Census 2011 and Returning Our Mother Tongue

Published in The Arunachal Times, Arunachal Front, The Roing Times, Sinlung on 14^th April 2010

(Nending Ommo)

Out of the total 25 tribes of Arunachal Pradesh listed by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, Ministry of Home Affairs, India, only nine languages from Arunachal have got mentioned under Non Scheduled languages and obviously none in Scheduled Languages in Eight Schedule.

To qualify to be included in the Schedule Tribe list, people strength 5,000 or above population have to return and to be included in the list of Non Schedule languages, strength 10,000 and above have to return as the speakers. According to Office of the Registrar General for Arunachal, ‘The notification gives only an illustration of a few STs. In 2001 Census, total of 100 STs have been enumerated.

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Twenty-five of them have returned 5,000 and above population’. The list includes: Abor, Adi, Adi Gallong, Adi Minyong, Adi Padam, Aka, Any Naga Tribes, Apatani, Bangni, Dafla** (now Nyishi), Deori, Galong** (Now Galo), Idu/Chulikata Mishmi, Khampti, Miji, Mishing/Miri, Mishmi, Monpa, Nishang, Nissi, Nocte, Tagin, Tangsa, Tawang, Monpa, Wancho (names in alphabetical order as they appear in the list ** The names Nissi/ Dafla or Gallong and others are referred here as they are listed in the Census 2001 according to the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, Ministry of Home Affairs, India. http://censusindia.gov.in/Tables_Published/SCST/ST%20Lists.pdf).

This list is not very satisfactory as the data seems skewed, repetitive and overlapping as Government of Arunachal Pradesh lists only 20 Schedule Tribes with a number of sub-tribes. Though apprehensive, here I am not dealing with the listings of STs rather concerned about the enumeration of Non- Scheduled languages. Of the 25 tribes, the languages that got mentioned are Adi, Deori, Karbi/ Mikir, Mishmi, Monpa, Nissi/ Dafla, Nocte, Tangsa, Wancho. Other major languages have been clubbed as mother tongues under them, e.g. Gallong and Minyong under Adi and Apatani, Bangni, Nissi, Tagin under Nissi/ Dafla. Interestingly a fact to be attached here is, according to UNESCO 2009 report, all the languages spoken by natives of Arunachal are endangered or either vulnerable.

Well, in the 2001 Census, as in the previous censuses, the mother tongue as returned by each individual was collected through question number 10 of Household Schedule, which was canvassed for the entire population of the country’. There occurred major overlapping of the names, clubbing and bifurcations which are definitely the result of skewed language data collection, their improper documentation and inconsistent use of names by the enumerators, supervisors or other census staffs and compilers.

Apart from this, greatest worry is regarding the general mass who is  interviewed as informants. Many have come up with misinformation as not speaking their mother tongue though according to the Office of Registrar is ‘legally bound to answer such questions to the best of knowledge and belief’. This happens because mother tongue is indeed no more used at home as first language rather Hindi or Assamese is adopted or preferred to sound polite and loving to children; Hindi these days has become style statement for many of youngsters who abandon their mother tongue as old-fashioned; Hindi or Assamese is chosen over by many as the accent of their native language is ridiculed by others as funny and stereotype; Hindi or English is favoured in formal social gatherings as mother tongue has no formal registered variations and sounds very casual and crude deemed not fit for the occasion. Whatever maybe the reasons beyond the purview of the cited ones, the issue is the endangerment of our mother tongues.

Apatani and Tagin for example has 27,576 and 39,091 population respectively but not even 10,000 returned as language speakers and so clubbed with Nissi/ Dafla. So is the case with Galong, Minyong, Padam with 48,126, 33,984, 11,625 population respectively are categorised under Adi. The speakers of these languages are well more than 10,000 but not returned as speakers during census which is a huge- huge worry.

The Housing and National Population Register census has started in India from 1st April 2010 and the census of Arunachal is scheduled from 15th April to 31st May 2010 according to the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner.

As aware, educated and responsible countrymen, it is our moral obligation and legal duty to give accurate information and encourage and educate others regarding the same and it is the accountability of the concerned authorities to take up census systematically and meticulously.

I sincerely wish and hope that Census 2011 report will bring a better picture of Arunachal not only on linguistic ground but on other areas as well as this Census report will be referred to and relied on for next one decade for every developmental plans and projects including Five Year Plans, Annual Plans and various welfare schemes and sanctions. It is for you and I to feel the necessity to provide correct information for a better tomorrow.