'Literate people of Hyderabad were not uneducated in English'

The debate on what should be the medium of instruction at the University level has been going on in India for more than 150 years. It has remained inconclusive and would remain so for many more years to come.
Many academics, linguists and educators have drawn attention to this linguistic dichotomy of India on several occasions. The point has been raised in many articles published, following the suicide of Rohit Vemula, a research scholar at the University of Hyderabad, about two weeks ago.Some of the experts have pointed out that there is a surge of students from rural backgrounds, in Universities that offer higher education through English medium. Many of these students are Dalits, tribals among persons, from backward castes, who have had their education in native languages (Telugu in case of Rohit). They have to work harder than others to cope up with English and understand the subjects of their choice at post graduate level and research areas.
A similar kind of debate was prevalent in the beginning of the 20th century, when Osmania University was being conceptualised and Urdu was chosen to be its language of instruction.
Even before the idea of Osmania University was floated, India was going through traumatic times as the British colonialists were pushing for English replacing Farsi (Persian) as the language of education and administration. At the same time, even before the first war of independence in 1857, a tussle between Urdu and Hindi had also gripped the country. Many princely states had replaced Farsi with Urdu as their court language but in the beginning of the 20th century, several of them were moving towards 'Hindustani' with Devanagri script as against a Persian script.
Hyderabad State comprised of four major linguistic groups-Telugu, Marathi, Kannada and Urdu. According to Dr Mustafa Kamal who has researched extensively on the situation of Urdu, the language replaced Persian as the official language in Hyderabad State in 1886. The literacy rate in the last decade of 19th century was around 1 percent. In 1904-1905 the people who opted for Urdu as one of their subjects in schools were 27,257 as against Marathi 18,109; Telugu 11,779; English 8,746 and Kannada 4,378.
In 1911 total population of the State was 1.33 crore of which people with Telugu mother tongue were 63.67 lakh; Marathi 34.98 lakh; Kannada 16.8 lakh and Urdu 13.14 lakh.
It was later found that more people were opting for Urdu as it was the language of administration and English as it helped them rise in ranks.
Before Osmania University came into being in 1917 Medical and Engineering education was being imparted in Urdu. "Urdu was taking roots because it united people from different languages and provided employment in the government. But one should not forget that in Osmania University English was a mandatory subject. There was no student who graduated from Osmania University and did not have a command over English," Dr Kamal said.
But the narrative of the language is not as simple as it appears to be. When the movement for separate State of Telangana began gaining momentum, the people from Seemandhra said that the people of Telangana have remained backward because they were educated in Urdu. They (people from Seemandhra) grabbed government jobs in greater numbers and controlled the administration because they had their education in English. Unfortunately, many of the protagonists of Telangana have swallowed this argument without going into the depth and historical background of the issue. For instance, at a recent book release function, one of the leading members of Telangana intelligentsia said that the people of Hyderabad were entrapped in Urdu language because they had their education in Osmania University. He also claimed that it was because of this reason when the State of Hyderabad was merged with India, "educated (English-knowing)" bureaucrats had to be brought in from other parts of the country to run the administration. However, research into what he said, goes on to prove him wrong on both counts.
During 1930s and 1940s the Telugu speaking population in the State said that Telugu has not been given its due place in education and administration. Similar charge was made by Marathi and Kannada speaking people. But to say that Osmania University graduates were ignorant of English is not true.
The second presumption that English-knowing bureaucrats were brought in to take care of the administration, does not stand the test of research. After the merger of Hyderabad State, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of India Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel wanted to cleanse the administration of all those officers and men who were sympathetic to the Nizam. He also wanted the new bureaucracy to remove all those persons who were either Razakars, or sympathetic to them.
The medium of instruction at Osmania University was first changed to 'Hindustani' with English remaining the mandatory subject. From 1951-1952 its medium of education changed to English. Following the changeover in 1948 Urdu also began to disappear from schools and colleges.
The history of Telangana has to be read and researched objectively, without falling prey to the charges and accusations of people who changed its character completely in the last 60 years.