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Today when our languages and thereby our culture is under intense pressure from Anglicization of our education system, that too from the very beginning of a child's education, the question arises as to what will happen to indigenous languages – the languages which transmit intimate sense of our own culture and establish continuity between still living power of our past and the yet uncreated power of our future?
A sense of intellectual paralysis has seized the minds of Indian population with total surrender to perceived inevitability of the supremacy of English language and redundancy of indigenous languages. The majority of the Indian population suffers from a tremendous inferiority complex regarding indigenous languages as against the English language. The prime ministers, though not now, the president, the supreme court speak to the nation in English. The budgets and laws are presented and passed in English! Law, banking, medicine, engineering, pharmacy and advertising are mostly taught in English or influenced by English! Even the Indian numeral system, a gift of India to the world, is now being written only in English in official documents!! The last bastion Bollywood has switched from Hindi to 'Hinglish' or English dialogues. A sense of superiority prevails among the English speaking 'elite' of India. Even in small interior villages, the bastion of the deepest roots of our culture, the posters, the advertising, shop names are painted in English! From a BPL domestic worker to lower middle class parents to high net worth individuals all want their children to study in the English medium schools! Sending in a KG class at a tender age of 3 years to mug up abcdefg. The vernacular medium schools are closing down to be replaced by English medium schools! Higher education in English seems to be a norm. English language publications are retaining or increasing their lead especially with the onslaught of internet and visual media, while the vernacular language newspapers are going leaner and less in number. It seems that rather than us mastering English, English has become our master.
Today, the mere question as to 'why only an English medium education' elicits a hostile reaction from the most Indians, both parents as well as educators, as if the questioner has challenged them and their wisdom. Common reactions are indignation, hurt, anger, contempt and derision or a pity towards the questioner from even those who love India and are dedicated to education. Some apologetically inform that the indigenous language is also taught. The local language gets a status of 'also being taught', which is usually reserved for a foreign language!! It is a sort of adjustment to keep those linguistic fanatics quiet or to keep one's own conscience clear. No one truly wants to face the question. The myths of English's supremacy and defeatist despondency towards indigenous languages are so inexorably entrenched in Indian minds that they seem irreversible. We have become a nation of grave diggers of indigenous languages, and with an unprecedented swiftness and enthusiasm, the parents, the educationists and the governments are participating in this exercise of destroying our national wealth! Uprooting a beautiful tree from its very roots, by replacing education and communication in all walks of life in English! There will be a time in near future when the people of India will stand proudly and lonely as the first amongst the nations of the world for such a remarkable feat!
There are many questions, prejudices and myths about English and against indigenous languages. I wish to quote here some of the many comments which I have come across.
What about freedom of speech / learning?
'Uncle, if I don't learn English I will have no career.' This was from an eight year old girl!
In cities the exodus from vernacular medium schools to English medium schools is so acute that the vernacular schools are shutting down faster than a blink of an eye. Yes, no doubt, English has gained status of an international language of communication and learning. English does confer an advantage to a certain extent especially when our nation's interaction is mostly with the English speaking world! So let us learn and master English, but can we not at the same time retain the advantage of our indigenous languages and culture – a bridge between 'the power of our still living past and yet uncreated power of future'?
The most pertinent questions we have to ask are what is the importance of a language? Is language just a medium of communication or is it more than that? A language is more than just a medium of communication. It is the receptacle, vehicle of the culture. It gives an identity to a group of people or a nation. It is their means of expression of something unique, a transmitter of their thoughts, philosophies, ideas, vision, and staircase of ascension to something sublime, oxygen of their culture, medium of expression of beauty, poetry and drama, a treasure of the centuries of experience, learning and wisdom. A language is a library of human civilization. A language is a soul of a culture. A Frenchman is called French, a German a German, a Bengali a Bengali because of their language. Without a language one becomes rootless and becomes disconnected from one's own past and culture. One loses one's identity and a sense of belonging. With that one loses a character and a purpose. One loses the contact with ancient wisdom and knowledge. A language is the mother of a nation, a culture, a civilization. Nobody would remember the Greeks today but for their still living language. It is important for us to transfer the baton of the past riches and wisdom to future generation through our languages. It is their rightful inheritance and our laziness, lameness and our intellectual blindness is no excuse for our negligent and step motherly behavior to our matrubhasha – indigenous languages.
Let us discuss some of the myths and prejudices.
1. 'Children are so bored in a language class, it is all useless. These are all dying languages, why should we burden our child with any language other than English?' Children get confused if you teach many languages at the same time!
Personally, I feel that if children are bored with a language class it is the fault of the system and not the language. The language should not be taught by thrusting a pencil and a paper in the child's tiny fingers and forcing them to write and memorize monotonously. The mind of a child is curious, darting like a kitten to explore and imbibe. A monotonous thing is boring and child certainly becomes averse to a language or any subject being taught in such a manner. The pompous adult, 'the expert educationist', who makes a curriculum for a child's progress, forgets the very fundamental principle as to how they learnt a language. A child learns a language by listening, trying to understand sounds and meanings, which start in the very womb of the mother. When an infant grows, it starts gurgling, a joyous attempt to produce the first sound which tickles the listener. Gradually a child creates sounds – the approximate sounds of what s/he has heard and tries to mimic them. Slowly from monosyllables to simple words their vocabulary develops and over a period of many years they develop their language. What is a gradual, joyous, spontaneous and effortless process is abandoned in the classroom at the direction of 'all wise curriculum experts with rigid minds', who kill the joy of learning. If a language is to be taught to a child, it should be taught through audio-visual means. By listening to interesting stories, watching films and plays, and engaging in conversation in a particular language for a few years, the language is learnt easily. Speak often with the child in that language. Create an environment where the child speaks and converses with friends, teachers and others in that language. Isn't that the time the education experts took to learn their own language? Meanwhile the child should be taught to control and create good hand-eye coordination and to use fingers to express interesting lines and shapes. Then it is just a matter of time before the child learns to read and write. The grammar would be automatically correct with much fewer mistakes than the mechanical and forced compartmentalization which is the way in which today a language is taught.
The language to be restored, sustained or valued should be used to teach various subjects also and not only as the language as a subject. Contrast it with English which has become the medium of learning, and not just a single language to be taught! If a language is not used as a medium of education then the child gets the message that that particular language is not of much importance and can be dispensed with. The language loses its prime position in the life of a child, a future citizen. They become the weakest link between 'the still living power of our past and yet uncreated power of the future'. All that comes with the language, the ancient wisdom, knowledge, identity, rootedness, a sense of community and belonging is lost. The culture and then the civilization are lost. A language is nourished by its usage. The more it is used the more it becomes powerful and rich in its capacity to communicate. If neglected it becomes impoverished, words and meanings and consequently wisdom and knowledge get lost. To presume that we don't need ancient wisdom and knowledge is nothing but arrogance based on ignorance. This thoughtless attitude is dangerous. Let us not forget that similarly we too will soon become the past in a few decades and by the same token our experience, wisdom and knowledge is going to be worthless for future generations. We are already giving a message that whatever we are doing, the knowledge and wisdom we are gaining is worth a dustbin!
The question, 'why should we burden our child with any language other than English', is the sign of a lazy mind, which detests efforts. It is a given fact of today that most Indians are multilingual, an advantage that is unique to Indians or Asians. And what an impact it has had on Indian minds. Most Indian scientists, the doctors, the lawyers, the IT professionals and businessmen are all multilinguals and reach to the top of their ladder both in India and abroad. An Indian mind has been made supple and capable of being multilingual by millennia of exposure and practice. A multilingual mind has more grey cells developed in their brains than the monolingual. Multilingual persons have a choice of gathering information from many more sources than the monolinguals. They have options of processing, analyzing and creating in more than one language. They have therefore an ability to think in a wider perspective than a monolingual. They become brighter than the monolingual. They are less likely to get Alzheimer's disease. The multilingual is brighter, and better able to cope than a monolingual whose interactions with a wide variety of people will be limited by his limited language skills. Let us not deprive our future generation of this millennia old advantage, out of our laziness or stunted intellect or weakness of the soul force.
Let us remember that to disconnect a population from a language, stop teaching that language and substitute it with another language in all walks of life for just two consecutive generations. Once the link is broken and replaced, the future generation will never connect back to the original language and culture, as it is of no consequence to them. And if asked to reconnect – relearn a language it would be felt as an unnecessary burden and of no importance. Why would one go back to learn that which was considered inferior and discarded by their immediate forefathers? If we have only one language in the world that world will be monotonous and dull.
And the myth that the children get confused if more than one language is taught simultaneously is a cover up for parental laziness and apathy. Majority of Indians who are multilingual are solid proof against this myth. Recent research from university of British Columbia and University of Paris Descartes shows that babies can know their grammar by seven months and can differentiate between two different languages.
2. What about freedom of Speech? What about my rights? Why should a state or a nation force me or my children to learn a language? Let the state impose its will on those poor people whose education it sponsors, but we are paying for our children's education, aren't we?
Is the freedom of speech absolute? A freedom comes with responsibility that requires sensibility and sensitiveness and not senselessness. And in a mature society one understands that there are some shared responsibilities, though not always spelled out but yet well understood. For eg. cleanliness, courteousness, respect for each other etc. So, this is the most selfish argument one can put forward. If one has money to pay one should be absolved of a responsible behavior! Languages are monuments of human intellect and some are more ancient than the Taj Mahal or Harappan civilization! Do we allow a person who pays to visit the Taj Mahal to behave differently than those who are allowed free? Can he throw stones to damage it because he has paid for it? The very idea would be ridiculous, and even if someone owned the Taj Mahal we would not allow him to damage it! We would make all efforts to protect and preserve the Taj Mahal. And yet we accept an argument that the people with money need not be responsible in preserving a much more precious monument called a language! To say that it is the state and the state sponsored poor people who should make an effort to preserve a language while the moneyed elite do not have any responsibility is a misuse in the name of freedom. Of course children should be allowed to learn and master English. And one cannot be denied the right to educate a child in English. But while child gains proficiency in English, his mother tongue should not be sacrificed at the altar of this 'killer' language. Let us differentiate between mastering English language from mastering everything in English language and our perceptions and our efforts will realign to save something precious to us all.
