Non-discrimination is an integral part of the principle of equality. It ensures that no one is denied their rights because of factors such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property or birth.

In ancient India, Sanskrit was the most prevalent language especially during the period of Aryans who introduced it. There are evidences which show that Sanskrit was spoken by elite while the ‘low order’ people used Pali as a means of communication. With the arrival of Islamic rulers, the language became Persian in most of the regions of the then India. At the regional level, local dialects became popular which borrowed words from other main prevalent languages like Persian, Turkish, Arabic, etc. Gradually Urdu developed as a confluence of Persian speaking classes/foreigners and Sanskrit speaking locals.

A few years later (1837), the British settled in India and English language overpowered Persian. Hindi and Urdu started to be used in courts for local residents. Initially, the British experimented with vernacular languages in courts and other Indian matters but later they found it more convenient to switch over to English.

The then prevalent classical languages-Sanskrit, Arabic and other indigenous languages suffered a drastic blow with the introduction of ‘Minute of 1835’ by Thomas Babington Macaulay as it injected English language in the Indian system and it trained the Indians to become hegemonic. Most of the governmental functions began to be carried out in English too. Some eminent personalities of India also supported the introduction of English into the Indian system. For instance, Raja Ram Mohan Roy supported the introduction of English system of education so that an access could be gained into modern science and liberal education of Britain. But the tyranny of the British made Indians rebel in every respect. National language began to be seen as a symbol of unity and national pride and started to be considered as an important part of freedom struggle.

What is language discrimination?

Language discrimination occurs when a person is treated differently because of her native language or other characteristics of her language skills. For example, an employee may be experiencing language discrimination if the workplace has a “speak-English-only” policy but her primary language is one other than English. She may also be the victim of language discrimination if she is treated worse than other employees because she speaks English with an accent, or if she is told she does not qualify for a position because her English is not good enough. Language discrimination may also occur if a person is denied access to businesses or government services because he or she does not speak, understand, read or write English well.

No-discrimination on the ground of language:

Art 14 : of the constitution prohibits the state from discriminating on the ground of language before the law.
Art 15: Prohibits the State from making any laws or discriminating on the ground of language in the public places.
Art 16:Prohibits discriminating any opportunity of employment or promotion.
Art:23(2) of the constitution, State may impose compulsory service for public purpose but can not discriminate on the ground of language.
Art 29(2) : states that no citizen shall be denied admission into any educational institution maintained by the state or receiving aid out of State funds on ground only of religion,race,caste,language or any of them.

In India language is not an important divisible factor but plays just a minor role than the religion, castes or regionalism.

Why is language discrimination illegal?

The laws mentioned above make it illegal for employers to discriminate against an employee because of his or her national origin. (“National origin” generally refers to the country that a person, or that person’s ancestors, came from.)  But because the primary language a person speaks is closely related to the place she came from, or the place her ancestors came from, being discriminated against for using that language, or because of characteristics having to do with that language, has much the same effect as if that person were being discriminated against because of her national origin.