LANGUAGE IN INDIA

URDU IN RAJASTHAN

A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.

Area	3,42,239 sq. km.
Population	440.0 lakhs
Capital	Jaipur
Principal Languages	Hindi and Rajasthani

1. A HISTORICAL, GEOGRAPHICAL, AND LINGUISTIC SKETCH OF RAJASTHAN

The entire western flank of the state borders with Pakistan, while Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh bind Rajasthan in the north, north-east and south-east, and Gujarat in the south-west. Area-wise, Rajasthan is the second largest State in India. Prior to Independence, the state was known as Rajputan, or the home of Rajputs - a martial community that ruled over this area for centuries. The process of uniting the scattered princely states began in 1948, and in 1956 the States Reorganisation Act was promulgated. First came Matsya Union (1948) consisting of a few princely states. Slowly and gradually other states merged with this union.

Rajasthan has a population of 4,40,05,990 persons. Hindi is the regional language of the State, which is spoken by 87.66 per cent of the population.

The major linguistic minority groups in the State include the speakers of Bhili/Bhilodi (3.96%), Urdu (2.23%), and Panjabi (4.78%).

The minority language speakers who constitute less than 1 per cent are the speakers of Gujarati (0.15%) and Sindhi (0.89%).

The speakers of minority languages who constitute less than 0.09 per cent are the speakers of Bengali (0.05%), Malayalam (0.05%), Marathi (0.05%), Oriya (0.02%), Tamil (0.02%), Gorkhali/Nepali (0.01%), Lahnda (0.01%), and Telugu (0.02%).

The names of the DistrictS along with the actual percentage of population, district headquarters, and the total Urdu population are given below in Table 1.

Table 1: Area, Population and Headquarters of Districts

District	Area (sq km)	Population	Headquarters	Total Urdu Population (Lacs)	%age (Between 3 & 5)	Muslim Population (Lacs)	%age (Between 3 & 6)	%age (Between 5 & 6)
1	2	3	4	5		6
Ajmer	8481	17.3	Ajmer	0.43	2.5	1.7	9.9	25.3
Alwar	8380	23.0	Alwar	0.06	0.3	2.6	11.1	2.3
Banswara	5037	11.6	Banswara	0.11	1.0	0.4	3.1	27.5
Barmer	28387	14.4	Barmer	0.02	0.1	0.2	1.1	10.0
Bharatpur	5066	16.6	Bharatpur	0.05	0.3	1.8	11.0	2.8
Bhilwara	10455	15.9	Bhilwara	0.28	1.8	0.8	5.3	35.0
Bikaner	27244	12.1	Bikaner	0.19	1.6	1.3	10.5	14.6
Bundi	5550	7.7	Bundi	0.13	1.6	0.4	5.7	32.5
Chittaurgarh	10856	14.8	Chittaurgarh	0.21	1.4	0.8	5.2	26.3
Churu	16830	15.4	Churu	0.36	2.3	1.6	10.6	22.5
Dhaulpur	3034	7.5	Dhaulpur	0.07	1.0	0.5	6.1	14.0
Dungarpur	3770	8.7	Dungarpur	0.05	0.6	0.2	2.8	25.0
Ganganagar	7944	26.2	Ganganagar	0.07	0.3	1.0	3.9	7.0
Jaisalmer	38401	3.4	Jaisalmer	2.24	65.0	3.8	110.7	58.9
Jalor	10640	11.4	Jalor	0.01	0.1	0.8	7.3	1.3
Jaipur	11588	47.2	Jaipur	0.01	0.0	0.4	0.9	2.5
Jhalawar	6219	9.5	Jhalawar	0.17	1.8	0.6	6.7	28.3
Jhunjhunun	5928	15.8	Jhunjhunun	0.36	2.3	1.5	9.6	24.0
Jodhpur	22850	21.5	Jodhpur	0.56	2.6	2.2	10.4	25.5
Kota	5481	20.3	Kota	0.84	4.1	1.9	9.4	44.2
Nagaur	17718	21.4	Nagaur	1.13	5.2	2.6	12.1	43.5
Pali	12387	14.9	Pali	0.12	0.8	0.9	5.8	13.3
Sawai Madhopur	5043	19.6	Sawai Madhopur	0.51	2.6	1.5	7.4	34.0
Sikar	7732	18.4	Sikar	0.61	3.3	2.1	11.4	29.0
Sirohi	5136	6.5	Sirohi	0.02	0.3	0.2	2.9	10.0
Tonk	7194	9.8	Tonk	0.59	6.0	1.0	10.0	59.0
Udaipur	12511	28.9	Udaipur	0.33	1.2	0.9	3.2	36.7
	Total	440.0		9.53	2.2	33.8	7.7	28.2

2. URDU IN RAJASTHAN

Hindi is the official language of the State. The Government has issued orders to publish important rules, regulations, notices, etc., in the minority languages in the areas where their speakers constitute 15 per cent or more of the local population.