This myth is so profoundly entrenched in Indian minds that one accepts this without verification. By this standard all the non-English speaking world should be lagging behind in Science and Mathematics! The fact is there are brilliant scientists and mathematicians from Germany, Japan, China, Russia, Brazil, France, Italy, Korea, Indonesia, Iran and rest of the non-English speaking world. It would be preposterous to assume that scientists and mathematicians worth mentioning come only from USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand and English speaking population of India!! And the whole world is dependent on them alone! Also the fact is all the non-English speaking countries that conduct education in their own languages – Germany, Japan, China, Russia, France, Italy, Korea are way ahead of this proud English speaking India, especially if considered from the point of view of ratio of the bright minds to their total population. They have contributed much more than Indians, if one were to just go by the patent applications filed! One of the best science institutes like Max Planck is in Germany (Population: 8.18 cr.). Japan (P:12.73cr.) is way ahead in robotics and in other scientific technology of USA or UK. China (P:134 cr.) builds better roads and bridges and cities than India, its trade far surpasses India and their education is not in English medium! 4.85 crore South Koreans exported things worth $ 557.3 billion in 2013 compare that with India $ 313.2 billion! India has handicapped itself with English and taken shelter in the English speaking world and is enamored and blinded by them so much that it has not been fully able to see the progress these non-English speaking countries have made. We have not built any strong bridges with any non-English speaking countries. If we had our own national language our dependence on English speaking world would have been much less and like ancient times we would have cast our net far and wide. Today we are proud of our status as work horse for BPO – business process outsourcing – a service provider for low value work! Basically service providers are servants not thinkers! They carry out the master's command. A nation which once boasted of great thinkers and philosophers is today proud to be a service provider! Where are our R & Ds to propel the nation as leader! We import mobiles, computers, cars, ACs, planes, tanks, military hardware from very small nations, that too not the English speaking ones! We are giants in pharmaceuticals, because we were good a copying a product! How much research have we done compared to smaller non English speaking countries! What have our English speaking geniuses produced from the Indian soil, apart from launching satellites and a nuclear bomb?? Our progress in these fields happened because we were left to our own devices and capabilities. But seriously, how many patents have been filed by our English speaking experts? What is the ratio? In fact, Prof. Anil Gupta from IIM Ahmedabad has collected tens of thousands of new ideas from simple non English educated Indians far surpassing our IITs! We have a large coastline, huge solar energy pool, and what have our English trained scientists achieved to solve the energy crisis! It is therefore not the language, but the training of the mind and the opportunities to think, invent and innovate which is the most important thing.
And we may feel proud that our exports are huge, we are 19th amongst 200 nations or state entities but let us consider per capita export of India and our head will bow down in shame. It seems that at the top is Singapore with an export of US $ 69178 per person whereas India's export is US $ 166.2 per person only (2010 estimate)! There are very few, about 35 odd small nations below us, many of them insignificant. It should open our eyes wide. So if the spell of the myth is broken we can start thinking logically.
A language is just a means of learning and expression and the development of mind occurs due to one's desire to understand, learn and express. A language can make the learning easy if the language itself is scientific, like Sanskrit. Otherwise the mind's development happens regardless of a language but depends on the teaching methodology, contents and the ability of a language to adapt to newer environment and challenges. This ability entirely depends upon the user population, its tenaciousness and innovativeness. If the teaching method induces a child to understand the subject in depth and think and apply the knowledge gained in widest possible sense, that child would be far better developed regardless of the language. In fact it would be far more easy for the child to learn in matrubhasha, where understanding a concept is much easier than a foreign language. Since science and mathematics are just concepts, s/he could learn them better in his/her Matrubhasha and if s/he especially has learnt another language/s, s/he could easily express the same in that later. And if we just cast our glance backwards, India's contribution in all the fields be it Mathematics or Science before she came in contact with the British has been significant for the world to put India as a pioneer in various fields.
The question one should ask therefore is, before British came did India have any law, mathematics, knowledge of science and technology, sense of economics and finance? Is it that the British brought all that to India and made us an educated and a mighty nation?
The British came to India because Europe heard of India's enormous wealth, so the British, the French, the Portuguese and the Spanish came in search of India. When Columbus landed in America, he thought he had found India and they called the local population 'Red Indians'. The British turned out to be the cleverest or the most fortunate or graced by God to ultimately take over the Indian subcontinent. So India was the richest country when British took over and not the other way round. "It is interesting to note that the problem that faced East India Company from the outset was that England, at the time, had nothing of value to offer India in the way of products comparable in quality or technical standard with Indian products." writes R. Palme Dutt. After the Battle of Plassey Britain took huge wealth from the Nawab of Bengal, and according to American Historian Brookes Adams the industrial revolution started that changed the world forever.* And the plunder just began, which left India devastated, destroyed and in enormous debt not of its own making. So if we give credit to the British for any development, it was for the handful of British to help control this vast land and a large population, and not for the explicit benefits to the Indians, which happened by the way! The development of postal and telegraph services was for faster communication, railway for faster movement of the troops and the officers and better movement of goods, the army for control and the British Education system to mould the Indian minds to be subservient to British interests. All of this was achieved with Indian money or whatever was left of it!
In fact British did not establish the British version of education system in India for the benefit of Indians or out of benevolence, but to create a subservient Indian class for the benefit of the British Empire. In reality knowingly or unknowingly they destroyed the education system in India. And successfully created a class which can be called 'English Indians', on Indian soil, who are more English than English themselves and Indian only by birth and skin colour! While India became geographically free, we are practically and psychologically still slaves, the 'Anglo-slaves', who are proud to speak in chaste English language and look down upon the 'natives' and their indigenous languages. And people speaking in indigenous languages now feel inferior and have become wannabe -English 'Indians'!
India did have a robust education system in Pre – British Era. Brigadier-General Alexander Walker who served In India between 1780 and 1810 said that "no people probably appreciate more justly the importance of instruction than the Hindus". According to him, "they sacrifice all the feelings of wealth, family pride and caste that their children may have the advantage of good education". He also found that this love of learning was no exclusive characteristic of the Brahmins but "this desire is strongly impressed on the minds of all the Hindus. It is inculcated by their own system, which provided schools in every village." He adds that the "spirit of enquiry and of liberty has most probably been effected by the soodors [Shudras] who compose the great body of population, and who were in possession of the principal authority and property of the country".
Here are some highlights of The British Government surveys.
W. Adam's Report of 1835 showed that in the then states of Bengal and Bihar, there were 100,000 indigenous elementary schools, or one school for every 31 or 32 boys of school going age, as the author calculated.
..that the Shudras did better in the matter of female education than the upper class Hindus including the Brahmins.
Survey of Indigenous Education in the Province of Bombay (1820-30), there were 16 schools of higher learning in Ahmednagar; and in Poona there was as many 164 such schools out of a total of 222 educational institutions of all description. Brahmins constituted only 30% of the total scholars in that province.
F.W. Robertson, Collector of Rajahmundry District, names 66 text books including the Ramayana, various Shutcums (Krishn Shutcum, Suryanarayan Shutcum, Jankeya Shutcum, Narayan Shutcum), and various Charitums (like Vamana Charitum, Mala Charitum, etc.). Some text-books, like the Visvakaram-Purana, were special to the manufacturing classes. Adam names 29 text-books taught in elementary schools in Bengal, and 120 books taught in higher Institutes. These related to such subjects as Grammar (20), General Literature (11), Law (17), Vedanta (4), Logic (31), Astronomy and Astrology (19), Medicine (4), etc.
In his Report on the Punjab, Leitner names hundreds of textbooks – Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic and Gurmukhi – taught in Hindu and Muhammadan schools of different grades in the Punjab. For example, text-books taught to Sikh students of Gurmukhi schools are divided into two sections: those taught to the beginners and those taught to advanced students. To the first section belonged Balopdesha, Panj Granthi, Janam Sakhi, the tenth Guru's Panj Ekadash, Bhagvat, Tulsi Ramayana, Vishnu Purana, Pingal (10 parts), Ashwa Medha, Adhyatma Ramayana, Vichara Sagar, Moksha Pantha, Surya Prakash, the sixth Guru's Guru Vilas, Vashishtha Purana, and Daswan Askandha.
In the Punjab, according to Leitner, "female education is to be met in all parts". According to him, the Punjabi woman has not only been "always more or less educated herself, but she has been an educator of others".
It tells us that out of the total number of 175,089 students, both male and female, elementary and advanced, only 42,502 were Brahmins (24.25%); 19,669 were Vaishya students (about 11%); but 85,400 were Shudras (about 48.8%); and still 27.516 more were "all other castes", meaning castes even lower than the Shudras including the pariahs (15.7%). Thus the higher castes were only about 35% and the Shudras and other castes were about 65% of the total Hindu students.
In Malabar, out of 1,588 scholars of Theology, Law, Astronomy, Metaphysics, Ethics and Medical Science, only 639 were Brahmins, 23 Vaishyas, 254 Shudras and 672 "other castes". Only in the Vedas and Theology did the Brahmins have a near-monopoly, as the Shudras and the "other castes" had in other branches of advanced learning like Astronomy and Medical Science. In Astronomy, out of a total of 806 scholars, Brahmins were only 78, Vaishyas 23, Shudras 195, and other lower castes 510. In Medical Science, the share of the Brahmin scholars was only 31 out of a total of 190. The rest belonged to the Shudras and "other castes".
The data shows that the share of the Brahmins in certain areas was indeed very low. For example, in Seringapatam, it was only 7.83% in Madura 8.67%; in North Arcot, Brahmin boys were 9.57%, while the Shudras and "other castes" were 84.46%.
According to Adam's findings, Burdwan had 13 missionary schools, yet they had only 1 ChanDal student while the native schools had 60. The former had only 3 Doms and no Muchis while the latter had 58 and 16 respectively. Of the 760 pupils belonging to the lowest 16 castes, "only 86 were found in the missionary schools and the remaining number in native schools".
As teachers, the Brahmins were even less represented. Out of a total of 2,261 teachers in these districts, Brahmins were only 208, or about 11%. In this region Kayasthas were the teachers par excellence. They were 1,019 in number, or a little less than half the total. Other teachers belonged to other 32 castes. ChanDals had six, Goalas had five, Telis had eleven; while Rajputs had only two, and Chhatri and Kshetriya taken together had only three..
This shows that the education in Pre British India was extensive in its content and outreach, reaching out to all sections of society even in the remotest village. Non Brahmins formed a significant part of learning and imparting education and that education was of primary importance to all strata of society.
Rather than bringing education to India the British took a leaf out of Indian Education system. The Indian system of education was so economical, so effective that some of its features were exported to England and Europe. The "monitor", the "slate", the "groupstudy" were directly borrowed from the old Indian practice. A short account of this practice is available from an eye-witness report of a European named Pietro Della Valle published in 1623. But 200 years later, around 1800, two Britons, Dr. Bell and Mr. Lancaster, who were servants of the East India Company, introduced in England a "New System of Schooling", embodying Indian practices of teaching. Both claimed originality for themselves. In the controversy that ensued, it was found that both had borrowed from India without acknowledgement, of course. In this connection we have the testimony of Brigadier-General Alexander Walker who served in the East India Company from 1780 to 1810. While reporting on teaching methods in Malabar, he says that the new British "system was borrowed from the Brahmans and brought from India to Europe. It has been made the foundation of the National Schools in every enlightened country. Some gratitude is due to a people from who we have learnt to diffuse among the lower ranks of society instructions by one of the most unerring and economical methods which has ever been invented". According to him, by this method, "the children are instructed without violence, and by a process peculiarly simple".
And what became of that education?
Leitner found that 8000 pupils still received their education in the indigenous schools of Punjab in spite of "the 26 years of repressive education of the (British) Educational Department", And what was Mahatma Gandhi's take on the British Education System.
Today India is more illiterate than it was fifty or hundred years ago.
The British administrators instead of looking after education and other matters which had existed began to root them out. They scratched the soil and began to look at the root, and left the root like that and the beautiful tree perished.
What he wrote is even more valid today and so prophetic. "The school must be an extension of home there must be concordance between the impressions which a child gathers at home and at school, if the best results are to be obtained. Education through the medium of a strange tongue breaks the concordance which should exist. Those who break this relationship are enemies of the people even though their motives may be honest. To be a voluntary victim of this system of education is as good as the betrayal of our duty towards our mothers.
