state of punjab

8/2/2019 State of Punjab

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State of Punjab

Punjab(India)

Capital: Chandigarh Population: 24.3 million (2001) OfficialLanguages: English and Punjabi Majoritygroup: (91.6%) Minority groups:Hindi (7.5%), Urdu (0.1%),Bengali, Nepali, Dogri, Tamil, Marathi, Malayalam,Oriya, Telugu, Gujerati, Lahnda, Kannada, Maithili, Assamese,Kashmiri, English, khandeshi, etc.. Political System: State ofthe Union of India Constitutional articles (language): art. 29,30, 120, 210, 343 to 350 of the1956 Constitution (invig ueur) Language Laws of the Union: thePresidentialOrder of 1960, the

hasthe Official Languages Act( Official Languages Act) of1963 as amended in 1967, theRegulations of the OfficialLanguages( Official Languages Rules) of 1976 amended in1987,Guidelines for the official language in 2009. Laws ofthe State: Punjab Official Languages Act(1967); PunjabOfficial Language(Amendment) 2008 .

1 General Situation
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Punjab (Punjab or, Punjab English)discussed here is theIndian stateof 50 362km , bounded to the north by Jammu andKashmir, east by Himachal Pradesh, southby Haryana and Rajasthan and west by the

Punjab province in Pakistan. Thus, there aretwo Punjab: Punjab India (50,362 sq km)and Punjab Pakistan (205 344 km ). Whenthe Indian independence and partition thatfollowed in 1947, both countries, Pakistanand India, has recovered part of the Punjabregion, whose name means "land of fiverivers "(the Beas, Chenab, Jhelum, the Raviand Sutlej), although there are six with theIndus (see map).The capital of Indian Punjabis Chandigarh , which shares with the stateof Haryana. However, this city is not part ofeither State, Chandigarh is a Union territoryadministered by the federal government andrepresented by an administrator. Thus, hostgovernments Chandigarh Punjab, Haryanaand the Federal Territory of Chandigarh.The name Chandigarhis derived from

words Chandi Mandir, a temple to thegoddess Chandi, located in the district ofPanchkula. The word Chandigarhliterallymeans "the fort of Chandi". The territory hastwo satellite cities of Chandigarh and MohaliPanchkula. The three cities are known as"Chandigarh Tricity." That said, Amritsarremained the religious capital, the holy cityof Sikhs.

2 Data demolinguistic

According to the 2001 census, the population of Punjab was 24.3 million (exactly24,358,999). Unlike many Indian states, Punjab is a sparsely multiethnic, multilingualand some with three main religions (Sikh, Hindu and Muslim), with about twentydifferent languages, and many small endangered languages. The large majoritylanguage is Punjabi spoken by 91.6% of the population, Hindus, Sikhs and Muslimscan be panjabiphones (speaking Punjabi). The largest minority language is Hindi(7%), followed by Urdu (0.1%). All other languages are spoken by a small number ofspeakers, less than 20,000.

Speakers (2001) Percentage22334369 91.6%
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1851128 7.5%27 660 0.1%20 655 0.0%19 778 0.0%18 034 0.0%12 339 0.0%12 117 0.0%10 669 0.0%10 345 0.0%

7296 0.0%7040 0.0%6882 0.0%4001 0.0%3277 0.0%2980 0.0%2411 0.0%1394 0.0%1072 0.02%

The above table presents only the languages spoken by more than 1000speakers and it does not show small languages spoken by a small numberof speakers.2.1 The Punjabi

The Punjabi (or Panjabi)belongs to theIndo-Europeanbranch oftheIndo-Iranian languagesspoken in theregion ofPunjab(Pakistan and India),by about 100 millionspeakers. Such as Hindi,Punjabi is derived fromSanskrit, but it seems morearchaic. In writing, Sikhspanjabiphones-alphabet Gurmukhi (whichreads from left to right), butHindus and Indian Muslimsuse the Devanagari script(which reads from left toright). Panjabiphones As

for Pakistan, they use thealphabet shahmukhi (whic

WordTranscriptio

n

Meanin

g

aluminum potato
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h reads from right toleft). The left figure showsthe Gurmukhi alphabet andshahmukhi, while the righttable (see Wikipedia) refers

to Gurmukhi.

dil heart General cowPunjabi is fragmented into severaldialects, but linguists do not seem toagree on the classificationcriteria. Thus, Ethnologueclassifies thesevarieties into three groups: the WesternPunjabi (Pakistan), the EasternPunjabi (India) and PunjabiMirpuri(Kashmir).

Dialects Designation Location Speakers

Eastern

Punjabi(India)

Punjabiitself, Majhi,Doab,bhatyiana

(bhatneri,bhatti)powadhi,malwa,bathi, etc..

Punjab,Majhi(districts ofGurdaspurandAmritsardistricts ofFirozpurandBhatyiana)

Rajasthan(Ganganagar districtandBhatyiana),Haryana,Delhi,JammuandKashmir.

27,100,000 in

India(2001)

WesternPunjabi

Pakistan)lahnda,Hindko,

Pahari-potwari,

Mainly inPunjab

Pakistan.60,600,000 in

Pakistan(2000).


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etc..PunjabiMirpur(Kashmi

r)Mirpuri

Kashmirdistrict ofMirpur(Azad

Kashmir).

1.0million inIndia

(2000)According to the linguist George Abraham Grierson (1851-1941), in hisvolume Linguistic Survey of India(between 1904-1928), there would befour dialects of Punjabi spoken in India and Pakistan: the Majhi dialect, thedialect of Malwi, dialect and the dialect of Doabi Pwadhi.

1) Majhi dialect ofThe Majhi dialect is the prestige dialect of Punjabi spoken incentral Punjab where the majority of speakers of thatlanguage. This is the dialect of the historical region of Majha,which includes, in Pakistan, Lahore, Sheikhupura on the Kasur,Okara's The Gujranwala, Wazirabad on the Sialkot, theNarowal, the Gujrat district and part of Jhelum, Pakistan, thedistricts of Amritsar, Tarn Taran Sahib and Gurdaspur

2) dialect of Malwi:The dialect is spoken Malwi in the eastern part of Punjab in theIndian sector of Ludhiana, Ambala, Bathinda, Ganganagar,Malerkotla, Fazilka Ferozpur and south, and is also spoken inthe State of Haryana.

