changes that have taken place in the
fields of language, sports, theatre and
films, newspapers and television.
Language : Hindi, Assamese, Bengali,
Gujarati, Kannad, Kashmiri, Malayalam,
Marathi, Odiya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil,
Telugu, Urdu, Konkani, Manipuri, Nepali
and Sindhi are the official languages in
India. These Indian languages also have
dialects, but their number is now on the
decline. Timely steps should be taken to
nurture them, otherwise we will lose an
important part of our heritage.
Nevertheless, Hindi, which has reached
everywhere through the medium of Hindi
movies, has served to unite the country
by language.
Do you know?
Given below is a list of the
languages of Nagaland in 1961 and
the numbers of people using them.
Let us search!
Let us gather some information
about dialects of Maharashtra with the
help of various tools. (Encyclopedia,
Google, Wikipedia, research articles)
The English language has been
gaining ground in India due to the process
of globalisation which began after 1990.
English is becoming the language of
livelihood, as it opens the doors to
multiple job opportunities. Moreover,
Indians are at the forefront in learning
English. However, it is necessary to
ensure that this process does not endanger
the very existence of regional languages.
Sports : During the pre-independence
period, only a few selected games were
known to people in general. Some
sportspersons changed this situation. This
enhanced the status of both - the sports,
and the sportspersons. For example, Geet
Sethi achieved global excellence in snooker,
a variation of billiards. He won the national
championship of billiards for teenagers at
the age of 15. Later, he went on to win
national and international championships.
At the global level, he won the amateur
billiards competition thrice, and the
professional one five times. His success
made the game popular, and newspapers
began to report news about billiards. Thus
he made a new field available to rising
sportspersons in India.
It was in 1983, that the Indian team
won the World Cup for cricket, under the
captainship of Kapil Dev. It was a historic
victory. Cricket instantly won great
popularity across the country. In the same
year, Sunil Gavaskar broke the earlier
record of maximum centuries in test
cricket. In 1985, India won the ‘Bensoand Hedges’ World Championship of
cricket. As a
result, cricket
came to be played
in all States to a
lesser or greater
extent, but at the
cost of indigenous
Indian games. A
few movies were
also produced around the theme of cricket.
Live telecasts of the full five days or one
day of the matches also became available.
India had been participating in Asiad
and Olympic
games. At the
Olympics of year
2000, Karnam
Malleshwari won a
medal for weightlifting. She was the
first Indian woman
to win a medal at
the Olympics. India’s representation began
to rise in various Olympic games such as
hockey, badminton, tennis, swimming,
weightlifting and archery.
Theatre and films : Theatre and
films are important aspects of Indian life.
Early plays were very long, sometimes
running through an entire night. Now, the
form, technique, duration of plays have
all changed. People from different walks
of life take part in the dramas. But
‘musicals’ have now declined in
importance and political and social
subjects have replaced the earlier
mythological and historical themes.
The age of black and white movies has
been succeeded by the age of coloured
movies. In the field of entertainment, the
place of Hindi movies is incomparable.
Now movies reflect contemporary themes.
Film shooting locales have moved abroad.
So, viewers can now see many different
places in foreign countries. Movies in
foreign languages are now translated.
During the screening of English movies, a
short Hindi translation now appears on the
screen as sub-titles. Hindi movies now
compete with ‘global’ movies as they have
reached every nook and corner of the world.
We see a reflection of politics, social
events, industry and technology in the
movies. Movies which were 3-4 hours long
are now of only one or one and a half
hours. Moreover, the concept of one screen
and one cinema hall has given way to
multiplexes. The days of a movie running
for 100 weeks in one cinema hall are over.
Now one movie runs in thousands of
cinema halls in India and abroad
simultaneously. This development has
changed the economy of movies. Production
of movies has attained the status of industry.
The industry now employs crores of people.
The movie industry in regional languages
is also thriving.
Newspapers : The changing lifestyle
has had its effect on newspapers and other
mass-media, and they in turn have
influenced individual as well as community
life. During early post-independence period,
newspapers had multiple objectives. In this
period, the newspapers were expected to
not only give the news of daily events, but
also give impetus to industry and commerce
by printing advertisements. Newspapers
functioned with the following objectives :
shape public opinon, direct it towards
constructive work, at times lead the latter,
carry on the task of public education, keep
a watch over the government machinery,
etc. Earlier, newspapers were black and
white. With the changing times, colour
printing became common.
Earlier, newspapers were thought to be
the mouthpieces of the taluka or district.
Now they have to face tough competition
from the State level newspaper chains. But
on the whole, newspapers are now becoming
more active. Their scope has enlarged to include raising funds for drought affected
and flood affected people, helping meritorious
students from lower income groups to go for
higher education and organizing or
sponsoring cultural programmes. This is
how newspapers have now become on
inseparable part of our lives.
Television : Television came to India
during the post-independence period. Earlier
it was black and white. Now it is coloured.
Earlier it was limited to some selected
programmes and fixed time-slots. Gradually
its scope was enlarged to include educational
programmes, news bulletins, detailed
reporting of the tours of the President and
the Prime Minister. During the telelcast of
Ramayana and Mahabharat, a majority of
the people used to sit glued to the television
set. These serials proved the popularity of
this medium. Then in 1991, CNN channel
showed to the entire world a live visual
reporting of the Iraq war. At this stage the
world of Indian news channels changed
completely. In 1998, STAR (Satellite
Television Asia Region) a private media
house entered India, and the uninteresting,
monotonous and propagandist news telecasts
of the early period underwent a sea change.
The language, the technique of
presentation, studios equipped with the
latest technology and the use of OB (outdoor
broadcasting) vans have expanded the
scope of Indian T.V. channels still further,
and brought in transparency and variety.
Now, every nook and corner of the country
is connected. This has had a great impact
on politics. In short, the whole country
started changing.
So far we have studied the history of
modern India. Next year, we will study
how to make use of this subject in the
practical world. We shall see how history
can be a part of daily life, and not just
a thing of the past.
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