The decline of local language literature
A study recently carried out in the Indian City of Chandigarh (the joint Capital of the States of Punjab and Haryana), has uncovered what seems to be a rapid and worrying decline in the demand for books in both the Punjabi and Hindi languages in the City and its environs.
The detailed study was carried out by surveying the many booksellers in the City and beyond: most of them reported that demand was so small that Hindi and Punjabi books now only occupied as little as two to three shelves of their bookshops.
“That is why we do not keep any stock of these items,” reported one prominent bookseller.
“Only 10 to 15 percent of customers ever ask for works in Hindi or Punjabi.”
The bookseller further reported that of the two languages Punjabi was the most in decline with only students who are either pursuing their PhD or Masters in Punjabi buying works in Punjabi.
Commenting on the survey, Jagjit Singh, Chairman of the Department of Punjabi, Punjab University said that in a society increasingly influenced by the West, many younger people seem to be more interested in sitting at home and watching the Television than settling down to read books: commenting further, he extrapolated the effect of the ubiquity of English medium schools which he explained had the general effect of turning out pupils who were not comfortable reading in Punjabi or Hindi and so generally avoided doing so.