Tamil in Si Lanka currency
Tamil in Singapore coin
so why cant Tamil be in Indian coin or notes ?
when Tamil is
a) an international language
2) oldest language in India
Tamil can be the oldest language in the world and it would still make no difference.
There are hundreds of languages in India, if Tamil is included in the coins, then the tribal languages have just as much right of being included.
So, do we include the hundred languages? And bear in mind we dont have so many types of coins.
Secondly, Hindi is spoken by nearly 50% of the Indian population. While Tamil is good for use in Tamil Nadu, all decisions taken by GoI is taken with a view to have maximum possible coverage. Is Tamil a widely spoken language in India? The answer is a resounding no. Its not even the second or third most spoken language in India.
Just because the Tamils hold it in high esteem does not mean that people of Arunachal have to put up with currency in Tamil. Vice versa, if Tamil was the largest spoken language in India, then by default, I would have argued that Tamil should be used in the currency. The idea is to cause inconvenience to the least number of people.
I cannot help it if the Tamils are conflating the concept of 'widest spoken language' with 'value of the language'. As I said before, Tamil is a great language and valuable, so are all the regional languages of India. And GoI must help the States protect and promote those languages...this does
not mean forcing every language in India on every citizen of India. Hindi is chosen as the default mode of communication because it covers almost 50% of the people India.
No one is stopping State Govt's from promoting their regional languages...and they have done well in this regard. What is weird is asking for tokenism and symbolism for some Tamils in order to feel less insecure and thereby inconveniencing the rest of the country.