3) dialect of Doabi:The dialect is spoken in Doabi the Indian Punjab. Theword Aabi Domeans "land between two rivers" and refers to thedialects between the rivers Beas and Sutlej, but includes the

districts of Jalandhar, Nawanshahr, Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur.

4) dialect of Pwadhi: The dialect is spoken in Pwadhi Region Region Powadh (Puadhor Powadha) Pakistani part of Punjab State of Haryana betweenthe Satluj and Ghaggar rivers.

The problem is that data from Ethnologueand linguist Grierson data do notmatch, just as it appears difficult to reconcile the twoproposals. Correspond to Western Punjabi dialect Majhinicknamed Lahndaby Grierson. But Malwi dialects and varieties are DoabiEastern Punjabi. Grierson does not speak the Hindko, Saraiki of, the

khetrani, the Marwari's or Mirpuri. The contemporary Indian language todayhave avoided using the term Lahndadialects and designated "SouthernLahnda" as Saraiki and "lahnada North" as potwari, the "Western lahnda"as Hindko. Today, the Dogri spoken in Kashmir is no longer considered adialect of Punjabi, while Mirpuri is seen as a dialect spoken in potwaridistrict Mirpur.

For other linguists, languages are lahnda part of a group ofIndo-Iranianlanguagesconstituting a macrolanguewhich should include the Hindko, thekhetrani, Western Punjabi, the potwari the Mirpuri and derawali, but would

not part of the East India Punjabi.
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Sikh symbol

Indian Punjab is famous for hosting the largest Sikh community inthe world. It is estimated the Sikh community in India about 20million people, or about 2% of the Indian population. Sikhs are bothan ethnic group (write Sikhswith a capital letter, as opposed to thePakistanis, Nepalis, Assamese, etc..) and a religious community

(write Sikhs, with a tiny, as opposed to Muslims, Hindus,Christians, etc.. ) and they settled mainly in Punjab India, but theyare also present in the Haryanan and Himachal Pradesh, and in theDelhi area. Elsewhere, there are also large Sikh communities inPakistan, the United Kingdom, Canada, United States, Australia,Singapore, Kenya, Indonesia, etc.. However, the Punjabdesignated as the "land of the Sikhs", covers only a small part ofthe former Punjab orPunjab Historythat included not only theIndian Punjab and Pakistani Punjab, but also Haryana, HimachalPradesh .

2.2 The minority languagesThe Indian Punjab has virtually no minority languages, at least in terms ofnumerical importance. The only language that leaves the group of theselanguages is Hindi spoken by 7.5% of the population, 1.8 million speakersof a total of 24.3 million inhabitants (2001). In other words, the Punjab isrelatively homogeneous linguistically. However, the Hindi-speakingcommunity is a powerful minority in Punjab, since 180 million speakersspeak that language in neighboring states.Regarding religion, the Punjab is the "land of the Sikhs." Indeed, the Sikhreligion is practiced by nearly 60% of the population of this Indian state,other individuals practicing Hinduism (37%), Islam (1.5%), Christianity(1.2% ), Buddhism (, 01%), etc.. However, in southern Punjab, about 65%population is Hindu, against 30% of Sikhs. In the Pakistani Punjab, about97% of the population is Muslim.3 Historical Data

Archaeological discoveries show that the Punjab region was inhabited asearly as 7000 years BC. Small communities lived in the Indus valley around3000 BCE and cities were founded. As the Punjab is a vast plain, it becamevery early in the corridor of invasions, an open area on the Pakistan and North India.From 1600 BC, Aryan tribes (Indo-European), from the north invaded theregion and, from the present Punjab and Haryana today, conquered all ofnorthern India. It is in this strategic region that the Vedic civilization beganand the Sanskrit language was born, the mother language of Hindi. It iswritten in Sanskrit that was the sacred story of Mahabharata, which tells

the epic of the Bharata dynasty, of which India is named Bharat. This is animmense work of early Indian literature: it has 100,000 couplets, seven
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times the Iliad and the Odyssey, the Bible three times, and tells of thestruggle for power of two rival branches of a royal family, the Kauravas andthe Pandavas (some 2000 years BC). In the first millennium AD, thepolitical model of the Aryans has spread throughout Southeast Asia and

Himalayan in Asia. The sovereign then adopted Sanskrit, astrology,mathematics and literature of the Indians.Over the centuries, various invaders occupied the region: the Huns, Turksand Afghans won decisive battles in the history of the region. After the fallof the Gupta empire in the middle of the VI thcentury AD (535), northernIndia was again fragmented into several kingdoms. The Huns establishedtheir supremacy over the Punjab. It was after this period that one of thegreatest emperors of ancient India, Harsha or Harshvardhan (590-648),began a reign that lasted more than four decades. His empire stretched

across northern India. It is believed that the Punjabi language was used inPunjab to the XI th century, but early texts would have appearedat XIV th century. However, Punjabi has never been used in the spheres ofpower.

3.1 The Mughal rule and the Sikh EmpireThe Sikh religion (the Sikh Sanskrit: "disciple" or "follower of a religiousdoctrine") was founded in the Punjab by Guru Nanak (1469-1539), whosought to reconcile Hinduism and Islam as one religion. He taught "the

unity of God, brotherhood of man, rejection of caste and the futility of idolworship." He was followed by nine masters, the last of whom was GuruGobind Singh (1666 -1708; guru from 1675 to 1708). Punjabi was onlyused as a religious language by the Sikhs and of course, as a vernacularby the people. The region passed into the hands of the Mughals from 1526,when Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi, the last Sultan of Delhi at the battle ofPanipat. The Mughals were "persaniss" and Islamized, they introduced inIndia a Persian literature and culture, and an architecture including the TajMahal - in the State of Uttar Pradesh - is the best known example. The

Mughal Empire marked the height of the Muslim expansion inIndia. However, if the Muslim culture had great influence in India, theIslamization of the population was still relatively limited, the Indiansremained devout Hindus, only a minority of the Indian population is beingconverted to Islam. After the assassination of Guru Gobind (1708), Sikhswere persecuted by the Muslim Mughal. L e Punjab would be built in the MughalEmpire Muslim XVI th century until the middle of the XVIII th century. This is Persianwhich served as administrative language throughout the Mughal rule.On the death of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1707, the Marathas began

to weaken the Mughal empire and expand their hold in the region is nowMaharashtra, then between 1720 and 1760 most of the territory of Madhya


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Pradesh today. Then, the region again broke up into small states, whichwould favor the British colonization. Indeed, the British fanned thecompetition between different religious groups to control the subcontinent.

