Draft:Urdu in India

Birth of Urdu in India : Urdu was born in India when the country was vast. At its inception, the northern borders reached Iran, and the northeastern borders extended to Thailand. Gradually, these borders shrank, and after the partition of India in 1947, India took its current shape. Even today, the country is so vast that it is still considered a major part of the subcontinent.

In this vast country, there are various linguistic communities. The official language here is Hindi, but English is also an official language. Urdu is the official language in some states of India. Out of the 29 states, there are 22 official languages.

For all those who love Urdu, it may be concerning that, for the first time in India, the number of people registering Urdu as their mother tongue has decreased. While the country's population continues to grow, and the number of speakers of major languages increases, the statistics for Urdu tell a different story. Not only has the percentage of people registering Urdu as their mother tongue declined, but there has also been a significant decrease in their actual numbers. After independence, the number of Urdu speakers steadily increased every decade.

In the 1971 census report, the number of Urdu speakers was 28.6 million, which grew to 35.5 million in 1981. By 1991, it had reached 44 million. In the first census of this century, i.e., 2001, it surpassed 51.5 million. However, the 2011 census reports, which were released much later and recently analyzed for linguistic statistics, show that this number has not increased but decreased. Urdu is now spoken by less than 4.5% of the population according to official statistics.

You may argue that the actual number of Urdu speakers is much higher, but from a statistical perspective, the weakening of Urdu is not a good sign for the language. Some people may doubt the reports and see a conspiracy behind this decline, but the truth is harsh. It's true that a language doesn't belong to any religion, but it is also true that in India, it is generally Muslims who register Urdu as their mother tongue. Recent census data indicates that the situation has been deteriorating.

Uttar Pradesh is considered the homeland of Urdu. Approximately 39.75 million Muslims live here, but only 10.8 million have registered Urdu as their mother tongue. This trend began twenty to twenty-five years ago when the ratio of the Muslim population to the Urdu-speaking population was 50%, which has now decreased to 28%. In other words, only 28 out of every 100 Muslims are registering Urdu as their mother tongue. The generations who had an emotional attachment to Urdu are disappearing. The same is true for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and other northern states, where Muslims generally considered Urdu their language. The situation in Bihar is better than in Uttar Pradesh, but even there, the situation is not satisfactory. The Muslim population there is around 19.5 million, and the Urdu-speaking population is around 8.75 million.

The situation in South India and Maharashtra is entirely different. Here, the difference between the Muslim population and the Urdu-speaking population is minimal. In Telangana-Andhra Pradesh, there are 8.1 million Muslims, and 7.5 million Urdu speakers—90% of Muslims are registering Urdu as their mother tongue, whereas, in the northern states, this number is below thirty or even twenty percent. Karnataka is also a state where Urdu appears very strong. In fact, in Tamil Nadu, the number of Urdu speakers is higher than in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. In Gujarat, Assam, and Bengal, Muslims generally speak Gujarati, Bengali, and Assamese, but in the northern states, Urdu was prevalent among the Muslim community.

We may console ourselves by saying that there is a difference between knowing Urdu and registering it as one's language. However, the reality is that in the north, a large Urdu-speaking population does not understand the significant difference between Urdu and Hindi, and these statistics reflect this trend. Hindi is the largest and official language of the country. Both Hindi and Urdu need to survive. The number of Hindi speakers increased by a staggering 100 million over ten years, growing from 420 million to 520 million. Among the 22 languages included in the Eighth Schedule, only Urdu and Konkani saw a decline in speakers.

The reports clearly show that emotional attachment to Urdu in northern India is waning, and during the census, people probably do not pay attention to registering Urdu as their mother tongue. In some northern states and districts, if people do not wake up now, the trend indicates that in the future, the number of Urdu speakers may dwindle to the point where Urdu will be considered a dialect rather than a language. Urdu has now slipped to seventh place, and the number of Gujarati speakers has surpassed it.

Still, if more than 50 million people register Urdu as their language, it is mainly due to the significant contribution of the Urdu-speaking community in South India. In states where Hindi is not the state language, Urdu is still closely associated with Muslim identity. This does not mean we should start writing obituaries for the language or repeating phrases like "Urdu is dying." However, the Urdu-speaking population of Maharashtra, Deccan, and South India can rightfully take pride in having upheld their love for the language. Indeed, the region from Aurangabad to Gulbarga and from Hyderabad to Vellore has become a stronghold of Urdu. Southern Urdu speakers can claim that they do not need to prove their love for Urdu—they have already demonstrated it.