The State Language Department translates important rules and regulations into minority languages.

A detailed district wise break-up of the total Urdu population in Rajasthan is shown in Table 2.

Hindi is the official language of the State. The Government has issued orders to publish important rules, regulations, notices, etc., in the minority languages in the areas where their speakers constitute 15 per cent or more of the local population.

The State Language Department translates important rules and regulations into minority languages.

A detailed district-wise break-up of the total Urdu population in Rajasthan is shown in Table 2.

S.No.	District	Total Population (Lacs)	Total Urdu Population (Lacs)	Total Male (Lacs)	Total Female (Lacs)	Rural (Lacs)	Urban (Lacs)
1.	Ajmer	17.3	0.43	0.23	0.21	0.09	0.34
2.	Alwar	23.0	0.06	0.03	0.03	0.05	0.007
3.	Banswara	11.6	0.11	0.06	0.05	0.02	0.09
4.	Barmer	14.4	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.008
5.	Bharatpur	16.6	0.05	0.03	0.02	0.04	0.004
6.	Bhilwara	15.9	0.28	0.14	0.14	0.05	0.23
7.	Bikaner	12.1	0.19	0.10	0.09	0.02	0.17
8.	Bundi	7.7	0.13	0.07	0.06	0.02	0.10
9.	Chittaurgarh	14.8	0.21	0.11	0.10	0.06	0.15
10.	Churu	15.4	0.36	0.18	0.18	0.02	0.34
11.	Dholpur	7.5	0.07	0.04	0.03	0.01	0.06
12.	Dungarpur	8.7	0.05	0.02	0.02	0.003	0.05
13.	Ganganagar	26.2	0.07	0.04	0.03	0.06	0.01
14.	Jaipur	3.4	2.24	1.16	1.08	0.05	2.19
15.	Jaisalmer	11.4	0.01	0.004	0.003	0.01	0.002
16.	Jalor	47.2	0.01	0.003	0.003	0.00	0.005
17.	Jhalawar	9.5	0.17	0.09	0.08	0.03	0.14
18.	Jhunjhunun	15.8	0.36	0.18	0.18	0.08	0.29
19.	Jodhpur	21.5	0.56	0.30	0.27	0.05	0.52
20.	Kota	20.3	0.84	0.44	0.40	0.08	0.76
21.	Nagaur	21.4	1.13	0.57	0.55	0.34	0.78
22.	Pali	14.9	0.12	0.06	0.06	0.01	0.11
23.	Sawai Madhopur	19.6	0.51	0.27	0.24	0.25	0.26
24.	Sikar	18.4	0.61	0.31	0.30	0.04	0.57
25.	Sirohi	6.5	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.00	0.02
26.	Tonk	9.8	0.59	0.30	0.29	0.06	0.52
27.	Udaipur	28.9	0.33	0.17	0.16	0.03	0.30
	Total	440.0	9.53	4.92	4.61	1.51	8.02

In the light of the figures given above, we may draw the conclusion that Urdu is basically an urban-based language in Rajasthan. The Urban/Rural division of Urdu population is presented diagrammatically below. The graph presented below exhibits the rural urban division of Urdu population in Rajasthan.

Chart 1: Rural and Urban Division of Urdu Population

The numerical strength of Urdu speakers shows an uneven distribution over different districts in Rajasthan. The difference in numerical strength of Urdu speakers varies from a few hundred to thousands.

3. TOP TEN DISTRICTS OF URDU POPULATION IN RAJASTHAN

On the basis of the variation in the numerical strength of the Urdu speakers, top ten districts have been identified and presented below in Table 3.

S. No.	Districts	Total Population (Lacs)	Total Urdu Population (Lacs)	%age (Lacs)
1.	Ajmer	17.3	0.43	2.49
2.	Churu	15.4	0.36	2.34
3.	Jaipur	3.4	2.24	4.75
4.	Jhunjhunun	15.8	0.36	2.31
5.	Jodhpur	21.5	0.56	2.62
6.	Kota	20.3	0.84	4.14
7.	Nagaur	21.4	1.13	5.25
8.	Sawai Madhopur	19.6	0.51	2.58
9.	Sikar	18.4	0.61	3.32
10.	Tonk	9.8	0.59	6.05

On the basis of the figures presented in the table above the following observations can be made.

