Gravitas Plus: Is India truly free of the British?

i hope you've had a good independence day i spent it by writing a little note to myself here's a question that i asked myself what are we celebrating is india really independent bear with me and hear me out are you and i independent well i don't think so and what i'm about to share with you tonight is a rather unpopular opinion but i need to say it out loud to myself and to all of you hello and welcome to gravitas plus i'm palki sharma and i think in some ways my country and i are still living in the shackles of the english rule i will break down my argument into three parts and i will begin with language this language that i am communicating to you in is english the language of england this is the map of india 28 states eight union territories each with at least two indian languages india has 19 569 mother tongues 121 of these are spoken by 10 000 people or more the number of official languages in india is 22. all these numbers and independent india wants to master one language the language of our invaders what was india's freedom struggle all about having our own identity what defines our identity more than our mother tongue if india is independent why have we not let our mother tongues flourish why are we shy of speaking indian languages why have they become a sign of backwardness if someone speaks in hindi tamil uria bangla or assamese he or she is seen as less qualified when the same person speaks in english his or her chance in standing improve independent india has put the language of our colonizers on a pedestal english is a socio-economic marker the language you must know if you want to be successful in india if you've ever attended a parent teacher meeting you would have noticed how parents are obsessed with the idea of their children speaking fluent english the popular notion is this perfecting english equals to scoring better in other subjects wrong perfecting one's mother tongue is what gives someone an edge in other subjects and i have research to back this up in 1973 a researcher studied native american students in mexico she found those who were taught in their native language early on and then transitioned to spanish outperformed their peers who were taught only in spanish similar research was carried out in honduras iran and togo the result was the same when a child is taught in a language she speaks at home her test scores shoot up here is another popular notion english language equals to success if you want to do well you must know english have you ever wondered how japan germany or for that matter even china have made it to the top five economies of the world most of the people there do not speak english that's some food for thought as i move to point number two history not the one that we have lived but the one we study the history that is taught in indian schools is not indian history at all it is india through the lens of britain do you know that imperial england used history as a tool for suppressing indians in 1868 max mueller the famous endologist wrote a letter to the duke of argyll he was the then secretary of state of india and these words are from mueller's letter i'm quoting india has been conquered once but india must be conquered again and the second conquest should be a conquest by education the british custom made indian history to suit their purpose we were taught that it was the invasion of alexander that civilized us the shakkas and the kushans were good for the natives the invasion of muhammad bin qashim the gorys the thuglax the lodis the mughals they were all good for india akbar was great what about raja mansing he was the rajput commander of akbar's armies he helped akbar the great extend his empire why aren't we studying raja mansing enough because he's an indian and the british were not comfortable endorsing him now here is a question why are our history books still so selective our books mention newton but conveniently shrink passages on the sixth century mathematician brahmagupta indians are not taught that it was one of their own who first developed numericals one to nine and zero our history books have no mention of vedic maths and how it inspired the world or how the world learnt from the hindu agricultural practices how ancient india was the world's most favored trading nation the influence of the indian civilization on southeast asia also omitted from indian history books is the ahom dynasty they ruled assam for 600 years and even defeated the british why do our books gloss over the cholas and the pandyas our textbooks are still not free of british influence and it is not just about indian history the world history we study also reeks of strong british bias take world war ii for example our books glorify the british and the american troops what about the indians who fought in the british army what western historians also do not realize is that the turning point of the second world war was the defeat of the nazi army in russia the british can go ahead and hide this from their students but why are we india is still living in the shackles of the raj i will give you more examples under point number three and that is society our institutions are still living with a colonial hangover the elected parliamentarians of independent india say i and no when voting in the house those in favor may say those against me say no have you noticed the attire of the darwans standing beside the speaker of the lok sabha and the chairman of the rajya sabha colonial judges in india are still referred to as my lord and your honor lord ship and i don't even want to get started on how our judicial system with all the paperwork is so british what about the use of sevadar or sahayaks in the indian army there has been so much human cry about it the british pitted religions and ethnic groups against each other independent india continues to embrace that divide we still follow the british education system and we still do not give our children the freedom to innovate they are enslaved by grades and test scores the vices of the british education system freedom was not supposed to be a mere change of hands how can we call ourselves independent if we do not have the freedom to make our choices a woman still cannot rise up the ranks of the indian army indian attire is not modern enough for so many high tea and english breakfast are signs of having arrived we wear gowns at graduation ceremonies we shun dark skin our police force is still lati charge english remains a vehicle of social mobility we love shashi taru for voluminous diction but we question the need to be fluent in our vernacular we know all about the british royal family but we know nothing about the satwvahanas the point i'm making is very simple india has achieved a lot no one can take away that from us but many indians still need to break free [Music]

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Keywords: Wion, world news, Wion News, Latest English News, International News, gravitas plus, gravitas +, india independence day, 74th independence day, britishers, colonial rule, india under colonial rule, british colony, british rule, indian freedom struggle

Id: qcbn2h0PqAw

Length: 7min 33sec (453 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 16 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/wannabesleuth01]

Palki Sharma is just chefs kiss the best. Her roasts on porkistan and chyna are just amazing.

[u/a45ed6cs7s]

Nothing we can do except improve per capta income, up is a blackhole will make sure we are poor as a nation for eternity