REPORT OF THE SCIENTIFIC TERMINOLOGY COMM. OF CABE 1940

 REPORT OF THE SCIENTIFIC
 TERMINOLOGY COMMITTEE OF THE
 CENTRAL ADVISORY BOARD OF
 EDUCATION, 1940.

At the fifth meeting held in May 1940, the Central Advisory Board of Education considered the question of adopting a Uniform Scientific Terminology on an all-India basis. This question has been engaging the attention of certain Provincial Governments for sometime past and the Government of Bombay forwarded a note on the subject by their Deputy Director of Public Instruction, Mr. B. N. Seal, with a request that the question might be taken up by the Central Advisory Board. The main features of Mr. Seal's note were--

(i) That a common scientific terminology should be fixed for India as a whole ;

(ii) That the question of an all-India scientific terminology should, in the first instance, be referred to an authoritative all-India body ;

(iii) That the main and common part of the scientific terminologies to be devised for the principal Indian languages should be borrowed extensively from the English terminology ;

(iv) That every Indian language should have the following three main divisions in its scientific terminology, viz. :-

(a) the main English terminology which will practically be the common terminology for all- India, (b) the terminology peculiar to the Indian language-a very small section,

(c) Sanskrit or Perso-Arabic terminology- comparatively small in number-adopted or coined according as the language is Sanskritic or Dravidian or Urdu, Pushto or Sindhi ;

(v) That standard terminologies should be fixed for the various scientific and humanistic subjects such a Mathematics, Anatomy, Physiology,Economics, Scientific Philosophy, Modern Logic, etc.;

(vi) That as soon as the tables of scientific terminology are settled, text books should be got written in the principal Indian languages for all grades of education and that all other terminology should be discouraged

The Board, while expressing itself in favour of uniformity in the matter of adopting scientific terminology for regional languages in India, felt that the purpose in view could best be attained by following the English terminology, but in order that the question might be examined in greater detail decided to appoint the Committee named below, with power to co-opt:-

1. The Right Honourable Sir Akbar Hydari. LL.D., President of H. E. H. the Nizam's Executive Council, Hyderabad State-Chairman.

2. The Honourable Diwan Bahadur Sir K. Ramunni Menon.

3. Mr. S C Tripathi, I.E.S., Director of Public Instruction, Orissa.

4. Mr. W. H. F. Armstrong, I. E. S., Director of Public Instruction, Punjab.

5. Dr. Sir Zia-ud-Din Ahmad.

6. Pandit Amaranatha Jha, Vice-Chancellor, Allahabad University. 7. Dr U. M. Daudpota, M.A., Ph. D., Director of Public Instruction, Sind.

8 The Educational Commissioner with the Government of India.

2. In accordance with the powers conferred on the Committee by the Board, the following were co-opted as additional members :-

(1) Dr. Abdul Hague, Secretary, All-India Anjuman-e- Taraqqi-e-Urdu, Delhi.

(2) Dr. S. S. Bhatnagar, O.B.E., Director of Scientific and Industrial Research.

(3) Dr. Mozaffaruddin Quraishi, Professor and Head of the Department of Chemistry, Osmania University. 3. The Committee as finally constituted, met at Hyderabad Deccan on the 15th and 16th October 1940. Pandit Amaranatha Jha was unable to be present on the 15th and attended the meeting on the 16th only. Mr. S. C. Tripathi did not attend. Nawab Mahdi Yar Jung Bahadur, Vice-Chancellor of the Osmania University and Education Member, Government of His Exalted Highness the Nizam, was present at the meeting by special invitation

4. The Agenda and the other papers circulated along With it to the members are set out in Annexures I and II respectively. In addition, the following papers were circulated to the members :-

(a) A note by Pandit Amaranatha Jha, Vice-Chancellor, Allahabad University (vide Annexure III).

(b) A note by Dr. Abdul Haque, Secretary, Anjuman-e- Taraqqi-e-Urdu (Hindi vide Annexure IV).

(c) A note by Dr. Mozaffaruddin Quraishi, Professor and Head of the Department of Chemistry, Osmania University (Vide Annexure V). 5. In opening the proceedings, the Chairman cordially welcomed the members of the Committee to Hyderabad. The members in return ex- pressed their appreciation of the generous hospitality extended to them by the Government of His Exalted Highness the Nizam.

6. The Chairman stated that the problem of adopting a Uniform Scientific Terminology based on Urdu had been engaging the attention of the Osmania University for a considerable period and much work had already been done. He referred in particular to the principles followed by the Osmania University as since 1920 (these are embodied in the note by the Director of Public Instruction, Hyderabad, in Annexure II (c) and explained in detail the organisation and activities of the Bureau of the Osmania University constituted specifically for this purpose.

