Editing Indian English (section)

==History==
{{See also|Glossary of the British Raj}}

=== British India ===

The English language established a foothold on the [[Indian subcontinent]] with the granting of the [[East India Company]] charter by [[Queen Elizabeth I]] in 1600 and the subsequent establishment of trading ports in coastal cities such as [[Surat]], [[Mumbai]] (called Bombay before 1995), [[Chennai]] (called Madras before 1996), and [[Kolkata]] (called Calcutta before 2001).

English-language public instruction began in the subcontinent in the 1830s during the [[Company rule in India#Education|rule of the British East India Company]]. In 1835, English [[English Education Act 1835|replaced]] [[Persian language|Persian]] as the official language of the East India Company. [[Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay|Lord Macaulay]] played a major role in introducing English and Western concepts into educational institutions in British-India. He supported the replacement of Persian by English as the official language, the use of English as the medium of instruction in all schools, and the training of English-speaking Indians as teachers.<ref name="John MacKenzie 2013">MacKenzie, John (January 2013). "A family empire", ''BBC History Magazine''.</ref> Throughout the 1840s and 1850s, primary, middle, and high schools were opened in many districts of [[Presidencies and provinces of British India|British India]], with most high schools offering English language instruction in some subjects. In 1857, just before the end of East India Company rule, universities that were modeled on the [[University of London]] and used English as the medium of instruction were established in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. During the [[British Raj]] (1858 to 1947), English-language penetration increased throughout the subcontinent. This was driven in part by the gradually increasing hiring of Indians in the [[civil services]]. At the time of [[Indian Independence Act 1947|Indian independence]] in 1947, English was the only functional ''[[lingua franca]]'' in the region.

=== Republic of India ===

After the independence and [[Partition of British India]], [[Modern Standard Hindi]] was declared the first official language in the new Indian Republic, and attempts were made to declare Hindi the sole national language. Due to [[Anti-Hindi agitations of Tamil Nadu|protests from Tamil Nadu]] and other non-Hindi-speaking states, it was decided to temporarily retain English for official purposes until at least 1965. By the end of this period, however, opposition from non-Hindi states was still too strong to have Hindi declared the sole language. With this in mind, the English Language Amendment Bill declared English to be an associate language "until such time as all non-Hindi States had agreed to its being dropped."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rajbhasha.gov.in/en/official-languages-act-1963|title=The Official Languages Act, 1963 {{!}} Department of Official Language {{!}} Ministry of Home Affairs {{!}} GoI|website=rajbhasha.gov.in|access-date=3 April 2020}}</ref> This has not yet occurred, and English is still widely used. For instance, it is the only reliable means of day-to-day communication between the central government and the non-Hindi states.

The view of the [[English language]] among many Indians has changed over time. It used to be associated primarily with colonialism; it is now primarily associated with economic progress, and English continues to be an official language of India.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Annamalai |first=E. |chapter=India: Language Situation |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of language & linguistics |editor1-last=Brown |editor1-first=Keith |date=2006 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-0-08-044299-0 |doi=10.1016/B0-08-044854-2/04611-3 |pages=610–613}}</ref> Indian men who speak fluent English have been found to earn 34% higher hourly salaries than men who don't speak English.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Timalsina |first=Tarun |date=2021-03-18 |title=Redefining Colonial Legacies: India and the English Language |url=https://harvardpolitics.com/redefining-colonial-legacies-india-and-the-english-language/ |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=Harvard Political Review |language=en-US}}</ref>

While there is an assumption that English is readily available in India, studies show that its usage is actually restricted to the elite,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://scroll.in/article/840341/the-rise-of-hinglish-how-the-media-created-a-new-lingua-franca-for-indias-elites|title=The rise of Hinglish: How the media created a new lingua franca for India's elites|first=Shoaib|last=Daniyal|website=Scroll.in|date=18 June 2017 }}</ref> because of inadequate [[Education in India|education]] to large parts of the Indian population. It has been suggested that Indian English, rather than British English, should be taught in schools, to allow for international cooperation while valuing local cultural features "due to a set of unique lexical, grammatical, phonological and discourse features that would allow it to act as both a lingua franca within the country and on the international stage".<ref>https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1244241</ref> The use of outdated teaching methods and the poor grasp of English exhibited by the authors of many guidebooks disadvantage students who rely on these books, giving India only a moderate proficiency in English.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Chelliah|first=Shobhana L.|date=July 2001|title=Constructs of Indian English in language 'guidebooks'|journal=World Englishes|volume=20|issue=2|pages=161–178|doi=10.1111/1467-971X.00207}}</ref>

In addition, many features of Indian English were imported into [[Bhutan]] due to the dominance of Indian-style education and teachers in the country after it withdrew from its isolation in the 1960s.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2021-02-26|title=To Eat 'Snacks Or Snakes?' Discover The Idiosyncrasies Of Bhutanese English|url=http://dailybhutan.com/article/to-eat-snacks-or-snakes-discover-the-idiosyncrasies-of-bhutanese-english|website=dailybhutan.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=2021-02-26|title=The idiosyncrasies of Bhutanese English – Kuensel Online|url=https://kuenselonline.com/the-idiosyncrasies-of-bhutanese-english/|website=kuenselonline.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190213122337/http://dailybhutan.com/article/to-eat-snacks-or-snakes-discover-the-idiosyncrasies-of-bhutanese-english|archive-date=2019-02-13}}</ref>