A man stands in front of a cyber crime awareness billboard, with warnings in both English and Bengali, in Kolkata, Bengal, India, on July 9.

Scholars believe it was first used in reference to a tribe called Bharata who populated northern India. The history of pre-independence India is often divided into Hindu, Muslim and British periods.

A colonial hangover or a linguistic leg-up? India grapples with the enduring appeal of English Story by Rhea Mogul and Aishwarya S. Iyer, CNN • 2w ...

Since India’s independence from Britain in 1947, the status of English in India has been deeply political – entwined with questions of identity, power, and national direction.