Regarding the Punjab, a Sikh chief, RanjitSingh (1780-1839), succeeded in unifying theregion was split into several entities under thedirection of many warlords. In 1799, Singh hadmade the country independent. He then took thetitle of maharajadhiraaja(or Maharaja) in April1801 and gradually extended its area byannexing Amritsar at the expense of theMughals, and many other cities like Ludhiana(1806), Jammu and Kangra (1809), Wazirabad(1810) , Faridkot (1807), Attock (1813) and

Multan (1818), then to occupy Kashmir andPeshawar in 1819 (now in Pakistan) in 1823. In1836, Punjab was the biggest Sikh empire inhistory, but he would soon be annexed by theBritish in 1849.

Note that the Punjab, even under the regime of Maharaja Ranjit Singh,Punjabi never acquired official status, although it was the language spokenby the majority of the population. As a result, Persian served as solelanguage of administration, judicial and legal. Subsequently, Persian and

Urdu remained the lingua and dominant cultural elite in Punjab.3.2 The British colonizationAfter three wars against Maratha Empire, wars called "Anglo-Marathawars," the British settled in North India and began to conquer thePunjab. The Anglo-Sikh War of 1848-1849 led to the battle of GujratFebruary 21, 1849, when the British defeated the Sikhs of Punjab with thehelp of sepoys, Indian soldiers embedded in the troops of the British EastIndia Company . On 2 April 1849, the British annexed thePunjabas a new

province of British India, which included most of present Haryana. Theprincely states of northern (Loharu, Nabha, Jind and Patiala) wereadministered by the Central Agency of India ("Central India Agency"). Inthese "provinces", then the British Administration had jurisdiction over 22districts and 16 principalities, the capital was Nagpur.In 1854, a document called Magna Charta of English Education inIndia("Great Charter of English teaching in India") had a language policy inwhich English is used in the field of power, but that languages vernacularwould be used to spread knowledge among the people. The same year,

British officials working in Punjab had prepared an education policy for
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language teaching. As Urdu was already used in the northwest of India, itseemed preferable to perpetuate this system instead ofEnglish. Nevertheless, the "natives" who were employed in theadministration had to know English. The Department of Education, created

in 1855, retained the Persian language as records and administration, andlater was replaced by the Persian and Urdu became the language ofinstruction for boys, the language of administration of justice and the lowerlevels.In 1857, the sepoys revolted against British occupation. Sikhs was usedextensively in the British army to avenge the sepoys in helping to quell thisrevolt. The British successfully suppressed rebellions in India. In 1858, theBritish Parliament transferred political power held by the East IndiaCompany to the Crown. The Haryana was incorporated in Punjab. The UK

administration then most of India, while controlling the rest through treatieswith local kings and princes. Queen Victoria was declared "Empress ofIndia" in 1876. After the revolt of 1857, the Muslims of Punjab lost theirprivileges in the administration and the army. The public service wasmonopolized by Hindus, military service, a privilege of the Sikhs.In the language field, the Hindus of Punjab, generally panjabiphones, hadbeen educated by the British in Urdu and English in order to occupy variousadministrative tasks. In reaction to this tax, Hindus asked to replace Urduby Hindi deemed more suitable for them that Urdu too associated with

Islam. At first it was the pro-Hindi purely politico-religious and mainlysupported by the Arya Samaj, an organization founded in 1875 in Bombay,by Dayananda Sarasvati, to promote the revival of Hinduism in a futureIndependent India. The Arya Sama fought to replace the official status ofUrdu and Arabic and Persian alphabet in Hindi and the Devanagari script,in order to promote Hindi and Hindu identity. Linguistic and religiousquestion was quickly implemented politically. Immediately, the Anjumun-e-Islamiya of Lahore, who defended the rights of Muslims, protested againstthis request because it sought to oust the Muslims of Punjab. The Muslim

League held a meeting in Amritsar to condemn this position. But she alsoconsidered that Punjabi was equally unworthy of employment as a teachinglanguage at all levels, since the multiplicity of dialects in their eyesconstituted a serious defect. Many Muslims believed that even thepromotion of Punjabi was a conspiracy to destroy the Muslims andUrdu. Meanwhile, English was increasingly used by the colonialadministration. The influence of this language would be felt even more overthe years.In 1891, the District Commissioner of Shahpur, J. Wilson wanted to find an

alternative to the teaching of Urdu in Punjab. He said the high illiteracy rate(90%) in this region was caused by the use of Urdu and Persian alphabet,


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language and writing too much ignored by Panjabi. In fact, very few youngpeople could read and write Punjabi and Urdu. However, the profusion ofdialects of Punjabi, the colonial authorities refused to use that language notstandardized. To the British, the many dialects of Punjabi was simply

"barbarians mixtures of Hindi and Persian," which Urdu was the pure model("barbarian and Persian mixtures of Hindee of Oordoo Which is the puretype").

Moreover, the British could not ignore the fact thatPunjabi was the language spoken by 17 million oftheir "subjects" of Punjab. In a memo written in1909 ("Committee on Oriental Studies in London",Appendix XIII , part. XX , 1909, p. 116), it waswritten the following:

Punjabi is of specialimportance as Being thelanguage of our Sikhsoldiers. It is of thegreatest importance inSikh That the officersregiments Should BeAble to converse inPunjabi Freely. Toomany of 'em Employ ofHindustani. There is agreat deal of tea grownin the NorthernPunjab. The EuropeanThere Must Be Ableemployed to speakPunjabi.

[Punjabi is of specialimportance as thelanguage of our Sikhsoldiers. It is of utmostimportance that theofficers in the Sikhregiments are able toconverse freely inPunjabi. Too many of themuse Hindustani. There arelots of tea grown in thenorthernPunjab. Europeans whoare employees must beable to speak Punjabi.]