• All the districts have a concentration of Urdu speakers of below 10% of the total population.
• District Ajmer has below 1 lac of Urdu speakers, which is 2.49% of the total population.
• Churu and Jhunjhunun occupies Ninth and Tenth position with 2.34 & 2.31%

The graph given below presents the gap between Urdu population and Total population in the top ten districts of Urdu population in Rajasthan. As shown in the graph, the difference between the Urdu population and total population is Ajmer in Guntur and minimum in Jaipur.

Chart 2: Total Population and Total Urdu Population in Urdu Populated Areas

4. URDU AS AN ICON OF MUSLIM IDENTIFICATION

To assess the validity of the claim "Urdu as an icon of Muslim identification", the section below provides a distribution of Muslim and Urdu populations in Rajasthan. The table given below provides a district-wise distribution of Muslim and Urdu population.

S. No.	Districts	Total Muslim Population (Lacs)	Total Urdu Population (Lacs)	%age
1.	Ajmer	1.7	0.43	25.24
2.	Alwar	2.6	0.06	2.42
3.	Banswara	0.4	0.11	31.38
4.	Barmer	0.2	0.02	11.61
5.	Bharatpur	1.8	0.05	2.68
6.	Bhilwara	0.8	0.28	33.50
7.	Bikaner	1.3	0.19	14.88
8.	Bundi	0.4	0.13	28.83
9.	Chittaurgarh	0.8	0.21	26.72
10.	Churu	1.6	0.36	22.07
11.	Dholpur	0.5	0.07	15.63
12.	Dungarpur	0.2	0.05	19.80
13.	Ganganagar	1.0	0.07	7.25
14.	Jaipur	3.8	2.24	58.79
15.	Jaisalmer	0.8	0.01	0.86
16.	Jalor	0.4	0.01	1.51
17.	Jhalawar	0.6	0.17	27.38
18.	Jhunjhunun	1.5	0.36	23.89
19.	Jodhpur	2.2	0.56	25.09
20.	Kota	1.9	0.84	43.90
21.	Nagaur	2.6	1.13	43.33
22.	Pali	0.9	0.12	13.56
23.	Sawai Madhopur	1.5	0.51	34.79
24.	Sikar	2.1	0.61	29.16
25.	Sirohi	0.2	0.02	11.43
26.	Tonk	1.0	0.59	60.36
27.	Udaipur	0.9	0.33	35.85

5. DECENNIAL GROWTH OF MUSLIMS AND URDU SPEAKERS

Identification with a particular Linguistic Identity is very much a matter of social awareness on the part of an individual. Change in Linguistic Identity does not signify change in linguistic behaviour. Oscillation in mother-tongue declaration reveals a shift in social identification under changed circumstances. The table given below presents the decennial growth of Muslims and Urdu speakers reported in 1971, 1981 and 1991 census reports.

S.No.	State	1971	%age	1981	%age	1991
1.	Muslims	1778275	28.64	2492145	29.31	3525339
2.	Urdu	650947	10.26	725402	23.75	951304

This table indicates a considerable rise ranging between 10 to 23 per cent among Urdu speakers in the state during 1971 to 1981, and 1981 to 1991. In other words, Urdu Population rises from 10% in 71-81 to 23% in 81-91.

The decennial growth of Muslims in Rajasthan shows a slightly slower increase ranging between 28 to 29 per cent during 1971 to 1981, and 1981 to 1991. The graph given below displays a steep rise in case of Urdu. However the figures of Muslim decennial growth have shown a slower but steady increase.

Chart 3: Decennial Growth in Muslim and Urdu

6. BILINGUALISM AMONG URDU SPEAKERS

The Urdu population is mostly scattered throughout the country. So, a large proportion of Urdu speakers in many regions tends to have bilingual control over the respective dominant language of the region along with Urdu. The table below presents the figures of bilingualism among Urdu speakers.