English is today studied because of its commercial and so called political value. Our boys think and rightly in the present circumstances, that without English they cannot get Government service. Girls are taught English as a passport to marriage. I know several instances of women wanting to learn English so that they may be able to talk in English. I know families in which English is made a mother tongue. Hundreds of youth believe that without the knowledge of English, the freedom of India is practically impossible. The canker has so eaten into the society that in many cases the only meaning of education is knowledge of English. All these are for me signs of our slavery and degradation. It is unbearable to me that the vernaculars should be crushed and starved as they have been. I cannot tolerate the idea of parents writing to their children, or husbands writing to their wives, not in their own vernaculars but in English.
This is the saddest comment any one can make of his country and its citizens and leadership. A nation that needs a foreign language to maintain its unity is not an independent nation, it is still under a foreign influence and not being able to exercise its freedom, instead it is a tacit acknowledgement of its intellectual slavery and impotency to confront and eradicate persistent underlying divisions.
I think the division that exists in our emotions and minds were fostered and exploited by various leaders — political, religious, regional — for their ulterior motives than to find that which was unifying. India was treated as a single entity by British and the others who came to India for its wealth, regardless of its geographical divisions into hundreds of princely states. To them India existed as a diversity in Unity – a single colossal trunk of a beautiful tree called India with its diverse enriching branches spreading in all directions far and wide.
How did this India communicate across its length and breadth before British or its language ever set its foot on Indian soil? Which language did we use to communicate with each other? Or else as someone naively suggested, "the Indian's did not travel and therefore there was no need to communicate'. It is simply that history about the travel and trade and therefore communication of Indians says it otherwise. Indians not only travelled extensively within the country for business or pilgrimage, but travelled across the oceans and did enormous trade with many countries in the world without an iota of the knowledge of English which would have been anyhow quite superfluous.
The language that was non regional and cutting across the Indian masses was Sanskrit, a common thread that ran across India and its education system. But to talk of Sanskrit as a national language raises red flags because of prejudices, misconceptions and myths that have been built around it out of ignorance and preferences for the religious-political-regional-intellectual power equations so that a sane mind is not allowed to think objectively through the web of confusions and confabulations.
'And if one wants Sanskrit than why not Arabic or German?' This is to deliberately and mischievously hint that Sanskrit is encouraged to promote Hinduism.
A segment of people out of their political need, religious or intellectual prejudices, preferences, ignorance and ego or regional power plays have used the arguments that Sanskrit is a Brahmin / Aryan / Hindu language – implying that the desire of those who argue for Sanskrit is indeed trying to establish a Brahmin / Aryan / Hindu hegemony. Indeed this argument is so powerful that most people who may have even the slightest opening to go through the merits shut up and withdraw. But the argument actually seen dispassionately should fall flat on intense scrutiny.
Do we ever allege that English is a Christian language to establish hegemony of the Christians over India and therefore should be banned from its usage? And what about Bengali, could we say that it is a Hindu language in India and a Muslim language in Bangladesh? Or for that matter Malayalam, is it a Muslim, Hindu or a Christian language, as all of them claim Malayalam to be their mother tongue? Do we call Japanese a Shinto language? And are Russian and Mandarin communist languages? Do we say that since Hitler gave his orders in the German language, the German language should be banned?
So the argument is not only absurd but deliberately misleading. And why this Aryan language tag? Just because the word Arya was found in that language and some people took liking to it! In fact Swami Vivekanand praised South India, which has contributed richly for the promotion and preservation of this most noble language!
And, the argument that if Sanskrit is promoted, why not Arabic or German be promoted. Indeed one can learn whatever foreign language one wants to learn whether be it Arabic, French, German, Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese or any other foreign language. Indeed one should not be shy of learning any foreign language as it adds to our national asset. And most Indians working in Arab countries learn basic Arabic anyways. But otherwise the argument is a deliberate, mischievous and poisonously divisive argument which has no merit. As for example Arabic language is spoken by the Arabs in their own countries. Arabs are proud and capable people who can look after their own language and culture and it is preposterous to assume that Arabs need India's patronization. They do not think themselves inferior or weak and in need of our support to save their language and culture!
To call Sanskrit a language of the Brahmins / Hindus / Aryan is therefore not only absurd, but purposefully mischievous and downright unjust to the language itself.
Language belongs to the user, regardless of his colour, caste or creed. English is spoken by Hindus, Muslims, Christians and others. Just by using English a Hindu or a Muslim does not become a Christian. He remains what he is. If so called Brahmins used or misused a language, then it was not the fault of the language itself. Indeed by learning the language one could have an access to the same information and wisdom which a Brahmin was supposed to have had. That is what the pre British Education system in India did. Sanskrit was a common thread that passed through and integrated people from all around. To say otherwise is precisely to play in the hands of divisive and downright prejudicial, selfish or ignorant obstructionist forces, which have no 'noble purpose' than to keep the masses away from the richness of the most beautiful and noble language. No language in the world has suffered such enormous socio – politico – religious – intellectual prejudice and persecution as the Sanskrit language, which sustained and enriched all walks of human life on Indian subcontinent for more than 5000 years.
If McCaulay was against Sanskrit and uprooted and replaced it with English it was to facilitate the British aim of consolidating power and control over a population which would be subservient and continue to assist the British in siphoning off of enormous indigenous wealth. The British acted in their own self-interest and it was neither their responsibility nor to their advantage to support and sustain indigenous culture or the languages. That responsibility was and is entirely ours.
This brings us back to other arguments.
7. "Sanskrit is a dead language'.
A language is dead when it is no more in use. Sanskrit is still actively spoken, written and read by many in India and abroad. Sanskrit is the language of the soul of Mother India. It is the language of aesthetics, profound wisdom, spirituality, science and of the highest intellectual achievements of our ancestors not only of India but the Earth itself. It is plastic, versatile and scientific. It is a language of and for the genius as well as common minds of humanity. And it is actively used, albeit the numbers have reduced drastically solely due to apathy shown to it by all of us. The neglect of the language is sadly due to ignorance, prejudices, such myths and intellectual paralysis, which has given up its thinking cap and replaced it with blinkers of intellectual slavery. The slavery to English medium – to the writers, producers, directors, anchors, jockeys, philosophers or anyone or anything else with an English label – is such that we take pride in considering anything Indian inferior compared to that which comes from the English speaking world especially from U.S.A. or U.K.! With such an overwhelming surrender and one sided partisan perception one is not only actively 'killing' Sanskrit, not yet dead language, but also suffocating mercilessly all her daughter languages. Today's great Indian diversity will in future become a second hand English speaking monotonous dull uniformity, subserviently echoing the western thoughts and deeds, by losing its indigenous identity and free independent thinking. Indians of all hues suffering from a great inferiority complex – the parents, the educationists, the media and the governments are enthusiastically out their digging the mass graves of Sanskrit and other Indian languages by promoting education in exclusively English medium from the very beginning of child's life, as Mahatma Gandhi said "for its commercial and so called political value". As of now the Great Indian 'linguo-cide' is on – because of our active collusion in the neglect of the mother of all languages. This divests our future generation of its rich inheritance. 'Sanskrit ought still to have a future as a language of the learned and it will not be a good day for India when the ancient tongue ceases entirely to be written or spoken.'- writes Sri Aurobindo in ' The Hour of the God'.
The biggest myth is that Sanskrit is the most difficult language and English is easy. Indeed it is the other way around. Sanskrit is indeed a 'dev bhasha'. The Sanskrit verbal adjective sáṃskṛta– may be translated as "put together, constructed, well or completely formed; refined, adorned, highly elaborated". It is derived from the root saṃ-skar– "to put together, compose, arrange, prepare", where saṃ– "together" (as English same) and (s)kar– "do, make".
Sanskrit language is not only refined but also the most scientific. It must have been 'put together' by the sharpest minds with great power of observation and an objective scientific spirit of analysis. "The structure we find (in Sanskrit) is one of extraordinary initial simplicity and also of extraordinary scientific regularity of formation," writes Sri Aurobindo.
Rick Briggs from NASA writes in Artificial Intelligence (1985), 'In the past twenty years, much time, effort, and money has been expended on designing an unambiguous representation of natural languages to make them accessible to computer processing. These efforts have centered around creating schemata designed to parallel logical relations with relations expressed by the syntax and semantics of natural languages, which are clearly cumbersome and ambiguous in their function as vehicles for the transmission of logical data. Understandably, there is a widespread belief that natural languages are unsuitable for the transmission of many ideas that artificial languages can render with great precision and mathematical rigor.
A language which is 'consistent in inference, with zero deviation,' akin to a computer program (…'reinventing a wheel millennia old'), and 'the greatest monument of human intelligence' is accused of being rigid and inflexible, by those who would want the same inflexibility when they travel by a plane or a rail or a car that the brakes should work with zero error, that their confirmed booking should have zero error, that a nurse should give them the precise medicine with zero error and their servants, subordinates and employees should understand them with the zero error as to what they conveyed to them!
Indeed in my personal research to study the speech problems of cleft palate children, I came across Sanskrit varnamala, arrangements of alphabets, which is so scientific or mathematically precise that it made me see through the maze and helped me understand and analyze the problems in just few weeks that could have taken me years to understand. It was a ready reckoner, as the phonemes were well organized regarding their three characteristics of voicing, place of articulation and manner of articulation, apart from that the consonants and vowels have been arranged separately. It was much easier to understand and use than the modern classification of phonemes according to International phonetic alphabets, for the purpose of analysis.
On the other hand the difference between English and Sanskrit is glaring. "In English, for example, written symbols A to Z represent most, if not all, phonemes. Though some of the phonemes require a combination of these alphabetical symbols like 'ch' as in church, 'th' as in thought. The problem is all these alphabets are not pure phonemes, but a combination of a consonant and a vowel. Further, the arrangement is haphazard, with vowels and consonants intermingling at irregular intervals. And there is no reason for a particular arrangement of alphabets. They are as if picked at random and strung together."[27} Sanskrit varnamala is on the other hand the most scientific. In ancient time a child was taught the varnamala in 10 – 12 days. Since the pronunciation of written symbol was consistent, once learned there was much less effort required to remember a spelling of a particular word in relation to the way it was spoken. In English there is no consistency in written symbols and pronunciation. For ex. Put / but, do /go, and how does one pronounce Gloucestershire ? Is it Gloster or there is a 'ou', 'ce' in it? It actually taxes one's brain and memory space to remember who is going to pronounce what word in English in which way in which country, that too in just the present time space? Whereas Sanskrit gives consistency and there is no scope for mispronunciation and therefore misunderstanding, even after a thousand years! And yet Sanskrit is accused of being rigid, inflexible and a difficult language! This blinkered view, devoid of any truth has caused much damage to Sanskrit and Sanskrit derived modern Indian languages.
This is from those who are either simply ignorant and extremely prejudiced or just blind to the reality. The impact of Sanskrit on mathematics, science, and arts is so overwhelming that a cursory attempt should show them the light. From the most profound philosophies, the richest literature, music, dance, sculpture, paintings to complex mathematics, metallurgy, medicine, ship building, architecture, physics, chemistry, astronomy, indeed in every aspect of life the language has its impressive foot print. Its ability to express from the most simple to most sublime concepts is rarely matched in the history of mankind.
This brings us to our core question. Why and how to preserve our culture and indigenous languages and yet retain the advantage of English that we have or want to master?
Because, 'Language is the distillation of hundreds, if not thousands of years of experience of a collective… So when the language disappears you're really throwing away that whole library of knowledge.' – Rachel Nez, Navajo speaker.