In reality, the British did nothing for the Punjabi simply because theypreferred Urdu already used throughout northern India. They did not use atthis time of Sikhs in the administration and very little in the army theypreferred Hindus considered more peaceful. Initially, the courts attemptedto impose English well, but the British realized that it was not possible to

translate into English very many local words and expressions particular, inthe circumstances, the English s' has proved an inadequateinstrument. Hence the interest in Urdu as the language and administrative.The British shared the prejudices of the Hindus against Sikhs andPunjabi. Like them, they believed that Punjabi was a dialect areas(English:"rural dialect"), whose Urdu was the refined form. It must be said thatBritish officers were suspicious of the Gurmukhi script of Punjabi because itwas the symbol of the religious identity of Sikhs. In a letter dated June 2,1862, Robert Cust, a British officer stationed Punjab, advocated the use ofPunjabi Gurmukhi alphabet written with for the simple reason that it was the


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vernacular and that the British should support it. This suggestion wasquickly disavowed by the other officers who felt that Punjabi was "merely adialect of Urdu" ("Merely a dialect of Urdu"). In short, the British never tookseriously the proposal of Robert Crust. They believed that, anyway, Sikhs

included theHindustani, while Muslims were unaware Punjabi. In a letterdated June 16, 1982, the representative of the Commissioner of Delhiwrote to the Governor of Punjab following words:

Any Which would revive the measureGoormukhee Written Pujabee Which is thetongue, Would Be a politique error.

[Any measure that would revive theGurmukhi, who is writing the Punjabilanguage would be a political mistake.]

Only the English missionaries employed among the Punjabi population inorder to convert Sikhs to Christianity and teach the Bible. When the Hunter

commission was established in 1882 to choose the language of instructionin schools of Punjab, it raised the possibility of finding a solution to conflictsbetween the three major religious communities. Muslims chose to blockUrdu and Persian alphabet, while the Hindus supported the Hindi spokenby the majority and the Devanagari script, but only identified with thePunjabi Sikhs and Gurmukhi alphabet. April 28, 1882, the NationalAssociation of Sikh Lahore petitioned Charles Aitchison, the Governor ofPunjab, to make Punjabi Gurmukhi alphabet with the language ofinstruction at least for the Sikh community. The governor replied that suchaction would prejudice the Sikhs:

To exclude the Children of the Sikhs frominstruction in Urdu Would Be Under 'em upto very serious Disadvantages. Without aknowledge of Urdu it Would Be unable toadvance Beyond the MOST elementaryeducation, and continues to Their studies inthe middle and high schools. Would BeTHEY shut out from access to an excellentyear, broad, and daily Increasing literature,and THEY Would Be Placed at a greatDisadvantage With Their Countrymen in the

business of life.

[Exclude Sikh children instruction in Urduwould place them in very seriousdrawbacks. Without a knowledge of Urdu, itwould be impossible to go beyond the mostbasic education and further education inintermediate and secondary education. Theywould be denied access to a great literature,great daily and progressive, and would beplaced in a great disadvantage compared totheir fellow citizens in the affairs of life.]

The view of the Governor was that the teaching of Punjabi would effectghettoization. He forgot that all communities wanted to emphasize aparticular language - Punjabi for Sikhs, Muslims in Urdu and Hindi forHindus - and that choosing one of three languages have basically the sameeffect. In reality, any attempt to authorize the Punjabi or Hindi wasinterpreted as an attack against Muslims. But excluding these languageswas a sign of contempt for Hindus and Sikhs.
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All proposals to promote Punjabi were rejected by thecolonial authorities who hoped the same Punjabidisappearance. Thus, the judge Divisional DistrictJullundur, AW Stogdon, wrote these words, 3 August 1895(quoted by Chaudhary, 1977):

As for the promotion ofPunjabi, I am of the opinionThat year it is uncouth dialectnot fit to be has permanentlanguage, and the sooner it isdriven out by Urdu the better.

[As for the promotion ofPunjabi, I believe that it is arustic dialect unfit to become apermanent language and thesooner he will be chased byUrdu the better.]

It was not until 1911 that the Maharaja of Patiala ( PEPSU ),one of the princely states of Punjab, Punjabi grants thestatus of co-official language with Urdu. However, the small

princely state of Patiala only covered a small area in theGreat British Punjab.

In April 1919, British colonial authorities made the mistake to charge thearmy against a crowd of 10,000 people demonstrating peacefully inAmritsar. The hundreds of deaths and injuries caused something of a breakbetween the Sikh and Hindu elites, and the Britishcolonizers. Requirements of the Hindus were abandoned with the resultthat Urdu was able to maintain its dominance in Punjab until 1947.

Note that, over time, the British had changed their positions with respect toreligious communities. At the beginning of XX th century, the sympathy of theBritish had begun to change.Widespread dissatisfaction of Hindus andSikhs against British colonialism, the authorities judged that they had to allythemselves with Muslims to counter the rise of nationalist othercommunities. With the foundation in 1913 of a pro-independencemovement, so anti-British, the Ghadar, Punjabi and Urdu word meaning"rebellion" or "rebellion," the sympathy of Sikhs is considerablyattenuated. That is why the British began to support the Muslim League

(" All India Muslim League ").

The Simon Commission, established in 1927 to propose a constitutionalreform to the colony, published his report of 17 volumes in 1930, but theBritish commissioners rejected the request to make of Hindi or Punjabilanguage teaching at primary level in British schools of Punjab. In sum, theBritish were responsible for the disintegration of the political system of theSikhs of Punjab, will result in a deep wound that will change irrevocably thedestiny of the Sikhs and Punjab. The reputation of "Lions of Punjab"suffered as much as the Sikhs had always been of great warriors. But most

important lesson that the British colonization in Punjab has transformed the
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languages and religions in the combat arms to the identity of the three maincommunities. Thus Hindus identified themselves in Hindi (Devanagariscript), Sikhs in Punjabi (Gurmukhi alphabet) and Muslims in Urdu (Arabicand Persian alphabet).Several historians have been able to talk while the

"three Panjabs": the Sikhs, the Hindus and the Muslims. This does notmean that these three communities were still hostile towards each other. Italso happened that they unite against the English, but politics in the BritishPunjab is primarily organized on a religious basis, according to the principleof "divide and rule". Anyway, the teaching of Punjabi became mandatory in1942, the eve of independence in public primary schools.The XX th century was that of decolonization as a result of manyindependence movements that took place all over India. By 1927, theIndian Congress had demanded independence.The end of World War II led

the British to realize that independence was inevitable: they no longer hadthe power or the desire to maintain a vast empire, the "jewel of the BritishCrown."3.3 The Punjab after independenceOn 15 August 1947, India gained independence and was appointed Nehruas prime minister. The same year, took place the partition of India, underthe provisions of the Mountbatten Plan, which created India and Pakistan,previously the province of British India of Punjab. The western part, mainly

inhabited by Muslims, returned to Pakistan, what will the Pakistani Punjab,while the eastern, predominantly Sikh or Hindu, returned to India (IndianPunjab). Six million Sikhs and Hindus had to flee the Pakistani Punjab andIndian Punjab to seek refuge. Before independence of India (1947), theHindus of Punjab panjabiphones employed Urdu as the language ofadministration, commerce and journalism. Urdu was also the mainlanguage of literary expression in the British Punjab, Punjabi, while still onlya spoken language. But Punjabi Sikhs preferred, and they felt cheatedbecause their language was ignored by the Hindus as yet panjabiphones

them.