Table 6: Bilingualism among Urdu Population

			Total	%age	Male	%age	Female	%age	Rural	Urban
Total No. of Urdu speakers			9.5	(2.1) 2.1	4.9	51.6	4.6	48.3	1.5 (15.8%)	8.0 (84.1%)
Monolinguals			5.3	55.8	2.5	46.2	2.9	53.7
Bilinguals			4.2	44.1	2.5	58.4	1.8	41.5
S. No.	Languages	Speakers	%age to col. 2	Male	%age to col. 4	Female	%age to col. 6	Rural	%age to col. 8
1.	Arabic	0.2	2.4	0.1	41.5	1.3	58.4
2.	English	0.1	1.5	0.1	68.1	4.6	31.8
3.	Hindi	3.8	40.1	2.3	59.1	1.6	40.8

The figures given in the table indicate that bilingualism among Urdu speakers is much higher than the State average. 44.1% of the total Urdu population is bilingual; Hindi is the most preferred language among the Urdu speakers of Rajasthan. 40% of the total Urdu population has bilingualism in Hindi.

7. LITERACY IN URDU POPULATED AREAS

Despite the progress of literacy programmes in India, there are more illiterate adults in India today than there were in 1951. However, we may not ignore the fact that the literacy rates in the country have shown a steady increase of about eight per cent every decade since 1951, from a national average of 19.74% in 1951.

The literacy level is linked with the urban/rural factor in a significant way. The chunk of illiterates lives in the rural areas. They have no access to information through the written word.

According to the 1991 census, 74.30 per cent of the total Indian population lives in the rural areas and 25.7 per cent in urban areas. On the other hand, the literacy rate in urban areas is 61.72 while in the rural areas it is only 36.31 per cent.

The male/female parameter is also very significant in literacy. Males show higher literacy rate than females.

The table given below presents the figures of literacy among Urdu population.

Table 7: Literacy

S. No.	Districts	Total Population	Total Literates	Male	Female	Rural	Urban
1.	Ajmer	17.3 Lacs	7.4 Lacs (42.6%)	5.0 Lacs (68.4%)	2.3 Lacs (31.5%)	2.9 Lacs (39.1%)	4.5 Lacs (60.8%)
2.	Churu	15.4 Lacs	4.2 Lacs (27.3%)	3.2 Lacs (75.7%)	1.0 Lacs (24.2%)	2.3 Lacs (54.7%)	1.9 Lacs (45.2%)
3.	Jaipur	47.2 Lacs	18.1 Lacs (38.2)	13.0 Lacs (71.9%)	5.1 Lacs (28.1%)	7.7 Lacs (42.6%)	1.0 Lacs (5.7%)
4.	Jhunjhunun	15.8 Lacs	6.0 Lacs (37.7%)	4.4 Lacs (74.0%)	1.6 Lacs (25.9%)	4.4 Lacs (74.2%)	1.5 Lacs (25.7%)
5.	Jodhpur	21.5 Lacs	7.0 Lacs (32.6%)	5.2 Lacs (73.9%)	1.8 Lacs (26.0%)	2.9 Lacs (40.6%)	4.2 Lacs (59.3%)
6.	Kota	20.3 Lacs	7.8 Lacs (38.2%)	5.5 Lacs (71.1%)	2.2 Lacs (28.8%)	3.6 Lacs (45.9%)	4.2 Lacs (54.0%)
7.	Nagaur	21.4 Lacs	5.4 Lacs (25.2%)	4.3 Lacs (79.6%)	1.1 Lacs (20.3%)	4.0 Lacs (74.3%)	1.4 Lacs (25.6%)
8.	Sawai Madhopur	19.6 Lacs	5.6 Lacs (28.6%)	4.6 Lacs (81.4%)	1.0 Lacs (18.5%)	4.2 Lacs (74.9%)	1.4 Lacs (25.0%)
9.	Sikar	18.4 Lacs	6.1 Lacs (33.1%)	4.7 Lacs (77.1%)	1.4 Lacs (22.8%)	4.4 Lacs (72.4%)	1.7 Lacs (27.5%)
10.	Tonk	9.8 Lacs	2.6 Lacs (27.0%)	2.1 Lacs (78.2%)	0.6 Lacs (21.7%)	1.8 Lacs (67.6%)	0.9 Lacs (32.3%)

Chart 4: Literacy

The graph presented above indicates that the rural districts of Rajasthan show a higher degree of illiteracy in comparison with the urban district of Jaipur.

8. LEVELS OF EDUCATION AMONG URDU POPULATION

In late nineties, India adopted a series of policies and programmes to improve its education system. These included the approval and adoption of the policy called EDUCATION FOR ALL. Most of these policies aimed at improving Primary Education, especially in rural areas.

