In the Age of AI, Why Is the Reserve Bank of India Silencing Non-Hindi Voices?

Why Is the Reserve Bank of India Silencing Non-Hindi Voices?

On June 5, 2025, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released a press statement announcing a “Scheme for writing books originally in Hindi on Economics/Banking/Financial subjects”. Under this initiative, Indian university professors (retired or working) are invited to submit original manuscripts in Hindi for a prize of ₹1.25 lakh each. While this appears to be a well-intentioned move to promote academic writing in Hindi, the scheme unintentionally raises a deeper, more troubling question—is the RBI institutionally discriminating against non-Hindi intellectuals in the 21st-century knowledge economy?

The Problem Hidden in Plain Sight

At first glance, incentivizing research in Hindi seems culturally inclusive. But what’s glaringly absent is an equal platform for scholars from non-Hindi speaking regions—Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, the North East, and others—who have rich intellectual traditions in their own languages. By recognizing only Hindi works in a national initiative led by a central institution like the RBI, the message sent is clear:

“Your language isn’t Indian enough to deserve recognition.”

This is especially disheartening in the context of a multilingual nation whose Constitution recognizes 22 official languages under the Eighth Schedule. Should a central financial body like the RBI not be language-agnostic, inclusive, and representative of all Indian voices?

Why It Matters More in the AI Era

India is rapidly positioning itself as an AI-driven economy. In this age, where data, machine learning, and automation define national competitiveness, language must be an enabler—not a barrier.

Imagine a Tamil economics professor who uses generative AI tools to co-author a book in Tamil on digital banking. Under this scheme, that groundbreaking work would receive no recognition—not because of its content or contribution, but simply because it wasn’t written in Hindi.

Isn't that intellectual discrimination wrapped in linguistic policy?

AI allows knowledge to be translated, disseminated, and accessed across borders and tongues. When global academic institutions are embracing multilingual AI models, knowledge democratization, and diversity, RBI seems to be retreating into a monolingual fortress.

A Question of Equity, Not Culture

Let’s be clear: the concern isn’t about promoting Hindi. Every language deserves nurturing. The issue arises when promotion turns into preference, and preference morphs into policy-based exclusion. That’s when state machinery starts silencing millions of scholars, not by direct censorship, but by simply not including their languages in the reward ecosystem.

This isn’t just a matter of language—it’s about opportunity, recognition, and fairness.

Call for a Truly Inclusive India

As the custodian of India’s monetary stability and a promoter of national economic literacy, the RBI has a responsibility beyond financial transactions. It must become a symbol of inclusive intellectual development. That means:

• Extending this scheme to all Indian languages recognized in the Constitution.

• Encouraging submissions in English as well, since it remains the global academic lingua franca.

• Creating AI-based translation and review platforms to evaluate works across languages fairly.

• Sending a strong message that no scholar is lesser because of the language they think in.

Final Thought

India does not speak with one tongue. Its strength lies in the harmony of many voices, dialects, and dreams. In a time when AI can bridge gaps, empower minds, and bring regional excellence to the center stage, why should language become a wall instead of a window?

RBI’s scheme, in its current form, is not just outdated—it is tone-deaf to India’s intellectual diversity.

And if we don’t fix this now, we risk alienating the very minds that will shape our future.

A Real Lesson for Real Classrooms

This is exactly the kind of live, real-world problem that should be taught in our classrooms. While institutions like the IIMs still glorify outdated case studies from Western corporations or Indian companies of the 1950s, today’s students need contemporary, context-driven challenges to sharpen their thinking. It’s time we threw some of those 70-year-old case studies into the dustbin and replaced them with issues that directly impact our society—like how a national institution can inadvertently fuel linguistic exclusion. Students must be trained to respond not just to business scenarios but to ethical dilemmas, institutional biases, and policy blind spots. Only then will education prepare them to become true leaders of tomorrow.