- The score and its consequencesThe partition of India and Punjab itself broke out between two rival states,India and Pakistan, would play a decisive role for the Sikhs. In this newconfiguration, the Sikhs demanded the formation of an independent state,the Sikhistan , who never saw the day. In an officially secular India andtraumatized by the 1947 partition, it was unconstitutional to demand anautonomous territory on the basis of religion, such as Sikhism.


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However, the Indian government was in favorof amending the boundaries of plots Unionstates on a linguistic basis.In 1950, two states were created Punjabi:

Punjab himself the principalities and Punjabiintegrated in a set called Patiala and EastPunjab States Union( PEPSU ), where theSikhs were half citizens. They obtained aterritory and, perhaps smaller, but at leastrecognized and in which they were almost amajority.As to the former capital, Lahore, who was nowin the territory of Pakistan, the Indiangovernment decided to build a new one. ThePrime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru,gave the French architect Le Corbusier, thetask of building in 1951 the capital of Punjab,Chandigarh, as a planned "new town, asymbol of the freedom of India dischargedtraditions and the past [...] that is anexpression of confidence in the nation's future." The project took ten years tomaterialize. New changes to the status of thecapital of Punjab would be imposed by central

government to the dismay of Sikhs.

- The language questionThe vast majority of Muslims had immigrated from the Punjab in PakistaniPunjab, while the entire Sikh population and Hindus in West Punjab hadwon the Indian Punjab. In the former British Punjab (or Panjab plain),Sikhs, as a small minority, were also associated with the Hindu minority todeal with the Muslim majority. However, in the Indian Punjab, Urdu-language confrontation turned into Hindi Punjabi-Hindi conflict, which led to

the problem of the official language of the new state. Should it focus onHindi or Punjabi, or both? This conflict was accompanied by tensionsbetween Hindus and Sikhs, a non-existent problem during the Britishregime, since the fight was mainly limited to the two main religious groups,Hindus and Muslims. In the new Indian Punjab, the Hindu majorityidentified themselves in Hindi, while the Muslims of Pakistani PunjabPunjabi abandoned in favor of Urdu as the symbol of their ethnic andreligious Urdu, we repeat, was clearly favored by the British who used it asthe administrative language of preference in Punjabi. By reaction withSikhs, Hindus of Punjab Indian retreated to Hindi while Punjabi Sikhsresorted to as a symbol of their cultural and political identity. Religion,


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language and politics got entangled resulting in a long conflict betweenHindus and Sikhs, which gave birth to Sikh separatism. In fact, leaders ofpolitical parties exploited the religious and ethnic issues, to raise nationalistsentiment favoring their own interests, that is to say the aspiration to

political demands for autonomy.

In the Punjab after the partition, the parents had the opportunity to declareHindi as their mother tongue for children in the fields and panjabiphoneshindiphones. This was what was called the "formula Sachar" (Bhim SenSachar was then prime minister of Punjab). Punjabi as mother tongue andlanguage of instruction was permitted in the first year and Hindi as asecond language to fourth. As the choice of language of instruction was leftto parents, and Hindus have freely opted for Hindi and Punjabi Sikhs.In the decades fifties and sixties, the Punjab Indian language dispute hasfocused on three issues. First it was the status of Punjabi language. Hindusclaimed that Punjabi was not a real "language", it was only a dialect ofHindi without a strong literary tradition, which prevented Punjabi to beelevated to the status of a official language because of its"backwardness." The second reason given by the Hindus based on the factthat the Punjabi alphabet did not own. Finally, Hindus claimed Hindi as theirmother tongue all over the Punjab. In fact, Punjabi Hindus rejectedbecause both Hindi was the language of religious discourse and the symbolof their political dominance. Under British rule, the Hindus had fought to

promote Urdu and Hindi, this time it was the turn of Punjabi. However, inthe opinion of many linguists (Grierson, Gumperz, Pandit, and SrivastvaPattanayak), Punjabi is indeed a separate language from Hindi, with itsown grammar and lexicon. Relegating to the status of Punjabi dialect, itwas inappropriate to grant him the status of official language.Only statesof PEPSU in 1954 had succeeded in imposing the Punjabi language ofinstruction, either as the first language of the first grade and beyond in thearea panjabiphone; same time, Hindi has become a compulsory subjectfrom the third grade.The language issue became heated with the census of 1951 and 1961,while the Hindus of Punjab decided to record Hindi as their mother tongueinstead of Punjabi. Hindus were so preoccupied with fighting Urduassociated with Islam as the only Hindi them seemed able to stand up toUrdu. For Hindus panjabiphones, religion had precedence over thelanguage, they chose the Hindi religious grounds, even maintain their ownlanguage without status. Therefore, Punjabi has turned into a weapon ofpolitical struggle, especially for the Sikhs, while Hindi has become aweapon for Hindus.


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In censuses, the Sikh authorities, meanwhile, was urged to register theirfellow Punjabi as their mother tongue. Newspapers of the two largecommunities, while mainly published in Urdu, appealed to their respectivemembers to affirm their loyalty to their mother tongue. Sikhs and the media

have begun to express concern that the Sikh religion could be in danger,because the powerful Hindu religion would absorb all other minorityreligions. On the other hand, the Hindu newspapers propagated the ideathat Sikhs were "traitors" because they wanted to start their ownindependent state of Khalistan (the "Land of the Pure").