7. The point was raised in connection with the Committee's terms of reference as to whether the discussion should be confined to the pre-university stages of education or should embrace all stages. The Committee decided that the question should be considered in relation to all stages of education Opinion was also general that it would be impracticable to prescribe the particular sciences in relation to which the main question should be considered or to investigate issues restricted to individual sciences. The Committee felt that they should confine themselves to exploring the general problem in its widest aspect

8. The Committee considered it desirable as a matter of general principle that a common approach to the main problem should be sought for India as a whole though they were fully conscious of the practical difficulties in the way of achieving this object. It was felt that regard might usefully be had to the attempts already made or at present in progress in different parts of the country to solve this problem so far as the principal regional languages are concerned. There was general agreement that whatever terms were adopted, they should be as precise and simple as possible so that they may be understood not only by those engaged in educational institutions but also by the public at large. A large number of people all over India were already familiar with many English technical and scientific terms through their use in every day life. For this reason and more particularly because of the world-wide tendency in the more advanced stages of learning towards the adoption of an international scientific terminology, the Committee came to the conclusion that where international terms (in their English form) are already in common use in India, they should be retained and that in other cases the question of adopting them for Indian use should be considered before any attempt is made to invent Indian equivalents.

9. The Committee next considered the need for supplementing the international terminology, particularly in the earlier stages of education, by words of Indian origin and which would be acceptable in all parts of the country. The primary objection to this is that the regional languages do not derive from a common parent stock and in view of their radical differences any uniform terminology imposed from above world be exposed to the criticism that it was largely artificial. It was, however, thought to be both possible and desirable that through progressive stages some degree of uniformity might be reached so far as the two main groups of Indian languages are concerned, viz., Hindustani which covers most of the languages spoken in Northern India and the Dravidian group for Southern India. Terms already existing or of simple coinage which would be readily understood throughout their respective groups would form a valuable second category. The coining of elaborate or pedantic terms based on classical languages is to be deprecated.

10. In the third category will fall those terms which are peculiar to regional languages and are in common use. Their retention is clearly essential for the sake of intelligibility during the lower stages of education even though later on they may tend to be replaced by 'Indian group' or international terms. The stage at which and the means by which terms of wider acceptation whether 'group' or 'international' should be substituted for local names are questions which might usefully be explored by the Committee referred to in para. 11.

11. Having defined in broad terms the nature of the categories into which a scientific terminology for India should in their opinion be divided the Committee next considered how to determine the actual contents of each category and what machinery would be required for this purpose.

It was realised that in a matter of this kind finality was neither attainable nor desirable. Terms should be subject to revision in the light of internal experience and external developments. Moreover while it would be reasonable to expect a fair amount of agreement as the contents of the first or international category so far as the requirements of the more advanced stages of learning are concerned, at other stages there might be substantial variations in different parts of India dependent on the availability of suitable terms either common within one of the two main groups or peculiar to certain regional languages. While recognising that in Such cases the final decision would have to be local and would naturally come within the purview of the Provinces and States concerned the Committee felt that some central committee of reference would be required to whom problems of general application could be submitted and that each of the two main language groups should have it committee of its own to offer advice on problems of terminology peculiar to its own group. The constitution of these Committees, which need not themselves consist of scientific or linguistic experts but should have power to co-opt experts or appoint ad hoc expert sub-committees, would have to be decided by the Central Government in consultation with Provincial Governments and States.

12. In connection with two matters of important detail the Committee decided-

(a) that for all the sciences the international symbols and figures should invariably be adopted and that to avoid confusion mathematical propositions and question should always be written from left to right even in those languages like Urdu where the script runs from right to left.

(b) that the responsible authorities, assuming they accept the recommendations of the Committee, should take steps to secure that text-books are written in conformity with them.

Main conclusions and recommendations.

I. That in order to promote the further development of scientific studies in India, it is desirable to adopt a common terminology so far as may be practicable and full regard should be had to attempts which have already been carried out with this object in view.

II That in order to maintain the necessary contact between scientific development in India and similar developments in other countries, the scientific terminology adopted for India should assimilate wherever possible those terms which have already secured general international acceptance. In view, however, of the variety of languages in use in India and of the fact that these are not derived from one common parent stock, it will be necessary to employ, in addition to an international terminology, terms borrowed or adapted from the two main stocks to which most Indian languages belong as well as terms which are in common use in individual languages.

