Letter under Right to Information Act to Cenus Authorities.

Sourashtra Staff Association.
241, South Marret Street, Madurai-625001.
Ref: Census/2 Dated: 21.1.2011

UNDER RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT
Sri N. Ravichandran,
Joint Director of Census Operations
Directorate of Census Operations Tamil Nadu,
‘E’ Wing, 3rd Floor, Rajaji Bhavan, Besant Nagar, CHENNAI-600090.
Sir,
Sub: Saurashtra/Sourashtra – Mother tongue spoken in Tamil Nadu.
This has reference to our letter dated 17th May, 2010 and your reply dt.11th August, 2010 under RTI Act.
Q.No.1. Who has done the extensive authoritative work on Saurashtra/Sourashtra language comparing with Gujarati?
1. The answer to the above question by you is not satisfactory. The finding of Sir George Abraham Grierson in his Linguistic Survey of India (LSI) is only tentative and not conclusive. 2. It is stated in Census of India 1961 Vol. 1 Part II –C (ii) Language Tables p. ccxvii as under:
Regarding Saurashtra, however, some interest has been shown, of late, on the technical aspects of this variety while the inclination to affiliate it with Marathi is also visible among some scholars. In any case, some AUTHORITATIVE WORK on this variety of language remains to be done.
3. We quote below the extract from the Article ‘The Saurashtrans of South India’ by Dr.H.R.Randle, M.A., D.Phil., I.E.S., Librarian, India Office, White Hall, London S.W.1 published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , London (October 1944).
“The Saurashtri language, also called Patnuli or Khatri, has been classed as a dialect of Gujarati. It certainly appears to belong to the Gujarati-Rajasthani linguistic type; but, although it has some forms such as a causative in -ḍ- and passive in -ā- which connect it specifically with Gujarati, its inflections are not those of Gujarati and its basic vocabulary is predominantly Marathi. For these reasons it is not possible to regard it as a dialect of Gujarati… Sourashtran publications are sufficient proof that it is an adequate medium for literary expression.”
4. You have quoted the book of Dr. V. Renuka Devi. It is not authentic and conclusive. It does not say that Sourashtra is a dialect of Gujarati.
5. We contend that our Sourashtra language should not be shown as a dialect of Gujarati. It is one of the Minor languages of India.
6. The National Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, Allahabad has treated our language as a separate language only and accordingly we are invited as Linguistic Minority of Sourashtra language only and not Linguistic Minority of Gujarati language in Tamil Nadu.
7. Census of India 1971 Language handbook on Mother Tongues in Census – Census Centenary Monograph No.10. On page No. 223 it is stated as under:
1399. Saurashtra - Mother tongue returns received from a substantial section of population in Tamil Nadu from weavers reported to be originally hailing from north specially Gujarat. The returns were classified under Gujarati in 1961 Census. Proper investigations of this language are still lacking.
In Appendix II Mother Tongues –1971 Census (Provisional figures) numerically important mother tongues at Country level as of 1971 with strength of speakers of 5000 and above arranged in descending order of population. Sl. No. 68 Saurashtra population ...181,289.( Males 91,080 and Females 90,209).
8. When it is not mutually intelligible, Sourashtra language cannot be treated as a dialect of Gujarati. So it should be shown as a separate language and it should be included in the list of languages whose speakers are more than 10,000.
9. In Census Report 2011 pertaining to Tamil Nadu State, Sourashtran speakers are to be shown as separately and should not be merged with Gujarati language.
Q. No. 2. On what basis Saurashtra/Sourashtra language is shown as dialect of Gujarati from 1991 Census onwards?
10. Your reply to this question is not satisfactory. LSI is not a conclusive proof. It is already stated in 1961 and 1971 Census Reports that ‘proper investigations of this language are still lacking’. We do not know who has done extensive research on this language and stated categorically that it is a dialect of Gujarati giving concrete examples.
Q. No. 3. Whether you have got consent from the speakers of Saurashtra/Sourashtra to show it as a dialect of Gujarati?
11. You say that the affiliation of the language is decided by the available grammatical structure of the concerned language/mother tongue along with the available knowledge base as well as the decision of the linguistic and non-linguistic experts.
Will you furnish us the grammatical structures of Sourashtra and Gujarati for our scrutiny and the opinions given by the experts in Linguistics with regard to Sourashtra language? We would also like to know the names of non-linguistic persons who have given the opinion that Sourashtra is a dialect of Gujarati. So, kindly furnish the same for our perusal.
Q. No. 4. Is there no Sourashtras in Tamil Nadu?
You have given reply that as per 2001 Census number of persons reported Saurashtra/Sourashtra as mother tongue is, 178,135. But in Census Reports it is clubbed with Gujarati and our language Sourashtra is not shown separately. We demand that our population figures district wise is to be stated separately to enable us to claim the Rights of Linguistic Minorities in Tamil Nadu.
Q. No. 5. Why the nomenclature is changed to Gujarati? i.e. the Saurashtra/Sourashtra population is clubbed with Gujarati?
12. Your reply is not satisfactory. The inclusion of our population with Gujarati speaking people and showing as Gujarati is misleading.
We demand that in future, in Tamil Nadu, you should furnish the population figures of Sourashtras District wise separately in Census Report for the year 2011.
We would like to hear from you further in this regard. Please send your reply soon.
Yours faithfully,
Secretary.
Copy to National Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities,
40, Amar Nath Jha Marg, Allahabad-211002.

This is an extract of the letter sent to Census Authorities, produced here for the information of all.