is the main means of communication among the educated class. Since India is a land that has been divided into different smaller states, based on their regional characteristics and uniqueness, there are numerous dialects within the country. But English is the standard of communication and plays a crucial role in the socio-economic development of the country. While one side of India is flourishing in different parallels like science, education, art, technology, medicine, with multinational companies, hefty pay packages etc., the other side has a shabby picture of unemployment, poverty, crime and illiteracy. There is a clear line between the rich and the poor, the educated and the uneducated. The socio-economic gap is not only evident in the economic condition but also in the civilized mannerism where English langue or English speaking skills matter the most. Only a very little percentage of the population gets the facility of primary education in English language. In India, the national langue is Hindi, and English has always had the status of second language in government schools. In most of the rural India, the people are so illiterate that they didn’t even get the opportunity to learn English. But off late, it can be seen that the trend is changing with many people migrating to metro cities of urban India, where they feel trapped in the highly civilized English speaking society. A rural man, who might have achieved financial security with his business, is trying really hard to survive with his miserable and poor English speaking skills. Not only the illiterate, but school students who have done their secondary education in any of the rural government schools in India, also face the same situation when they first land in a college for his higher studies. With a very limited level of proficiency in English, such students really lose their confidence and concentration, and gradually get depressed, making a big failure in their life. English language is a very powerful one, and allows a person to express his perspective on any grounds, so that it can be presented before a global audience. Along with stressing on quality education, the country should also focus and develop its language skills, so that the future generation of rural India doesn’t feel any pressure, even while speaking in English.
Speaking in English has become a famous trend of the contemporary Indian society where people have literally made it status symbol. people truly feel inferior when they are unable to speak in English and what to comment over a rural man who does not even understand this language well. but here I want to raise a point that a language is just a way to convey one's thoughts and ideas it is no where a criteria to judge or discriminate a person. the one who cannot speak in English fluently or not at all, could not be tagged as 'backwards' or 'less competent'. what matters over here is to see; whether the person is able to convey his/her ideas as desired? if yes! then the medium of language really does not matter so much. raising one's language skills shows improvement and enhancement but when a mere lingua franca over powers one's self-esteem and self-confidence the thoughts and ideas already get oppressed!
