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As a British colony, India begins using English in the government and in politics, and English “[becomes] the language of power and prestige” (Azam). People begin to protest for the rights to an English education, and 1835 marks the year when English is introduced into the education system but only the upper class can learn. People in “smaller towns” can start learning English when they get older, and the lower class has access to education in their mother tongue (Schiffman). The divide between classes already starts to increase just through the power of languages.

The preservation of native Indian languages is an issue India is grappling with today. There are thousands of languages in India, and most are unknown, spoken by a small population or tribe of people who try to maintain their language within their community. As one man Devy in the BBC article “The Race to Find India’s Hidden Languages” notes, “the 1961 [Indian] census recognized 1,652 mother tongues, but the 1971 census listed only 109” (Ghosh). In only 10-years, there was a decrease in 1,543 documented languages. Today, people like Devy are traveling to different parts of India to record these languages before these languages are gone. They are used less and less by the following generations who do not have a space for speaking the language outside of their family or community.

The languages that have a lower chance than others of being preserved are ones in the North East and Andaman Islands. In the Andaman Islands over a decade ago, "the last fluent speaker of Bo - one of the oldest languages,” passed away. Many other final speakers are passing away and taking their language with them. Therefore, part of preservation is trying to gain government support and educating the next generation on these languages.