The Status of English In India Today

Dear Colleagues,
Today when the second week is coming to an end, I think of making a new post on the status of English in India today.
The language of the colonial masters who came to India as traders and then ruled us for almost two centuries wanted to create a local class of Indians who would have brown skin but English taste became our own language-the official language, the link language, the library language, the language of trade and commerce, and now the language of science and technology including computer and the Internet.
Indians has their mother-tongues to communicate locally and use Hindi as the national language, but also learn English as the medium of instruction. There is immense influence of the regional languages, which is also known as the "mother-tongue interference", in the learning and use of Indian English. We have a recognized variety of English-General Indian English (GIE) that is an intelligible one understood nation-wide among the elite Indians. The reality is that this GIE has its regional varieties-southern, northern, western and eastern       ones. People belonging to a particular region are identified by their manner of articulation, intonation and stress, pitch and accent. Now the question originates-how to deal with this GIE for international communication and transfer of information. The answer is not that easy to find out, but the experiment should go on through debates and research activities.
Many have begun the research work in this area and many more are to join in the race. The global English has to survive locally with a mixed bag of many elements. Indian English teachers have to carry this bag with all its stuff in the future years.
Hope for a better future when Indian scientists, technocrats and researchers would also be users of global English.
Best wishes to all.
Sincerely,
Mahesh Dey