The Learner

Muhammad Muhsin Ibrahim Bayero University, Kano muhsin2008@gmail.com INTRODUCTION Some might think the title suggests a banal subject, which has been at the centre of hot debates among many writers, particularly the Nigerian Chinua Achebe and the Kenyan Ngugi wa Thiong’o for many years. However, the case of India is exceptionally unique as the country is also very unique in the world. India is a place of myths and legends; a birthplace of some of the world’s leading religions and creeds; miscellaneous cultures and traditions, and other peculiarities. It is the second most populous country after China—and would, as projected, overtake China in the ranking in a few years to come—with over a billion inhabitants. The people are divided mainly along mass and massive ethnically heterogeneous societies with little or nothing in common. It was gathered in a recent report that ‘ Over 1652 languages belonging to four different language families…’ ( http://www.ciil.org ) —eightee