First we must make drastic changes in our thinking process and approach the challenge at national level. We must come out of this intellectual subservience to English that is suicidal for our culture and languages. Even the Scots, the Irish and the Welsh have proudly retained their languages and the culture despite being swallowed by and being the part of the British empire for centuries. It is therefore preferable to teach children at least up to high school or 12th level in their mother tongue. And creative models already existing with bilingual / multilingual teaching medium can easily solve our problem for those who aspire to put their children in English medium stream and yet want to remain connected to their language and culture.
Let us make some sweeping long term changes and commit ourselves to stand by them till we succeed. A turn around in the erosion of our language and culture is certainly possible.
Let us declare indigenous languages as national treasure or assets. Let us call them intellectual monuments of immense value to be preserved, protected and nourished and a responsibility of all Indians to contribute in the process.
Let us make Sanskrit, a non-regional language, a compulsory base language from the first day of child's education throughout India. A language that is a common thread through most of the Indian languages and as a mother language which fosters better understanding of different Indian languages. This should continue at least through high school and junior college. There should be strong disincentives for those who refuse versus those who learn. It is not the responsibility only of the poor, who depend on the free education from the state but also of the financially self-sufficient citizens and the rich to pass on this rich heritage to the future generations.
At national level, let us put our signboards in Sanskrit, regional language and English.
The Mother of Sri Aurobindo Ashram once said: "Sanskrit should be the real national language. It is only Sanskrit which will be ultimately acceptable to the people of India. Sanskrit is the only language which creates an equal handicap for all the parts of the country, so that nobody has a natural advantage over others in learning it. When I speak of Sanskrit, it should be simple, but not 'simplified'. When India goes back to her soul, Sanskrit will naturally become India's national language." This will be a bridge between the Northern Hindi speaking and Southern non-Hindi speaking states, and solve the language imbroglio.
In all non-vernacular English medium schools – English should be restricted to teaching only two subjects like history, geography, civics apart from literature. This will give a child sufficient command over English. The other subjects must be taught in the mother tongue, for example literature, science, mathematics etc. Especially science and mathematics, which are put on a higher pedestal than other subjects, as they are concept based learning and easy to teach in one's mother tongue. Let us remember that the Germans, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Koreans, the Italians, the French and almost all the Non-English world teach their students in their own Mother tongue and have not turned out to be stupid or inferior in mathematics or science and are able to interact effectively in the international forums. The relevant books can be prepared or translated. This will allow the children to learn in their mother tongue, which is the easiest medium to learn in, reinstate our indigenous languages and the respect for them. It will encourage the children to use the language in reading, writing and communication. It will give them the rootedness and identity which is getting blurred, reconnect them to the power of the still living past and make them able vehicles carrying the torch of our culture and civilization to yet uncreated future. Let us not forget that Indians were great mathematicians before the British even learned their simple mathematics. Let us realize that both science and mathematics must be taught at least if not more up to high school or junior college level in local languages. If a child has achieved proficiency in English through learning other subjects, s/he could easily overcome the difficulties of using English as a base for science and mathematics. This is exactly what other countries do. And wouldn't it be an irony that a country, which in ancient times was a pioneer and had a lion's share in development of Mathematics and Science, should abandon her own languages to teach these subjects, and genuflect in front of English?
It is important to keep in mind to give much significance and prominence to indigenous languages and therefore to avoid the disrespectful place it is now occupying as an 'also taught' isolated language. In recent past, I have seen in the very interior remote places of India, someone proudly showing me a 'fully English medium school'! Arrey, where the very tips of the roots of our language and our culture are embedded there we have started wielding the axe of English medium schools and nobody is crying, feeling sad or is even conscious of this cultural and linguistic suicide !! The helplessness and hopelessness of Indian languages, the abject intellectual surrender to the English language is so complete that almost the smallest ray of light eludes us all. To question the wisdom of those who start, promote and support such schools gets you a dirty look or an expression that implies that you must be an imbecile if you are asking such a question.
To grow a Bonsai tree one needs to regularly clip the roots and the branches. When we clip the very roots of our culture, the languages, we will have a bonsai culture, a miniature replica of the original to be kept in the corner of our room and not a dense luxuriant forest. We are rushing headlong into miniaturization of our language and culture, a museum piece for the interested art students of the future to look into. Only because of our intellectual impotency, which has made us so weak that we cannot hold the strong staff of our culture and languages, and pass it on to their lawful inheritors, our children?
Teach languages and other subjects in an interesting manner rather than monotonous learning by rote. Encourage listening, speaking and interaction through audiovisual means. Some of the important teaching methods of the past still have lots of merits. For eg. make an advanced student teach the younger ones, which will benefit both. It would improve the advanced student's skills, power of expression, organize his mind, challenge and activate their brains to imbibe, analyze and understand the subject with better life time retention than mere memorizing and vomiting out on a particular examination day to be forgotten then on. In addition the juniors probably will learn in a more simplified manner from a contemporary view point.
Allow the language to be used to teach as per the mother tongue of the density of the student population and let us not make that a political platform. Local state language should then be an additional language, though not to be counted for the purpose of scoring marks but for the purpose of understanding the literature and make it possible for the person to interact freely in a local language.
Before we shut our minds to above suggestions let us not forget the impact of our inferiority complex and the step motherly treatment to our mother tongue. Let us take few day to day examples. In the most spoken top 50 languages in the world 10 are Indian, as of now. Yet how many Window versions we have found in Indian languages? But you would find them on the very day of launching in Japanese, German, French, Korean, Norwegian, Chinese, and Arabic etc. How many Mobile companies sell mobiles with Indian language versions, but you will find in language options – Dutch, French, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Magyar, Slovenian, Turkish, Russian, and Korean. And most of these countries have population smaller than some of the Indian states or cities! No country speaks to India or Indians in Indian language but most communicate with us in English! The world does not respect our languages because we don't have any self-respect for them ourselves. Those who don't respect themselves are not respected ever by others.
Let us not squander our beautiful multilingual heritage and its inherent advantages. Let us commit ourselves to retain and regain our National Treasure. Let us hold our heads high.
This is our responsibility and its execution is our expression of gratitude to the Mother India.
An awakened India is better and greater than a weakened and paralyzed India.
"Take Bidayuh. Spoken by 200,000 people in East Malaysia, where 140 primary schools have Bidayuh-speaking teachers, the language should not be in danger. But it is. It is neither a medium of instruction nor a school subject – partly because there are hardly any books in Bidayuh and there is no standard form that all its speakers understand. Children grow up studying in Malay and English. They may use Bidayuh in their village but have little need for it after moving to towns for work. When their grandparents die they often stop using it altogether.
Acknowledgement: I thank all those people who participated in an impromptu discussions over many years, opined and put forward their opinions, even if they felt that case for English needs no further discussion. In this article most of the sources are quoted, and yet I apologize if inadvertently any source is left out.
This article is written for those who love, admire, are proud of or grateful to Mother India; for those who are open, determined, committed to stand up in front of a fierce hurricane of despondency which is sweeping our country flattening our culture and indigenous languages.
The article highlights the need of preserving our indigenous languages and thereby our culture. It confronts the myths prevailing in our society regarding English vs. indigenous languages, gives logical counters to dispel them and a solution to preserve our multi-linguistic heritage and culture and a road map to passing them on to future generations. The article reiterates the importance of promotion of a non-regional language like Sanskrit as a national language. It is an answer to a sad but a very urgent wakeup call of the two of the greatest stalwarts of Mother India, Mahatma Gandhi and Sri Aurobindo. It is absolutely the responsibility of every generation to see that the bright well lit torch of our languages is passed from generation to generation.
Works of Sri Aurobindo. Social and Political thought. Vol.15. 1972. Chapter XXVIII. Diversity in oneness.
Reimagining India: Unlocking the Potential of Asia's Next Superpower. Copyright © 2013 by McKinsey & Company. Published by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
One Teacher, One School: The Adam Reports on Indigenous Education in 19th Century India, by Joseph DiBona, Biblia Impex Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.
History of Indigenous Education in the Punjab since Annexation and in 1882, by G.W. Leitner, 1883, Reprinted by Languages Department, Punjab, Patiala, 1971.
The Hour of God. By Sri Aurobindo, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication department.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit to be verified from another source.
Sri Aurobindo. (1914-1918). The Origins of Aryan Speech. In : Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library. Vol 10. Sri Aurobindo Ashram: Pondicherry, India; 1972. p. 570-2. (Originally published in Arya between 1914-1918).
Arthur A. MacDonnel. A History of Sanskrit Literature.
Briggs R. Knowledge representation in Sanskrit and artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence Magazine 1985;6:32-9.
Bloomfield L. Language. Henry Holt and Co: New York; 1933.
Sri Aurobindo. Hymns to the Mystic Fire.
Will Durant – American Historian 1885-1981 (Durant, Will (1930) The Case for India. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Dr. Kalpesh J. Gajiwala is a senior consultant plastic surgeon from Mumbai. He is a visiting consultant to many premier hospitals and collaborates on research in cleft palate speech at Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for Hearing Handicapped. Apart from Plastic, cosmetic and reconstructive surgery, he is involved in research in various fields. He has presented and published many original papers and innovative works. He is the recipient of the best original paper award by the Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery for his research on the use of Sanskrit language in cleft palate speech. Here he has shown how to use the scientific and methodical arrangement of Sanskrit varnamala as a readymade platform for the analysis of cleft palate speech. He has also received a Award for his invention of needle stick injury prevention device from CIIE – IIM Ahmedabad. He has been keenly interested in preserving indigenous languages and has interacted with cross section of society for past 10 years to know their views. The myths for English and against indigenous languages that are quoted in this article are the compilation of all the myths he has come across in such discussions.
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Excellent article! Thanks for sharing some great insights on the topic!
Thanks for this wonderfully rich and informative article.
Thank you. I saw the weblink that you suggested. It is a great beginning. As stated in this article may I just reiterate that instead of wholly English medium schools, let us have a duel medium schools. Science and Maths in local languages along with literature. And History, geography, civics be taught in English along with English literature to sharpen the expressive faculty of students in English. Science and Maths are concept based, once grasped they can easily be expressed in English or other languages, as the non-English speaking world routinely do. And as they are put on a higher pedestal of subjects, it will give respectability to indigenous languages.
Spoken Sanskrit should be taught from preschool to all children all across India. And if there is a dearth of teachers, internet interactive learning bridges that vast distances. Simple teaching modules can be prepared. Interactive forums can be created and used.
And rather than blindly reciting mantras, the meaning of each word, line and stanza should be explained to the child so that the child can relate, imbibe the truth and enlarge the being.
Well known Anand Mahadevan wrote that though he was born a Hindu and learnt lot of Sanskrut Shlokas from his beloved grand father, he could not understand a word. Later at friend's place he heard a simple prayer of well being for all by friend's sister, which touched his heart and he became a Christian, which may be his soul's need.
But the lesson is that a rote learning without understanding is no learning at all. Learning by understanding is the only true way of learning.
once as I entered the Churchgate centre, an idea came to me ( sure from the Mother ) to have 22000 such schools all over India with 1000 students each, under a project called 'The Mother's lap'. Who knows the divine will will create that with Her grace.
Would it be possible for you to pass this link to as many like minded people as possible? May be together we can create an awakening and reverse the tide.


