Maha Akhand Bharat through languages
Narendra Modi announced that Indian students pursuing their master's studies in that country will be granted a five-year post-study visa. This betters the two-year post-study work visa arrangement put in place after Modi visited France in 2022. According to India Report Card 2022 of Duolingo, the certification-based language-learning programme, French has the highest number of learners in India after English and Hindi.
What this signifies is more and more young Indians are learning foreign languages beyond the usual 'international gateway language' of English to seek out opportunities to work in countries across the world. This is not just welcome but is to be proactively encouraged. The Indian diaspora is both the avant-garde as well as the emissary of what amounts to Maha Akhand Bharat, the repository of Indianness.
Languages are by themselves passports to different countries and economies. Mastering French not only opens up opportunities for Indians in France, but in Belgium, parts of Canada and other francophonic territories. Spanish holds another key, not just in continental Spain but also in countries in Latin America and, indeed, in the US, where it is the second-largest spoken language after English.
Duolingo points to this growing trend of Indians learning other foreign languages as gateways, like Korean and Spanish, with Korean actually beating French among language learners in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal. English is not the only 'place' Indians now want to work in. With their spread across the world like pixie dust, foreign language-proficient Indians will take India with them, as they have always done.
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