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Before the British rule, Persian was used as the court language in Sindh. The British rulers decided to run their local administration in Sindhi and introduced the language as a medium of instruction at the school level.
It was very difficult for them to recognize one out of four scripts; Perso-Arabic (also known as Abul-Hatai Sindhi), Devanagari, Lunda (also known as Hatai or Hatvaniki) and Giumukhi being used for the language. A number of scholars were of the opinion to use Lunda to maintain the separate identity of script for the language. On the other hand, the scholars like Stack and Trump suggested to adopt Devanagari with the required modifications. Burton, the commissioner of Sindh advocated the adaptation of the Perso-Arabic script for the language. After long discussions at different levels, ultimately with the pressure from Muslims and Persian knowing Hindu scholars, the modified Perso-Arabic alphabet having 52 letters (29 Arabic, 3 Persian and 20 modified letters representing native sounds) was officially recognized for the Sindhi Language.
Under the official patronage, the language was widely used in the formal and creative domains like local administration, education, mass media and literature.
The state of Sindhi underwent a drastic change due to the Partition (1947). On the one hand, about one million Hindu- Sindhis who had played a major role in the development of Sindhi language and literature were compelled to leave Sindh on the political ground, and on the other hand Sindhi was replaced by Urdu in the formal domains which reduced the use of Sindhi language in Sindh.
Before the partition in Sindh a large number of educationists and litterateurs belonged to the Sindhi-Hindu community. After their migration to India they established many educational institutions and cultural and literary forums in their settlements to maintain their linguistic identity and literary tradition. They also pressurized the government through constructive and constitutional means to give Sindhi its due place. In 1957 Sindhi was recognized by the Sahitya Akademi. At about the same time, some stations of All India Radio started broadcasting programmes in Sindhi. In 1967 Sindhi was included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian constitution as a major Indian Language.
In India, Sindhi is not used in administration and higher education. But it is widely used in other domains like education, mass media and literature. It is also used for the ‘in group’ formal activities and cultural functions.
After the partition, the movement of reviving Devanagari for Sindhi in India started. The Devanagari supporters felt that it was the original and most suitable script for the language. Apart from that the scattered community had a facility to learn Devanagari through Hindi. Therefore, they thought that it would be convenient for the learners to use it for Sindhi also. On the other hand, the supporters of Perso-Arabic argued that the Single script should continue for the language being used in the Indo-Pak sub continent. It would also be essential to be in touch with the literary activities in Sindh. At present, the Perso-Arabic and Devanagari, both scripts were recognized for Sindhi in India while only Perso-Arabic is used for the language in Pakistan.
Our constitution has provided adequate facilities to establish educational institutions for the children belonging to the linguistic minority groups. After the partition, a large number of Sindhi medium schools were opened in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Delhi. Sindhi was also introduced as a subject at the University level. Sindhi managements opened Sindhi medium school with great enthusiasm. But after some period, to meet the demand and expand their institutions they opened Non-Sindhi medium branches (mainly English mediums and in some cases Hindi mediums) also. Once the Non-Sindhi branches were opened, the number of Sindhi medium students started decreasing. In most of the cases, the Sindhi managements closed their Sindhi medium branches totally. In many cases, they did not provide facility to learn Sindhi as a subject. Various prestigious factors and socio-economic pressures compelled Sindhi parents to send their children to English medium schools. Non-availability of trained teachers and inadequate teaching materials are the main problems of the Sindhi education. Shift from the mother tongue to the dominant language is also one of the major problems faced by the Sindhi learners. Sindhi being a minority language has to join the mainstream of the dominant language/s. The children having their education in the native language at the primary level have to join non-native language medium at the post primary level and the same problem arises at the college level. Because of it the learners suffer and loose their interest, which results in the problems of wastage, and drop out. The parents also hesitate to send their children to Sindhi medium schools. In such a situation, Sindhi education needs special attention and different strategy. It should be taught as a subject to the Sindhi speakers in the all-Sindhi management institutions and other institutions where a good number of Sindhi speakers are studying. The short-term courses in Sindhi should be popularized out side the formal school curriculum.
In India, Sindhi is widely used in different fields of mass media. Sindhi newspapers and periodicals play a very important role for the scattered community. At present, total 101 newspapers and periodicals are published in India. Their details are given below.
Dailies 13 Tri/bi weeklies - ? Weeklies 38 Fortnightlies 11 Monthlies 37 Quarterlies 9 Half Yearlies 2 Yearly 1 ---------------- Total 101 ----------------
Due to the lack of planning and resources, the papers are not capable to meet the demands of the bi/multilingual Sindhi speakers as they cannot compete with the papers published in dominant languages in terms of coverage of topics and circulation.
Sindhi is also used on Radio and T.V. About 16 hours per week Sindhi programmes are broadcasted from different stations of AIR. A limited time is also allotted to telecast from some regional channels of D.D. It is unfortunate to mention that so far not even a single documentary is made in Sindhi by the Film Division. Sindhi is also not included in the programmes conducted by the National song and Drama Division. The Sindhi producers made more than one dozen Sindhi feature films. Sindhi audio-video cassettes/cds are also very popular among the Sindhi speakers. They have established many dramas and cultural organization.
Even then, many Sindhis are pessimist about the future of Sindhi language in India. According to them on the one hand, due to political reasons, there is a very limited contact with Sindh, and on the other hand, the Sindhi community does not form a significant numerical strength in any part of India. They also argue that studying through Sindhi medium has a great disadvantage in getting employment and status. In such a situation, the Sindhi language has a very limited role to play in the country. According to them, in the near future the Sindhi speakers will stop using their mother tongue and lose their identity. But the facts show that the element of maintaining their linguistic identity is stronger than assimilation. In spite of many difficulties, they have not only maintained their identity but also have done sufficient remarkable work in the field of education, mass-media and literature. Up to some extent the government organizations like Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), National Council for the promotion of Sindhi Language (NCPSL), Six State Sahitya Academies (Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Utter Pradesh and Delhi) and many non-Governmental organizations like Akhil Bharat Sindhi Boli Ain Sahitsabha, Akhil Bharat Sindhi Boli Ain Sahit Prachar sabha, Sarba Bharat Sindhi Boli Ain Kala Vikas Sabha, Indian Institute of Sindhology, Prof. Ram Panjwani Literary and Cultural Centre, Indus Ind Foundation, Sahay of Foundation, Priyadarshani, Hyderabad (Sindh) National collegiate Board, Vivekananda Education Society, Sadhu Vaswani Mission, Tolani Collegiate Board, Maitri Mandal and many other organizations have contributed by promoting Sindhi education, culture and literature. The Sindhi organizations are willing to contribute much more but they are depressed, rather confused, as they are not clear about the proper direction to utilize their energy and resources.
The linguistic minorities in our country differ in their numerical strength as well as in their developmental level. The state of Sindhi is quite different than other minority languages in India. It is one of the major languages of the Indo-Pak Sub-continent having rich cultural heritage and literary tradition. Unfortunately, it is cut off from its majority, due to the political reasons. Inspite of that it is struggling for the survival. Actually, in a multilingual country like India, the concerns of linguistic identity of minorities should be channalized properly in a positive manner rather than allowing them to live in the frustration and confusion, which may result in a negative identity.
In India, facilities are provided for the minorities, but a number of problems arise at different levels while implementing the constitutional safe-guards and this is due to the lack of coordination and seriousness. The adequate constructive steps should be taken to prepare and implement different programme for the promotion of the language on the regular basis in collaboration with the governmental and non-governmental agencies in order to meet the aspiration of the community.
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