text:
February 26, 2014 Wayne Northey
Restorative Reintegration
Sixth International Conference on Restorative Justice, "Best Practices in Restorative Justice", June 1, 2003
photo above: reintegrationaustralia.com.au
For over 25 years, the terminology of "Restorative Justice" has had increasingly wider acceptance and resonance within criminal justice jurisdictions around the world. As has come widely to be acknowledged, Restorative Justice is more than an alternative approach to criminal justice, it is ideally a "paradigm shift", a genuine "third way" of seeing and responding to the crime phenomenon.
This arises in particular at the most basic level of understanding about response to the human "other". If our worldview permits a division of life into permanent "them/us" categories, then the way is opened for routine scapegoating of the "them", with consequent discarding of some humans like waste disposal. This is the reality in human warfare, and generally has been the case in "war on crime", as first declared by President Nixon, but for a thousand years has been the dominant Western paradigm.
The anthropological bottom line of all such "wars" is legitimated human sacrifice. This places us in league with the "civilizations" of the Aztecs and Incas of South America and other "primitive" societies of all history and place, including Western. With reference to executions in America, but generally applicable to Western human cultures, Gil Bailie writes: "… execution… 'is a brutal act,' but it is one carried out 'in the name of civilization.' It would be difficult to think of a more succinct summation of the underlying anthropological dynamic at work: a brutal act done in the name of civilization, an expulsion or execution that results in social harmony. Clearly, after the shaky justifications based on deterrence or retribution have fallen away, this is the stubborn fact that remains: a brutal act is done in the name of civilization. If we humans become too morally troubled by the brutality to revel in the glories of the civilization made possible by it, we will simply have to reinvent culture. This is what Nietzsche saw through a glass darkly. This is what Paul sensed when he declared the old order to be a dying one [The Bible], I Cor[inthians] 7:31. This is the central anthropological issue of our age (Gil Bailie, Violence Unveiled: Humanity at the Crossroads, New York: Crossroad, 1995, p. 79)."
Please click on: Restorative Reintegration
A Brief Look At Restorative Justice NOTE: This was written several years ago to give a basic look at Restorative Justice. …
Restorative Justice Vision and Spirituality Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA) Presentation, Langley Canadian Reformed Church, March 5, 2005 WN:…
'In the Middle:' Biblical Reflections on Restorative Justice Tom Yoder Neufeld presented this to the Mennonite Central Committee Canada Restorative Justice Network in…
Spirituality Evaluation of Restorative Justice Sixth International Conference on Restorative Justice, "Best Practices in Restorative Justice", June 4, 2003 WN:…
Restorative Justice This was written for a now defunct magazine called "Friend". It is a brief statement…
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The Spiritual Roots of Restorative Justice - Christianity This paper was jointly written by Pierre Allard and me. It arose from a book…
Restorative justice is on the rise in Canada Information Morning - NS, CBC Radio This is a great interview! June 28, 2016 Please…
Creating New Hearts: Moving From Retributive to… New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference: A Pastoral Letter to the Catholic People of New Zealand…
Restorative Justice and Spiritual Origins, November 19, 2004 Some of the papers on Restorative Justice are understandable repetitive, though I'm culling the obviously…
Restorative Justice and Spiritual Origins November 19, 2004 WN: I cannot recall where this was published/presented. A similar article also…
Restorative Justice and M2/W2 Ministry M2/W2 (Man-To-Man/Woman-To-Woman) is the Restorative Justice agency with which I was associated for forty years.…
Towards A New Paradigm of Justice WN: Contemporary Western Restorative Justice theory and practice were not first developed by Americans, though…
From Restorative Justice to Transformative Justice,… From Restorative Justice to Transformative Justice, Tri-Cities Justice Forum, November 29, 1999 WN: I had…
hope, peacemaking, Restorative Justice, spirituality, Transformative Justice