For centuries, this region has been the stronghold of Urdu, and even today, it remains a bastion of the language. The Urdu-speaking community in the north, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in India and home to the largest number of Urdu speakers, should learn from this.

Urdu as an Official Language

• Urdu is the official language at the provincial level in Jammu and Kashmir.

• At the provincial level, Urdu is the second official language in the following states. The first official language is the regional language, and the second official language is Urdu.

• • Delhi
  • Uttar Pradesh
  • Bihar
  • Telangana
  • Andhra Pradesh
  • Jharkhand
  • West Bengal

Apart from these states, many other states have a significant number of Urdu speakers, such as Delhi, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Haryana.

Major Urdu-Speaking Cities

India has dozens of cities where Urdu is widely spoken. Cities that were once the capitals of Nawabs can be considered the cradle of Urdu. Important cities include:

• Delhi
• Lucknow
• Hyderabad
• Ahmedabad
• Chennai
• Aurangabad
• Patna
• Darbhanga
• Bangalore
• Mysore

Some cities are culturally bilingual in Hindi and Urdu, such as:

• Allahabad
• Varanasi
• Jaipur
• Agra

In modern times, Urdu has flourished in cosmopolitan and metro cities due to the migration of Urdu-speaking people to these urban areas. These cities include:

• Mumbai
• Kanpur
• Patna
• Pune
• Nagpur
• Malegaon

Urdu Fonts

The Ministry of Human Resource Development and Information Technology, along with the National Council for the Promotion of Urdu Language, is responsible for developing Urdu fonts in India, ensuring that Urdu becomes less dependent on other institutions.

Dictionaries in Urdu and Other Languages

India has several bilingual dictionaries in Urdu and other languages, such as Urdu-Telugu, Urdu-Hindi, Urdu-Marathi, Urdu-Bengali, and Urdu-Kannada dictionaries.

For example, in 1938, Professor I. Kondala Rao, a retired Arabic professor from Osmania College in Warangal, compiled the Urdu-Telugu dictionary. Later, in 2009, under the supervision of A.B.K. Prasad, President of the Andhra Pradesh Official Language Commission, an 862-page Urdu-Telugu dictionary was published.

Translations of Hindu Religious Books into Urdu

Several Hindu religious books have been translated into Urdu, including:

• Ramayana (during the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar)
• Mahabharata (Rizmnama, during the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar)
• Bhagavad Gita (Nagme Yazdani: Dr. Ajay Malviya from Allahabad translated the Gita from Sanskrit to Urdu. He believed that such translations would foster better relationships and harmony between followers of different religions.)

Competitive Exams in Urdu

Various competitive exams are conducted in Urdu alongside other languages under the Government of India.

Urdu Literature

In the present era, Urdu has lagged behind significantly. In such circumstances, Arabic madrasas, Urdu schools, Urdu promotion institutions, Urdu newspapers, Urdu TV channels, mushairas, and libraries are striving to preserve the heritage of the Urdu language. Political circles also show a keen interest in organizing Urdu seminars and mushairas.

Urdu Writers

All the classical Urdu writers were from India.

Urdu Poets

Among contemporary poets, Javed Akhtar, Wasim Barelvi, Munawwar Rana, and Rahat Indori are prominent.

Major Urdu Newspapers in India

Daily newspapers published from different cities include:

Mumbai

• Inquilab

Hyderabad

• Politics
• Fair
• Rehnuma-e-Deccan
• Mlaap

Urdu Universities in India

In India, some universities are entirely dedicated to Urdu, while others have Urdu departments. These include:

Delhi

Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi

Uttar Pradesh

Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh

Bihar

Maulana Mazharul Haque Arabic and Persian University, Patna

Urdu Universities in Telangana

• Osmania University, Hyderabad
• Jamia Nizamia, Hyderabad
• Maulana Azad National Urdu University

Universities of Andhra Pradesh where there are Urdu Departments

• Sri Krishna Devaraya University - Anantapur
• Jamia Shri Venkateswara, Tirupati

Kerala

• Sri Shankaracharya Sanskrit University (Urdu Department)

Urdu Universities in India

• Islamia University
• New Delhi Nizamiya University
• Hyderabad Aligarh University
• Aligarh Maulana Azad National Urdu University

Organizations working for the promotion of Urdu

• National Council for the development of Urdu language

Urdu T.V Channel in India

• Distant Viewing Urdu

• E.T.V Urdu
• Greetings
• Madani Channel
• Deccan TV

Urdu Radio Stations in India

• All India Radio Urdu Service
• Akash Vani Urdu Service