In 1953, the Indian government had createdthe States Reorganisation Commission( Commission on the Reorganization of States)orCBC, to delineate the boundaries of linguistic statesof the Indian Union and thus meet therequirements of communities claiming a territorialre obeying the criterion of linguistichomogeneity. E n 1955, the CBC rejected theapplication on the grounds that Sikh Punjabi did notdiffer grammatically from Hindi and he was notgetting a majority of speakers in the territory. In1956, the Indian government decided to expand theterritory of Punjab in his annexing the PEPSU ( Patialaand East Punjab States Union) and HimachalPradesh, to cut short the Sikh land claim by the

increasing number of Hindus on the sameadministrative territory. At the same time, severalHimalayan districts traditionally related to Punjabwere incorporated into the State of HimachalPradesh.Following the 1961 census, the pro-Hindi hadreduced substantially, at least on paper, thenumber of speakers of Punjabi, which minorityappeared for the first time in the history ofcensuses. Less than 60% in 1951, speakers of

Punjabi were passed in 1961 to over 40% of thepopulation of Punjab. As for the Sikhs, theybecame a small minority in the state, strugglingwith Hindu majority and officially hindiphones.

Understanding that Hindus wanted to control political power, Sikhslaunched a movement for linguistic reorganization of Punjab, as had beendone in other parts of the country. Their real intention was to form a Sikh-majority state and officially panjabiphone within the Indian Union: it wasthe Punjabi Suba(province panjabiphone). In 1960, Punjab had passed its

first law on language: the Punjab Official Language Act( Act the officiallanguage of Punjab). The centerpiece of this legislation was to declare that


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the alphabet Punjabi Gurmukhi and Hindi with the Devanagari script werethe official languages of the State. This law was not enforced very longbecause internal conflicts were quick to stop enforcement.Supporters of thePunjabi language had to also contend with the reservations of Prime

Minister Nehru said in 1961 that the Sikh leader Fateh Singh:

It is not out of Any Discrimination AgainstThe distrust of the Punjab or Sikhs That theprocess of forming a linguistic state WasNot possible. Punjabi WAS ... Essentiallythe dominant language of the Punjab state,common to Hindus and Sikhs Both, thoughit is not possible, to accept the principle oflinguistic states in the Purely box of Punjab.

There is no discrimination against Punjab orSikhs distrust for the process of forming alinguistic state is possible. [...] Punjabi isessentially the dominant language of theState of Punjab, common to both Hindus andSikhs, though it is not possible to accept theprinciple of purely linguistic state in the caseof Punjab.

He had to redraw the Punjab in order to allow the award of Punjabi in

Punjab, in order not to disadvantage hindiphones and Urdu.The restructuring of Punjab in 1966 and its consequencesFollowing the 1965 war between Pakistan and India, Punjab has emergedagain as a strategic region, that had to spare, and this, especially since theSikh soldiers had rendered good and loyal service to the Union. In addition,the year 1966 saw the arrival of Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister of India,who succeeded Lal Bahadur Shashi, which had always opposedthe Punjabi Suba. In the circumstances, the leader of the Shiromani Akali

Dal (Akali Religious Party or SAD), Fateh Singh, obtained more easilysucceed, patriotism Sikh can no longer be doubted. Therefore, inNovember 1966, Parliament granted the Indian Punjab the Punjabi Suba,that is to say the province panjabiphone.


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However, the Punjabi Subagrantedhardly corresponded to the aspirations ofthe Sikhs. It was rather a cold showeramong Sikhs. First, the Indian state ofPunjab was divided into three - Punjab,

Himachal Pradesh and Haryana - basedon 1961 Census, which had been"biased" by Hindus as in 1951, so thatthe border called "language" alsocorresponded to the borders "religious"between Sikhs and Hindus. The newPunjab, smaller, was certainly in Sikhmajority (but only to 60%) and highpanjabiphone majority (nearly 90%). Amassive population panjabiphone but lowSikh majority, with limited politicalcontrol. In return, the partition of 1966excluded all panjabiphones residingoutside Punjab, whether in Haryana,Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir,Rajasthan and Delhi. The followingdecades would demonstrate thesepanjabiphones would change thelanguage and assimilate.Moreover, the Punjab was narrowed to

be placed under the supervision of thecentral government that its capital,Chandigarh, was established "Unionterritory" (like Delhi, Goa andPondicherry), outside Punjab . Indeed, theIndian Parliament had decided that thecapital of Punjab would be located on theborder of Punjab and Haryana, whilebeing shared by both states.The Indian government's ambivalent

attitude towards the state of Punjab waseasily explained. We had spare the Sikhsfor several reasons. First, the geopoliticalimportance of Punjab was denied toIndia. The only Indian roads linkingnorthern India in Kashmir, an area ofarmed conflict between India andPakistan, even with China, all passed bythe Punjab. Second, the Punjab wasbecoming the granary of India, producingenough wheat and rice to enable India to

achieve food self-sufficiency and soonclimb to the rank of major industrial


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powers. At the same time, Indians werewary of the Sikhs.

The central government decisions deeply humbled Sikhs, while the

nationalist sentiment of identity was at its height with the creation of PunjabiSuba. Moreover, Hindus were offended at the concessions made to Sikhs.In the reorganization of a st November 1966, the State of Punjab hasbecome a unilingual state panjabiphone. With the adoption of the Act theofficial language of Punjab1967, Punjabi has become the only officiallanguage of the territory, and, from April 13, 1968 statewide. On July 2,1969, the local government took the decision to replace the "Sacharformula" and "formula PEPSU "by the three language formula. According tothis decision, the Punjabi became the first compulsory language and

language teaching at all stages in public schools. Hindi was the secondlanguage compulsory from the fourth year, while English was the thirdcompulsory language from the sixth year.Over the following years, mass demonstrations on both sides and hungerstrikes to demand succeeded Chandigarh, the capital. In 1970, thepresident of the SAD, Fateh Singh, in New Delhi proposed to exchange114 villages Chandigarh against Hindi-speaking majority areas of Fazilkaand Abohar in, with an access corridor through the Punjab, under thecontrol of Haryana, but the proposal caused a period of instability in

Punjab. Because of the many social and political upheavals, the centralgovernment decided in June 1971 to directly administer the Punjab Sikhs, asituation which lasted until March 1972. Then the INC (Indian NationalCongress) returned to power in Punjab, and from that moment, Punjabentered a period of "turbulence", particularly because of the refusal of theCNI to negotiate with moderate Sikhs on the issue of Chandigarh . In fact,leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal had a long list of demands:- Granting autonomous status to the State of Punjab;- the granting of Chandigarh to Punjab State only:

- the concession areas adjacent panjabiphones in Punjab;- granting the status of second official language Punjabi in the neighboring states of Hryana andHimachal Pradesh.These claims of 1978 seemed too ambitious for the Hindus and the centralgovernment. They sealed the rift between Hindus and Sikhs.In 1967, Punjab had adopted a second language law repealing the first:the Punjab Official Language Act( Act the official language ofPunjab). The 1967 Act declared Punjabi as official language only indirectlywhile allowing some districts in the Hindi and Urdu in one case. In fact, thelaw does not specify which language should be used in these districts, but


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rather what religion (Hindu or Sikh) was permitted. Punjabi has become thefirst compulsory language and language teaching in schools, Hindicompulsory second language and English the third compulsorylanguage. The law provided replace English in the administration by

Punjabi. Section 8 of the law required the government to take all possiblemeasures to promote Hindi in the State, without giving the language officialstatus. Anyway, the various governments in power have lacked convictionand political will to implement the provisions of that Act.- The Sikh terrorismIt was at this time that a Sikh preacher, Jamail Singh Bhindranwale,founded a fundamentalist movement, the Dal Khalsa , claiming a Sikhnation-state, independent and sovereign.Unlike other organizations, the Dal

Khasa advocated the use of force to achieve its ends, as evidenced by thehijacking of an Indian Airlines aircraft, September 29, 1981. The movementwas banned in India as early as May 1982 under the Unlawful ActivitiesPrevention Act( Act preventing illegal activities) and giving full powers tolaw enforcement in violation of Article 19 of the Indian Constitution, whichguaranteed freedom of expression. And conflicts between Hindus andSikhs were spread throughout the Punjab. It was then that the centralgovernment took direct control of the state of Punjab in 1983. The followingyear, a force of 50,000 federal troops occupied the Punjab and theneighboring state of Haryana.Far from calming the game, the arrival of the Indian armed forces (federal)provoked widespread violence. On June 5, 1984, the Indian Army enteredthe Golden Temple in Amritsar, the Mecca of Sikhism, as part of a militaryoperation (Blue Star) controlled by the central government (IndiraGandhi). A group of armed separatists, led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale,took refuge in the Golden Temple. After the failure of negotiations andrefusal of nationalists to withdraw peacefully, Mrs. Indira Gandhi orderedthe evacuation of the temple. A shootout ensued with the result, according

to historians, several hundred dead and wounded (700 for soldiers, 5000for Sikhs). The problem is that Sikh militants were only a handful of men,the temple was filled with pilgrims, including women and children. Therewere also the destruction of sacred buildings and the burning of the CentralSikh Library.Obviously, the Sikhs regarded the breach of their holy place asthe ultimate insult.A few months later, on October 31, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by herSikh bodyguards. In retaliation, thousands of Sikhs were massacredthroughout India by Hindus, with the support of Indian National Congress

and the police in suspicious circumstances. Thousands of homes of Sikhs


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were looted and burned, women raped. These actions exacerbated thepolarization and violence between Hindu and Sikh communities.The politico-military organizations of the cause khalistanaise retaliated witha policy of mass terror, which corresponded to the extra-judicial executionsof the Indian police. Sikh fighters imposed their people a multitude of strictreligious codes of assorted punishments. These were forbidden, forexample, on tobacco, alcohol and meat, the wearing Western clothes, onthe obligation for women to dress clothes "traditional", the port ofuntrimmed beard, a ban on cosmetics, skirts, etc.. Then the Sikh fightersbegan to threaten to kill teachers and monitor the curriculum; the nationalanthem, the flags Indian and Hindi were banned. As a result of thisslippage widespread Sikh politico-military groups, they were divided andkilling each other. In November 1991, nine divisions of the Indian army

occupied the entire Punjab: some 250,000 military and paramilitary forcesparticipated in this operation.It is no longer a secret: Pakistan was the main support to separatistgroups. Weapons, money and advice from strategists came from Pakistaniintelligence. It was for Pakistan to use the armed Sikh separatist groups todestabilize the Indian authorities.- The return of local government in Punjab

Before the deterioration of the situation, theIndian government decided in 1992 to restorethe local government in Punjab. In 1993, thePunjab government announced that it haderadicated the Sikh terrorism. Certainly, Sikhterrorism is much less present than it wasthere ten years, but it is not goneaway. Certainly the Sikh terrorist movementhas lost much of its support.Since the beginning of the 2000s, Punjab getsmore and more immigrants from otherStates. About 10% of the population of Punjabis now composed of migrants from UttarPradesh and Bihar. If the trend continues, theSikhs will soon become a minority in theirstate. Some observers assert that uncontrolledimmigration is encouraged by the centralgovernment to minoriser Sikhs.The pro-Khalistan organization Dal Khalsa condemnsthe government for the problems caused by

crime and unemployment caused byimmigration. Moreover, immigration seems


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essential for the economy of Punjab asfarmers still rely on the labor of immigrants forlabor.

In 2008, the State Legislature passed the Punjab OfficialLanguage(Amendment), the Official Language Act (Amendment) . Punjabinow become compulsory in schools and administration. This Act isconsidered necessary before the decline in Punjabi Sikhs in the state.4 The language policy

It is not easy to describe the language policy of the State of Punjab. On theone hand, the information is fragmented, secondly, the legislation are notavailable (at least in English). We must therefore refer to secondary

sources, in English only. In addition, the State of Punjab has never givenrelevant information regarding the languages used in linguistic minoritycommissioner ("Commissioner Linguistic Minorities" of the centralgovernment. Finally, the language policy of the Indian Punjab is in arestructuring phase . It is therefore called to be transformed dramatically inthe coming years.In principle, with the adoption of the Act the official language ofPunjab1967 ( Punjab Official Languages Act), Punjabi became the onlyofficial language, except as provided for Hindi, Urdu and English . Indeed,

Hindi was co-official in some districts, and Urdu, in one (Malerkotla). As forEnglish, it could be used for business transactions of the State Legislature.On July 2, 1969, the local government has decided to replace the "Sacharformula" and "formula PEPSU "by the three language formula. According tothis decision, the Punjabi became the first compulsory language andlanguage teaching at all stages in public schools. Hindi was the secondlanguage compulsory from the fourth year, while English was the thirdcompulsory language from the sixth year. Anyway, the 1967 law was neverstrictly enforced, however. This is why it was repealed and replaced in2008 by the Act amended language( Punjab OfficialLanguage, Amendment).This law was adopted unanimously by the Legislature, September 10,2008. The law of the Punjabi language in Punjab and paves the way for fulluse of this language in the administration of the State. It is no coincidencethat the 1967 Act was replaced. One member of Congress, Ajit Inder SinghMofar, said the decision should have been taken there at least twenty orthirty years, indicating that the Punjabi language should get priority in

schools, universities and other institutions: "If we continue to ignore it, wewill forget the Punjabi language." The House also passed a bill on the


