Introduction

This chapter introduces the book by highlighting that the contemplation of the links between language and development is well overdue. The common notion that the propagation of the global lingua franca English yields inevitable advantages nationally and globally is questioned, and a contradictory claim is brought into the debate – it is harder to learn if one is not confident in the “educated” language, and axiomatically, it is harder to secure employment in the future. This chapter puts forth the opposing lens in the English language debate, and it provides the rationale behind selecting English as the subject of the research and India as the case study.