An Indian scientific terminology will therefore consist of-

(i) An international terminology. in its English form, which will be employable throughout India;

(ii) Terms borrowed or adapted from Hindustani or the Dravidian languages according to the affinities of the area but avoiding as far as possible difficult words from Sanskrit, Persian or other classical languages ;

(iii) Terms peculiar to individual languages whose retention on the ground of familiarity may be essential in the interest of popular education. In the higher stages of education terms from categories (i) and (ii) may be progressively substituted for those in category (iii).

III. To ensure the steady and uniform growth of Scientific Terminology on an all-India basis it is desirable that there should be a Central Board of Reference with expert sub-committees whose guidance on general issues and decisions on specific issues submitted to them would be accepted by Provincial Governments and other regional bodies concerned.

IV. That on the assumption that Indian languages may be divided into two main groups, viz., (i) Hindustani, (ii) the Dravidian group, Boards should be set up for each group with the object of evolving a common terminology within the group

V. That for the sake of uniformity, mathematical propositions and questions in Urdu should be written from left to right.

VI. That to promote uniformity and to encourage the widest possible use of the terms approved, the authorities responsible for authorising the use of text-books should see that only those are sanctioned which employ the terms in question.

        
                                AKBAR HYDARI (Chairman).
                                RAMUNNI MENON.
                                W. H. F. ARMSTRONG.
                                ZIA-UD-DIN AHMAD.
                                AMARANATHA JHA.
                                U.M.DAUDPOTA.
                                JOHN SARGENT.
                                ABDUL HAQUE.
                                S. S. BHATNAGAR.
                                MOZAFFARUDDIN QURAISHI.

NOTE OF DISSENT BY PANDIT AMARANATHA JHA.

I object to the division of Indian languages into Hindustani and Dravidian. I am of opinion that there should be three rather than two groups-(1) Sanskritic, (2) Persian-Arabic, and (3) Dravidian.

ANNEXURE I.

AGENDA FOR THE SCIENTIFIC TERMINOLOGY COMMITTEE OF THE CENTRAL ADVISORY BOARD OF EDUCATION IN INDIA-

To consider whether a common scientific terminology should be fixed for India as a whole and if so, whether the main and common part of such a terminology should be borrowed extensively from the English terminology.

2. To consider whether every Indian language should have three main divisions in its scientific terminology consisting of --

(a) the main English terminology which will practically be the common terminology for all India ;

(b) the terminology peculiar to the language ; and

(c) Sanskrit or Perso-Arabic terminology, adopted or coined, according as the language is Sanskritic or Dravidian, or Urdu, Pushto or Sindhi.

3. To consider whether standard terminologies should be fixed for the various scientific subjects such as Mathematics, Anatomy, Physiology, etc.

4. To consider whether the Central Advisory Board of Education should set up a permanent Board of Reference whose views would ultimately be accepted by all educational authorities and organisations.

5. To consider any other matter that may be raised at the meeting.

ANNEXURE II.

(a) MEMORANDUM PLACED BEFORE THE CENTRAL ADVISORY BOARD OF EDUCATION IN INDIA AT ITS MEETING HELD IN MAY 1940, ON THE SUBJECT OF ADOPTION OF A UNIFORM SCIENTIFIC TERMINOLOGY FOR INDIA.

The question of adopting a uniform scientific terminology for regional languages has been engaging the attention of the Government of Bombay for sometime past. They accordingly asked Mr. B N. Seal, I.E.S , their Deputy Director of Public Instruction, to prepare a note on the subject. That Government have now forwarded a copy of the note prepared by that officer, and desire that the question should be taken up by the Central Advisory Board of Education in order that a common scientific terminology acceptable to the whole of India may be evolved. The Government of Bombay are prepared to take up this work in so far as Marathi, Gujarati and Kannada are concerned.

2. A copy of the letter from the Government of Bombay together with a copy of the note prepared by Mr. Seal, in which the proposed scheme is fully explained, is appended for the information of the Board.. For the sake of convenience the main features of the scheme are given below :-

I. That a common scientific terminology should be fixed for India as a whole ;

II. That the question of an all-India scientific terminology should in the first instance, be referred to an authoritative all-India body ;

III. That the main and common part of the scientific terminologies to be devised for the principal Indian languages should be borrowed extensively from the English terminology

IV. That every Indian language should have the following three main divisions in its scientific terminology, viz.- (a) the main English terminology, which will practically be the common terminology for all- India.

REPORT OF THE SCIENTIFIC TERMINOLOGY COMMITTEE OF THE CENTRAL ADVISORY BOARD OF EDUCATION, 1940.

(a) MEMORANDUM PLACED BEFORE THE CENTRAL ADVISORY BOARD OF EDUCATION IN INDIA AT ITS MEETING HELD IN MAY 1940, ON THE SUBJECT OF ADOPTION OF A UNIFORM SCIENTIFIC TERMINOLOGY FOR INDIA.