Translation and Language Policy in India under NEP 2020

Abstract

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is a landmark policy intervention in the educational landscape of India as it prioritizes multilingualism and rejuvenation of Indian languages. Veering towards an aspiration of universalising knowledge, the new policy is knotted into a linguistic and pedagogical warp that demotes translation to its very sinews. In this paper, the importance of translation is discussed in the context of achieving the objectives set by NEP 2020, the focus being on imparting education in primary and mother tongue languages as well as building knowledge repositories within various disciplines. Based on the analysis of public policies, institutional practices, and evolving translation technologies, the research investigates how translation works as an instrument of empowerment on the one hand, and a site of competition on the other. NEP 2020 provides a unique opportunity to language inclusive education, the absence of infrastructure, trained personnel and standard terminology acts as major roadblocks. Translation itself is presented as a strong means of transcending linguistic dominance; the paper also calls for caution in this regard against its abuse in the decapitalization of cultural dominion. This study, on a systematic critique of implementation strategies demonstrates the demand for culturally tailored, entrusted intermediary translation practices that are reinforced by well-functioning institutional mechanisms. The paper argues, in the end, that the effectiveness of NEP 2020's multilingual vision hinges on seeing translation not as an appendage to knowledge-production but as a knowledge-producing intervention.