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Q: Prolog "singleton variable" warning I'm new to Prolog and royally confused!  I keep getting a "singleton variable for [WMAPDY]" warning.  I read somewhere that sometimes that warning is useless.  I also read that the program will not compile all the clauses because of the warning?
The program I'm trying to do is a crypt-arithmetic puzzle that is supposed to "solve" AM+PM=DAY.
If anyone could help with this error and also wether the singleton variable warning is always important I'd greatly appreciate it!!
Scott
solve([A,M,P,D,Y]):-
select(A,[0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9],WA), % W means Without
not(A=0),
select(M,WA,WMA),
select(P,WMA,WMAP),
not(P=0),
select(D,WMAP,WMAPD),
not(D=0),
select(Y,WMAPD,WMAPDY),
DAY is 100*D+10*A+Y,
AM  is 10*A+M,
PM  is 10*P+M,
DAY is AM+PM.

A: The warning is generated because of this line:
select(Y,WMAPD,WMAPDY),

The program doesn't use the variable WMAPDY anywhere else, thus it is useless, and Prolog warns you about it, because it is likely a typo (it isn't in this case). To get rid of the warning you have some possibilities:

*

*Use member/2 instead of select/3, since you aren't interested in the resulting list: member(Y,WMAPD).

*Mark the variable as a singleton. If you start variables with a _ they wont be checked it they are singletons: select(Y, WMAPD,_WMAPDY). Alternatively, you could use the special singleton variable _:  select(Y,WMAPD,_). (This description is at least true for SWI Prolog, the underscored variable _WMAPDY might work with more dialects).

*Use :- style_check(-singleton) in your file. This turns off all singleton variable warnings for the file, I'd rather not use that, because this warning is good for finding typos. (this desciption also is for SWI Prolog, SICStus Prolog may use the option single_var_warnings, for other systems, check your manual).
Here is the relevant section in the SWI-Prolog manual

A: Why not use clpfd?
Building on my previous answer to a
very related question, we query:
?- solve_n_dump([A,M] + [P,M] #= [D,A,Y]).
Eq = ([2,5]+[9,5]#=[1,2,0]), Zs = [2,5,9,1,0].
Eq = ([2,7]+[9,7]#=[1,2,4]), Zs = [2,7,9,1,4].
Eq = ([2,8]+[9,8]#=[1,2,6]), Zs = [2,8,9,1,6].
Eq = ([3,5]+[9,5]#=[1,3,0]), Zs = [3,5,9,1,0].
Eq = ([3,6]+[9,6]#=[1,3,2]), Zs = [3,6,9,1,2].
Eq = ([3,7]+[9,7]#=[1,3,4]), Zs = [3,7,9,1,4].
Eq = ([3,8]+[9,8]#=[1,3,6]), Zs = [3,8,9,1,6].
Eq = ([4,5]+[9,5]#=[1,4,0]), Zs = [4,5,9,1,0].
Eq = ([4,6]+[9,6]#=[1,4,2]), Zs = [4,6,9,1,2].
Eq = ([4,8]+[9,8]#=[1,4,6]), Zs = [4,8,9,1,6].
Eq = ([5,6]+[9,6]#=[1,5,2]), Zs = [5,6,9,1,2].
Eq = ([5,7]+[9,7]#=[1,5,4]), Zs = [5,7,9,1,4].
Eq = ([5,8]+[9,8]#=[1,5,6]), Zs = [5,8,9,1,6].
Eq = ([6,5]+[9,5]#=[1,6,0]), Zs = [6,5,9,1,0].
Eq = ([6,7]+[9,7]#=[1,6,4]), Zs = [6,7,9,1,4].
Eq = ([7,5]+[9,5]#=[1,7,0]), Zs = [7,5,9,1,0].
Eq = ([7,6]+[9,6]#=[1,7,2]), Zs = [7,6,9,1,2].
Eq = ([7,8]+[9,8]#=[1,7,6]), Zs = [7,8,9,1,6].
Eq = ([8,5]+[9,5]#=[1,8,0]), Zs = [8,5,9,1,0].
Eq = ([8,6]+[9,6]#=[1,8,2]), Zs = [8,6,9,1,2].
Eq = ([8,7]+[9,7]#=[1,8,4]), Zs = [8,7,9,1,4].
true.

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CamaPlan Outsourced Administration Services: For business owners who have approved plan documents establishing another tax-deferred savings plan, such as a Traditional 401(k), Roth 401(k) plan, Profit Sharing Plans, Employer Stock Ownership Plans, and others, CamaPlan provides expert recordkeeping services for self-directed investments.
Consult with a CPA or investment adviser to determine the best retirement savings account structure for your particular situation and requirements, then contact CamaPlan at 866-559-4430 to open your account.
When Might a Different Account Be Better?
You may be wondering: "Is there is any reason not to choose an individual 401(k) plan?" There is no one-size-fits-all answer to saving for retirement, so yes, there can be reasons why small business owners might opt for other self-directed retirement accounts. If you hire an employee other than your spouse or business partner, you lose the special advantages of an Individual 401(k) and will essentially end up with a standard 401(k) plan. In that instance, a SEP IRA might be more appropriate; consult your financial adviser to discuss your specific situation. While CamaPlan makes it easy to manage your Individual(k) plan, as with any 401(k), there is more paperwork required than for an individual retirement account. If your business is just getting off the ground and you are unlikely to take advantage of the high salary and profit-sharing Individual(k) limits, you might be better off with a plan that is less time consuming and expensive to administer, such as a SIMPLE IRA. Keep in mind that you have the option to roll over funds from most types of retirement accounts into an Individual 401(k) plan at a later time (please note that there is a two year waiting period for rolling over funds from a SIMPLE IRA). As your circumstances change, it might be time for a new direction; IRA and 401(k) plans all have their own unique features and benefits. Let a CamaPlan retirement specialist provide you with our ultimate guide to retirement planning and answer all of your questions about options for retirement self-directed investments. Call us today to get started.
As a business owner, you make the decisions about how to grow your company and make it successful. At CamaPlan, we believe that investors should have the same level of control over their personal finances. From a Traditional IRA to a myriad of retirement accounts for small businesses, the investments in every CamaPlan account are controlled by the individual account owner. Why should you be limited to the narrow variety of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds offered by most brokerage houses when there is such a diverse range of investment opportunities available? Our role at CamaPlan is to handle the required IRS reporting and provide you with the investor education that will empower you to take charge of your own finances. Call us today to open a CamaPlan Individual(k), and build your wealth your way.


