English in India

English in India

Period: Oct 11, 1498 to Oct 11, 2010

Portuguese arrive in India

Dec 31, 1498

The Portuguese arrive in India over a hundred years before the British. A pidgin emerges which becomes the lingua franca. It also becomes the language of all foreign traders. All Europeans had to learn Portuguese to work in India

East India Company arrives in India

Oct 11, 1600

Elizabeth the First grants a few merchants a charter to trade in the East

Coastal factories

Oct 11, 1611

Bombay is gifted to the King

Dec 31, 1662

Portuguese give Bombay to the British as a dowry gift to King Charles the Second. Soon after the British create Calcutta and rule from there.

English begins to become a contender

Oct 31, 1667

English starts becoming important, but it takes long for it to catch on as traders and settlers are not interested in education or missionary work.

Missionary activity

Dec 31, 1698

Missionary activity becomes possible. Only Protestantism is allowed.

First English school

Dec 11, 1715

First school for Eurasians in founded. These are children of settlers. This is followed by one in Bombay in 1719 and one in Calcutta in 1739

Printing Press

Dec 31, 1778

First English Printing Press

First English Newspapers

Dec 31, 1780

1780-1795 First English Newspapers are circulated

The India Act

Dec 31, 1784

William Pitt's India Act gives joint resposibility of India to the Crown and the East India Company

The Travels of Dean Mahomet

Dec 31, 1794

The first book to be written in English by an Indian

1813-1823 England take responsibility to educate the Indians

Oct 12, 1813

The House of Commons decide that it was the duty of Britain to impart useful and moral knowledge. The East India Company is made responsible for the imparting of education in India.

First English College

Dec 31, 1817

The Hindu College is set up in Calcutta and it imparts an English education. Originally a private institution it runs into financial difficulties, the government takes it over and becomes the first English college of the government. An important decision is that they would only take on students who were proficient in their own languages. Its largest difficulty is to find good teachers.
Other schools before this were Christian Charity Schools, whose quality was dubious.

Western Knowledge becomes available to Indians

Dec 31, 1830

The General Committee of Public Instruction states that it wants all the Presidencies to have access to European sciences and literature. Since it was very difficult to teach this through translation, they recommended English as language of instruction.

The Minute of Macauley

Mar 7, 1835

The Minute of Macaulay, which is said to mark "the real beginnings of bilingualism in India" is approved by Lord William Bentinck After listening to the argument of the two sides, one one side the Orientaltists who wanted Sanskrit as a language of instruction on the other the Anglicists who said that a class should be formed in India, a group of people who would act as interpreters between the British and Indians, He chooses for this. The native tongues would be used for lower education.

-1905 Civil Service Jobs for Indians

Dec 31, 1844

1894 1905 The British Civil Service decides to open a number of subordinate jobs to Indians. English is taught without reference to religion. An English speaking Indian middle-class is created. Industrialisation and development creates a larger need for English speaking Indians.

1894-1905 Civil Service

Dec 31, 1894

1894 1905 The British Civil Service decides to open a number of subordinate jobs to Indians. English is taught without reference to religion. An English speaking Indian middle-class is created. Industrialisation and development creates a larger need for English speaking Indians.

Indian Independence

Aug 15, 1947

1947 Independence for India, battle for a national language starts between Hindi, Hindustani, Sanskrit and English.

India becomes a Republic

Jan 26, 1950

Hindi becomes National language. English is chosen as an official language for a period of fifteen years. Nehru becomes first Prime minister of India.

English remains Official language

Jan 12, 1965

At the end of the fifteen years, the role of English is reviewed and it is agreed to keep it on as an official language indefinitely.

Three language policy

Oct 12, 1968

Three language policy in schools. Languages to be learnt were the Native language, Hindi and English. There is great socio-linguistic controversy over how practical this is as millions of Indians are being educated in a language that is not their mother tongue.