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learning of Punjabi and other languages. Now, Punjabi is compulsory (fromApril 2009) for students in first through the tenth year. The Minister ofEducation and Language, Upinderjit Kaur, said it is extremely important tomonitor the implementation status of Punjabi as the official language of the

state. Understand that if Punjabi is one of theconstitutional languages, itremained the language of a minority community.4.1 The state language and EnglishPunjabi is, in principle, the only state language of Punjab, subject to theprivileges granted to the English language in state affairs. In fact, English is

just as official as Punjabi.Members of the Legislative Assembly have theright to use Punjabi as well as English. The lower courts use Punjabi, butEnglish and Hindi are allowed. For other languages, we must resort to

translating and interpreting.In the administration of the State, Punjabi and English are alsopermitted. While most officials use Punjabi in the line of duty, the facts alsoshow that many government officials use English as their main workinglanguage, even as the only working language. According to official figuresfrom the Languages Department Punjab, during the last 18 months of2007, a total of 1,837 government offices audited by the department, some277 officials were working exclusively in English, on the latter number, 123were employees of senior. Over the past seven years, some 7,000

government offices have been audited, and it appears that 2800 employeeswork exclusively in English. Under the language law of 1967, a governmentemployee who does not use Punjabi in official correspondence may facedisciplinary action, which may not exclude or censorship ordemotion. According to the Language Department of Punjab, from 10% to16% of employees still working in English only. The problem is not thesame use of English, but the failure to use Punjabi. The whole problem isthis: some officials remained unable to use Punjabi in their daily tasks. Inother words, the Act on the official language of Punjab1967 ( Punjab

Official Languages Act) has never been applied with all its provisions.

The state government has warned that the incumbent minister of theDepartment of Languages will now take action against officials who violatethe provisions of the 2008 Act. From 2009, all the billboards, all signs, allforms, all official documents shall be compulsorily written in Punjabi. If thedocument is permitted in English, it is because there exists a version inPunjabi. In other words, the unilingual English will not be allowed. ThePunjab Languages Department will conduct inspections of all governmentinstitutions to verify the status and respect for the law. All citizens of Punjab

will be assured of legal services in Punjabi on request.
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4.2 EducationIn the field of education, the situation is similar. It is true that Punjabi istaught in public schools of the State of Punjab. However, parents have thechoice to send their children to schools where the teaching language isanother language, whether English, Hindi or Urdu. Generally, Muslimsattend schools in Urdu (or English); Hindus, schools in Hindi (or English),Sikhs, Punjabi schools (or English). However, the Sikh families who canafford it prefer their children attend schools where the language ofinstruction is strictly English.Children whose parents are relatively educatedand pupils from high-income families usually attend English schools ratherthan schools in Punjabi, as a degree in English provides some jobs, unlikediplomas from schools of Punjabi.In principle, Punjabi should be taught during the first three grades; Hindi isthe second language compulsory from the fourth year, while English is thethird compulsory language from the sixth year. Moreover, in almost allschools, all teaching in materials science and computing is in English. Butparents have the option of sending their children to schools where Punjabiis the language of instruction. The problem is that, despite the law, Punjabiis not taught in English schools, schools or ourdoues Hindi. The classgraduated from these schools do not always read and write Punjabi. Atbest, many young people use the Punjabi spoken with their families orwhen listening to the radio. In universities, Punjabi is ignored, since most

courses are taught in English, if not in Hindi. Over 85% of students whoalmost never use Punjabi, from urban centers, against 15% for ruralareas. In sum, Punjabi is devalued in the State of Sikhs and does not reachthe prestige which he is entitled.In 2008, the Government of Punjab has decided that this is Punjabi as acompulsory subject in all universities of the State (2008-2009), so that allstudents have minimal knowledge of Punjabi at the end of their universitystudies . This does not mean that courses must be taught in Punjabi, but

Punjabi courses will now be mandatory. In this respect a new law,thePunjab Learning of Punjabi and Other Languages Act 2008 ("Act onlearning Punjabi and other languages of Punjab 2008") was developed andadopted to ensure adequate and binding in the education in all publicschools in the state. The government also stated that by implementingPunjabi as a compulsory subject in schools the language formula wouldalso be protected in the letter and spirit so that students of Punjab cancompete in international fora and national learning also Hindi and Englishlanguages.4.3 The media


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Most newspapers are published in thePunjab Punjabi ( 5abi, Daily Ajit, Aj DiAwaz Daly, Daly Ajiit, DailyCharhdikala, Punjabi Tribune, SikhVirsa, etc..), but several are published

in English ( Nava Panga, PunjabExpress Punjab Newsline, etc..), Hindi(N ews Guru India, Punjab Kesari,Sach Kahoon, etc..) or Urdu ( DailyHamarasmaj.

The electronic media are in a relatively similar with respect to language ofbroadcast. Most radio stations are in Punjabi, but there are a number inEnglish, Hindi, Urdu or Bengali, Nepali, etc.. Several national broadcaststations, in addition to Hindi and English, other languages. TV channels are

regional Punjabi (Alpha ETC Punjabi, NRI TV, Zee Punjabi, DD Punjabi,etc..), But other channels are in Hindi and other languages.

The Indian state of Punjab has developed, so often sporadic and timid, apolicy of developing the official language, Punjabi. Unlike most Indianstates, Punjab seems to have had many difficulties to promote its regionallanguage. This is why the State has not even provided special measuresagainst minorities, as they have in fact done anyway, especially thepowerful Hindi-speaking Hindu minority.In fact, the State of Punjab remains one of the Indian states least preparedin terms of language planning. Not only that State lacked safeguards forminorities, but he did no more for the majority. Punjab has always struggledto impose its official regional language. The new legislation could be a stepforward, but past experience suggests caution, as the legislation of 1967has not produced the desired results. We can only hope that the 2008could lead to more convincing results in favor of Punjabi. In short, the

language policy of Punjab is yet to be built. To achieve this will require thatthe elite put their shoulder to the wheel and follows up to the 2008legislation. The entire nation is its language, but the elite has so far beenrather timid in promoting Punjabi.

Last updated: October 1, 2010

- India -The Indian The language The language policy Bibliography
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