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Q: Is there a way to change Power BI interface to black/grey/dark? Is there a way to change Power BI interface to a dark theme? I don't have a old version on Power BI to revert to, and since they've released the new version the interface seems to be light only.
I have tried to look in File>Options and Settings>Settings but I can't see any options there for any themes.

A: Power BI Desktop only comes with the light theme since the interface change about 6 months ago, and there is no 'dark mode' at this time. MS have stated that it is on the roadmap for Power BI Desktop, but as of Nov 2020, there is no confirmed date.
There is an Power BI Ideas for this option which you can vote for, which is in the top 5 of the voted ideas so far.


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AI-powered DevOps is how CA wants to reinvent software development and itself
How does non-deterministic software sound? Making data-driven software to help make data-driven software may seem like catch 22, but that's what CA wants to do. Here's why and how.
By George Anadiotis for Big on Data | June 12, 2018 -- 18:49 GMT (11:49 PDT) | Topic: Artificial Intelligence
DevOps is the hot topic in 2018: Five reasons why The typical enterprise has become a nonstop software and data factory, operating 24x7. Technology has to be there at all times.
Video: DevOps is the hot topic in 2018: Five reasons why
CA is one of the oldest, most traditional enterprise software companies around. As such, it has not exactly been synonymous with innovation. But Ashok Reddy, its DevOps general manager, says this is changing, and CA is reinventing how DevOps is used to develop and deploy software throughout its lifecycle, based on data, machine learning, and AI.
If everyone is using the same software as a service, differentiation comes through dynamically adapting to data
CA has come a long way since 1976. This multi-billion dollar organization, with presence all over the world and thousands of people in its payroll, has made a name for itself mostly as a provider of enterprise software. Just looking at the evolution of the product line of organizations like CA tells the story of the evolution of IT itself.
Read also: What is DevOps? An executive guide to agile development | DevOps: What is it, and how can it help your business?
From mainframes and client-server architecture to multi-tier applications, moving to the cloud era, and now the data-driven era, though a lot has changed through the years for CA, its stated mission of (using technology) to eliminate the barriers between ideas and business outcomes has not changed all that much.
The technology and the approaches, however, have, and Reddy used an analogy between self-driving cars and self-driving applications to refer to this in his CA AgileOps Summit keynote. Many of the things involved in this are mostly seen as unexciting housekeeping chores. Things such as testing and deploying applications, security, integration, and everything that DevOps touches upon.
Reddy, however, says CA has found a way to take as much of these tedious tasks off the shoulders of people, and offload them to automation powered by data, machine learning, and AI, in what he calls continuous AIOps.
Traditionally, Reddy says, organizations have been adopting software solutions to become digital and to innovate. With the advent of the SaaS model, however, what happens to differentiation, if everyone is using the same SaaS?
Building software used to be a deterministic, albeit progressively more complicated thing. But that's changing.
His answer is that the advent of data-driven approaches also applies to software. Instead of people defining rules encoded in software that is deployed and then operates based on those rules, software is now becoming much more dynamic, adapting its behavior based on the data it consumes.
"Software used to be deterministic -- you developed it, deployed it, focused on quality, and made sure it satisfies user requirements, and that was it. Now, with data-driven approaches, software needs to incorporate what can be learned from the environment," Reddy says.
This is a fundamental shift -- going from deterministic to non-deterministic behavior. There is great opportunity for creating more adaptive software by applying this approach, but there also is great risk in terms of uncertainty. How comfortable would you feel knowing that the software you are running in production has non-deterministic behavior?
Read also: Research report: A big shift towards DevOps adoption is coming | Why it's time to cash a ticket to the DevOps revolution
"Non-deterministic means you have to ensure that data used to inform the software is the right data. It must not be biased, you have to look at issues like security and privacy. And what kind of actions will the software take? Will the actions be fully automated, or will there be human involvement? Those are the types of things for which we think there's a lifecycle for everything," says Reddy.
Automating DevOps
That may seem exciting, or scary, depending on how you look at it. But if adding non-deterministic behavior to all the moving parts that make for the complexity that enterprise software has evolved into was not enough, Reddy takes things further.
Reddy says that, in CA, it is applying this approach to its DevOps, the software used to build software. He notes that when you have continuous integration or testing, different test cases exist for different aspects of the software:
"Do tests reach all paths? Which test cases fail, and which ones pass? Which deployments work, and which ones need to be rolled back? All these are things we can learn, and based on this, we can change our DevOps approach. Companies can use data to make better decisions, but software itself can also learn what to deploy and when.
With AI, we can move to risk-based testing. We can apply lookup patterns: If something changes in the code, why not look at the test cases affected by that to identify the potential risk for the business? We are already applying this approach to testing, deployment, automation, looking at the full lifecycle to learn from new patterns."
In applications, just like in cars, there is a progression between no automation at all and full automation, says CA's Ashok Reddy. (Image: Ashok Reddy / CA)
Read also: Ten ways DevOps can change how you run your IT department | Implementing DevOps: 5 obstacles to overcome
This is where the analogy between DevOps and cars comes into play. Reddy argues that there is a progression between no automation and full automation that applies to both -- and beyond, we might add. But the idea at this point is not to make human involvement in the DevOps process obsolete, but rather to automate as much of the process as possible, Reddy says:
"I talk about self-driving operations. The reality is that operations needs to focus on more added-value things rather than getting lost in the day-to-day chores -- things like what is that data job, what data is in it, how long is it going to be running etc.
We want to give them a way to predict things before they happen and to automate, so they can focus on the big picture. This is more important now than ever, compared to just looking at the software. This is what we see, and what we are focusing on for our roadmap."
Where is this coming from, where it's going, and who else is doing it
You may be wondering how does a vendor with the legacy of CA get to learn new tricks like that. Looking at its acquisition track may give some answers. In the past few years, CA has acquired companies doing API management and monitoring, application release automation, test data management, automated test design and optimization, and business automation among others.
When discussing its legacy and future directions, Reddy emphasized how CA's portfolio has evolved from its on-premise roots to a SaaS first philosophy, leveraging data along the way.
"Our goal, announced to our investors, is to make at least 50 percent of our offering subscription-based. We have products that are top in their class, like Blazemeter for testing and Veracode for security, that are SaaS. We also have a mainframe as a service product with IBM
All our products are going SaaS by the end of the year, on AWS, Azure, and IBM cloud, even though we will retain on-premise versions for companies that want this. We provide the same offering across clouds and on the data center.
We have been leveraging data, putting telemetry in our applications. That data is used to train the software and make it better for testing and development."
CA's Reddy calls the AI-powered approach to DevOps Continuous AIOps. (Image: Ashok Reddy / CA)
That is an interesting approach, and it's worth keeping an eye on how it will play out for CA and its clients, if nothing else for the sheer size of CA's footprint. We have to note though, that we have seen at least parts of this approach elsewhere, too.
Having data driven IT-operations, using analytics to connect Devs and Ops, and analyzing code and tuning clusters in production, for example, are all things we've seen, and covered, before. And just yesterday, Splunk announced a related acquisition of its own, apparently looking to move into the DevOps automation domain as well.
Read also: How to implement DevOps: 5 tips for doing it right | Eight best practices for hiring DevOps engineers
The multi-billion dollar question of course is: How comprehensive is each approach -- and whether all the bits and pieces really work seamlessly? If CA has managed to integrate the approaches it brought onboard through its acquisitions, this could amount to something quite comprehensive. In any case, automating DevOps seems like something many organizations are putting their hopes and money on.
The machine learning feedback loop SEE FULL GALLERY
Yes, DevOps is all about business growth
DevOps success is about culture, culture culture
DevOps, machine learning dominate technology opportunities
5 reasons DevOps will be a big deal in the year ahead
DevOps: The smart person's guide (TechRepublic)
10 steps to DevOps success in the enterprise (TechRepublic)
More from George Anadiotis
Semantics and virtualization, data integration and data governance on the way to the cloud
Quantum Orchestration Platform: A virtual machine for quantum computing


Valid entries will receive a like from @ohko.
To all the users that would've joined our community just to participate in this raffle, I'm truly sorry. If I can think of another way to include you in the next round, I will. If anyone else has clever ideas, let's hear them - I'd really love to make it open for everyone.
I won something? FAKE NEWS!
Unlucky >.< regardless thanks for the chance on a great giveaway and congrats to the winners!
Lol! I had my reply but never submitted it. It saved as a draft! Silly me. Congrats to the winners. I'll be there for the next one!
Key worked perfectly Thank you very much.
Uh, I'll need to give Jim Henson a call.