In response to wide-spread concerns over the deteriorating standards of education on the one hand and the importance of education as an instrument for national and global development, the need to strengthen the educational system was recognized by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. The maladies of the Indian education system are clearly alarming.

The table given below presents the level of education in Urdu populated areas of the state.

Table 8: Level of Education among Urdu Population

Districts.	Total Literates	Literate without any formal Schooling	Primary	Middle	Matric	10+2	Non-technical diploma	Technical diploma	Graduate & above
Ajmer	7.4 Lacs	0.11 Lacs (1.4%)	4.0 Lacs (53.7%)	1.3 Lacs (17.3%)	0.7 Lacs (9.6%)	0.7 Lacs (9.2%)	0.009 Lacs (0.1%)	0.020 Lacs (0.2%)	0.6 Lacs (8.1%)
Churu	4.2 Lacs	0.15 Lacs (3.5%)	2.4 Lacs (58.3%)	0.8 Lacs (19.6%)	0.4 Lacs (9.0%)	0.2 Lacs (5.0%)	0.003 Lacs (0.08%)	0.005 Lacs (0.1%)	0.2 Lacs (4.4%)
Jaipur	18.1 Lacs	0.28 Lacs (1.5%)	8.8 Lacs (48.5%)	3.5 Lacs (19.2%)	2.0 Lacs (11.1%)	1.6 Lacs (9.0%)	0.013 Lacs (0.07%)	0.038 Lacs (0.2%)	1.8 Lacs (10.1%)
Jhunjhunun	6.0 Lacs	0.23 Lacs (3.8%)	3.2 Lacs (54.0%)	1.2 Lacs (20.6%)	0.6 Lacs (9.6%)	0.4 Lacs (6.2%)	0.009 Lacs (0.1%)	0.013 Lacs (0.2%)	0.3 Lacs (5.0%)
Jodhpur	7.0 Lacs	0.09 Lacs (1.2%)	3.7 Lacs (53.3%)	1.3 Lacs (18.7%)	0.7 Lacs (10.6%)	0.5 Lacs (7.6%)	0.007 Lacs (0.1%)	0.024 Lacs (0.3%)	0.6 Lacs (8.3%)
Kota	7.8 Lacs	0.07 Lacs (0.9%)	4.3 Lacs (54.8%)	1.5 Lacs (18.7%)	0.4 Lacs (4.8%)	0.6 Lacs (8.0%)	0.003 Lacs (0.03%)	0.036 Lacs (0.4%)	0.6 Lacs (7.2%)
Nagaur	5.4 Lacs	0.15 Lacs (2.7%)	3.3 Lacs (60.3%)	1.0 Lacs (19.0%)	0.5 Lacs (8.7%)	0.3 Lacs (5.4%)	0.003 Lacs (0.06%)	0.008 Lacs (0.1%)	0.2 Lacs (3.7%)
Sawai Madhopur	5.6 Lacs	0.11 Lacs (2.0%)	3.1 Lacs (54.7%)	1.3 Lacs (22.3%)	0.5 Lacs (9.2%)	0.4 Lacs (6.8%)	0.006 Lacs (0.1%)	0.017 Lacs (0.3%)	0.3 Lacs (4.7%)
Sikar	6.1 Lacs	0.16 Lacs (2.6%)	3.6 Lacs (58.6%)	1.2 Lacs (19.5%)	0.5 Lacs (8.7%)	0.4 Lacs (5.9%)	0.005 Lacs (0.08%)	0.005 Lacs (0.09%)	0.3 Lacs (4.2%)
Tonk	2.6 Lacs	0.06 Lacs (2.3%)	1.5 Lacs (58.3%)	0.5 Lacs (19.8%)	0.2 Lacs (8.2%)	0.2 Lacs (6.5%)	0.008 Lacs (0.3%)	0.005 Lacs (0.1%)	0.1 Lacs (5.0%)

9. MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION

Hindi is generally the medium of instruction. Orders have been issued for imparting instruction through minority languages, provided a minimum of 10 students in a class or 40 in a school so desire. Urdu, Sindhi, Panjabi and Gujarati are the actually recognized media of instruction at the Primary stage of education.

	Primary	Upper Primary	Secondary	Higher
NCERT Third Survey	3	2	3	3
NCERT Fifth Survey	5	3	2	2

The State Government has adopted the simplified three-language formula, which entails the study of languages as under.

1. Hindi, Urdu, Sindhi, Panjabi, or Gujarati as the first language.
2. English as the second language.
3. Malayalam as the third language.

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