This pair of exquisite earrings is made of the purest crystal. The feather design reminds the wings of an angel.
There are eight colors available, from lipstick red to delicate dreamy blue, make them the perfect accent for any outfit. They are surprisingly lightweight. Made for pierced ears, and come with silicon stoppers for added security. They measure approximately 2cm/0.8″ in length.
All materials are environmentally friendly and safe for the body. The zinc alloy is lead, nickel and cadmium free.
Beautiful, small earrings. Size of a finger nail. Very nicely packed. The only minus is long delivery.
Earrings just like description, nice quality. Delivery 2 months.
Шли долго, но очень красивые!
Produto bem embalado. Brincos lindíssimos. Recomendo vendedor.
thank you very much. It is very beautiful.
Серьги классные, брал для мамы, ей понравилось, а значит и я доволен! продавца рекомендую!
Descripción exacta. Tardó mucho en llegar.
Очень долгая доставка... Прошли все сроки... Пришлось открывать спор о недоставке. А через неделю кинули посылку в почтовый ящик. Отменил спор.
ordered two pairs- blue and red. Good quality, pretty earrings. Earrints are easy to use and are not made from plastic, looks nice!
Son preciosos!! Tal como vienen en la imagen. Muchas gracias Vendedor por tan pronta entrega.
Cute little earrings. Good quality. Fast shipping. Less than a month.
I really love them ! I'm so glad ! I bought two of them, the white one and the yellow one. They are all beautiful.
Tal y como se describen en la imagen. Muy bonitos! muy bien embalados para el envío. no ha tardado mucho en llegar a España.


Exceptional care to clients – not clients who are an exception to the rule.
Ronald Blue Trust developed the Everyday Steward® division to focus on helping a specific type of individual often overlooked or poorly served by many financial companies. Sometimes they're called the "middle market" or the "mass affluent." And sometimes they're called by other companies "not asset-heavy enough for us." We call them our preferred client.
Designed for individuals who need one or many hours of financial planning or need investments managed (ranging generally from $100,000 up to $1 million), Ronald Blue Trust's Everyday Steward advisors work with people who are beyond the debt problem stage, but desire objective, biblically-based advisement for investments, cash flow management, retirement planning, insurance planning, tax planning, estate planning, and giving.
Everyday Steward offers financial planning services and fee-only investment management. Serving as "stewardship coaches," we help you focus on the goals and financial issues that are important to you so you can focus on living a life of purpose.
We help individuals and families make intentional decisions that can lead to clarity and confidence around their finances. We work with them to determine how much is enough which can result in increased charitable giving (of time, talents, or treasures), ultimately helping to fulfill the Great Commission.
If somebody asks you, "So what has your financial planner done for you today?" they're asking the wrong question. The "outcome" is only partially experienced today. The "outcome" of your financial planning relationship will only fully be realized in the future. Of course, if you start today, that point in the future will come more quickly. Our process starts with today.
The financial consulting process begins with you and your spouse, if you have one, completing a questionnaire and collecting pertinent financial data (such as tax returns and investment statements) so we can evaluate your current financial situation and establish goals. Your Everyday Steward® advisor reviews the completed questionnaire and supplied information and will then contact you to discuss which of our services would best meet your needs.
You will receive a quote providing an overview of time and cost for our financial planning service and/or our investment management service, along with an Advisory Agreement for you to sign that outlines the details of the relationship with Ronald Blue Trust. The normal turnaround time for our financial planning service is approximately three to four weeks after the signed Advisory Agreement is received.
Applications to start the investment management process can start immediately. If you want investment management services, we will develop the paperwork needed to set up your accounts and, if necessary, transfer assets from other investment providers or custodians. We also will gather further information regarding your risk tolerance and the appropriate portfolio strategy for your financial needs. Together, we will review this information and use it for the basis of our investment decisions.
Learn more about our planning services or our investment management services.
If you have a question and don't see it answered below, please feel free to ask it here.
Q. Who is the "typical" Everyday Steward® client at Ronald Blue Trust?
The typical client desires to make wise financial decisions and follow biblical principles of stewardship, but their financial situation is not complex. Rather than be a "smaller fish in a big pond," you want to be served by someone who values your relationship and is familiar with the everyday financial issues you face and goals you have. You want an advisor who can evaluate your entire financial picture, even when addressing a single financial issue.
We're not right for you if you . . . are looking for a brokerage company just to buy or sell your investments, want to speculate or "time" the markets, prefer to work on a commission rather than a fee basis, are indifferent to working with an advisor with a biblical perspective, and don't want to delegate your investment management. In addition, if you have high income, have built a significant net worth, or have an estate situation that would pass on significant wealth to your family or others, your place is not in the Everyday Steward division, but in the Private Wealth division that works with people with more complex situations.
Q. How do you know if you need a financial planner?
Do you have written financial goals related to your life purpose?
Are you on track towards saving for the future?
Are you prepared for the impact of death or disability upon you or your family?
If you answered "no" or "I don't know" to any of these questions, then you could benefit from the services of a financial planner.
Q. What is the cost for a financial plan?
Our fees are based on a $250 per hour rate and depend on the scope of the work performed. An Everyday Steward advisor will provide a quote based on the number of hours we estimate it will take to do your plan. You are charged only the fee quoted even if the plan requires more hours than originally estimated.
Q. How do I know if my needs match your services?
After receiving your personal financial information, we will contact you to discuss how we can be of service and give you an idea of the time and cost that would be involved, so you can decide whether or not to move forward.
Q. What if I am dissatisfied?
You can terminate your relationship with us at any time by giving the advisor 30 days' written notice. If you are a financial planning client, we simply do not charge for any work not meeting your expectations. If you are an investment management client, your fee is prorated to the time that your accounts with us are closed.
Each client situation is unique. Our goal is for you to achieve clarity and confidence around your finances, therefore we are committed to contacting you as often as needed.
Q. What does a financial plan delivery look like?
Typically, you will be provided with your written financial plan (recommendations, supporting information, etc.) which we will review with you in detail. For comprehensive planning, the delivery time could be two hours or more. If we are discussing a single issue or financial concern, the conversation could be as short as 30 minutes.
Q. What qualifications do Everyday Steward advisors have?
Q. How often do we revisit the plan if we are engaging in the financial planning process?
This depends on your situation. We can structure the initial work and the subsequent follow-up or updates as your situation warrants or as you prefer.
Q. What happens when the work for the financial plan is completed?
We provide a survey form for your feedback on our process and services. We also ask if you would like us to follow up with you at a future date. You are welcome to contact us anytime a question arises or when it is time to review your situation and progress.
Q. What does an investment management portfolio look like?
Each individual client portfolio is based upon client goals, financial situation, risk tolerance, and life stage. Usually portfolios are diversified across multiple asset classes using mutual funds. Typically, our minimum investment is $100,000.
Q. What does it cost to have you manage my portfolio?
The Everyday Steward Investment Management fee is an annual management fee billed quarterly in advance (typically from the account) and is prorated over the time period you work with us. The actual fee will be detailed in your Advisory Agreement.
Q. Who picks the investments?
Our Investment Strategy Group selects and monitors the approved investments used in our company investment portfolios. Your personal advisor works with you to implement the appropriate portfolios based on your investment goals and objectives. The Investment Strategy Group focuses on investments while your financial advisor focuses on you. The two of these knowledge bases have merged together to implement a portfolio suitable for your situation.
Q. Do you use only mutual funds and ETFs?
Our goals are to have professionally managed investment alternatives that provide liquidity and diversification. Most Everyday Steward portfolios consist of no-load mutual funds and ETFs.
Q. What if I don't live near an Everyday Steward office?
Everyday Steward advisors currently serve clients in almost all 50 states. Seventy percent of our clients are not local to an existing office, but are served with ease through electronic communication and the phone. We do invite you to review our locations and to feel free to contact an advisor who may be close to you or based in our main office in Atlanta, Georgia.
It's easy: Start a conversation with us by submitting a questionnaire. Based on the information you give us, we'll get in touch to discuss how our services can help you address your financial questions. If you decide to work with us, we then send the necessary paperwork to initiate the relationship.
Please complete as much of the questionnaire as you can easily answer (information that may be time-consuming to retrieve can be obtained later, if needed). The data provided will allow us to assess your situation and provide you with a custom quote for services.
All information received from you is kept confidential.
If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader, a free copy is available to download at www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html.
Please contact us to obtain a secure link to upload documents (completed questionnaire, statements, etc).
If you are already connected with an advisor, contact your advisor for a secure upload link.
Or contact our onboarding team by filling out your information in the Contact Us section and reference your need for a secure upload link.
We currently serve clients in over 40 states. Most clients are served remotely from our Atlanta location, but where Ronald Blue Trust branch offices are convenient, our advisors meet with clients in the local branch. Click below to find someone in your community.