Having been a teacher of English for more than forty years, let me assure you there is nothing offensive about using the salutation Dear in a letter addressed to a lady. It is a sign of politeness, not of attempted intimacy. As members of the Faculty of a premier science institute in India, we used to address our director as "Dear Dr Rao" in our correspondences with him. Clearly the Czarina of education in India has no idea of civilized forms of discourse in a modern society. "Respectable" and "Honourable" are relics of the colonial past that appeal to the feudal mindset of present day rulers.
Re: Dear etc
by Rishi Mehta on Jun 16, 2016 10:54 PM
Your forty years have defeated you , Chacko, ....my 5years are enough....now look at it this way....in the context of 'Indian English', combined with the issue that it is a communication on matters of public affairs and governance, Smriti Irani is perfectly on target that 'dear' is absolutely wrong as it 'can be' perceived (by vested interest groups/adversaries of HRD-Minister in this case) to be an attempt to influence or otherwise what should be a fair and impersonal follow-up of the same.....thus 'madam /sir' is the only unambiguous way out. You are viewing the correspondence from a very narrow perspective of what some of us 'more english-oriented' people do in our generally regimented working environment, but here is a communication that stands scrutiny from multiple 'adversaries' of public figures and therefore we cannot leave room for any confusions. You are also totally wrong on your branding of present day rulers as those with a colonial mindset.....the top man himself has gracefully publicly recognised that he is the first worker of the nation and not a master.....unlike those from the colonial corrupt congress where everyone from the peon to the president ended up doing 'jee hujoori' to an italian housewife.....for decades they conditioned people of india to treat politicians as VBIPs, a trend fully shattered by RSS_BJP-Led-NDA govt. where everyone has their feet fully entrenched on the grounbd....including Ms. Irani whose objection rightly stands on target !
Re: Dear etc
by Rishi Mehta on Jun 16, 2016 11:17 PM
addressing Madam Irani as the 'Czarina of education in India' fully exposes you of your anti-BJP leaning and your claim to 40yrs of english teacher being some kind of certificate to self-claimed mastery goes down the drain in your attempt to thus make a political statement against BJP out of this issue, therefore this strong rebuttal of your narrow perception of communication standards being set straight the more intelligible home-grown Indian govt. way and not the feudalistic, colonial english learning you and the entire anti-BJP minded people are a product of, as it is no more applicable in 21st century India .....the tilt is towards a little more American english....culturally as well ! Now , go and do some YOGA ....you'll have better understanding of your present day nation !
Re: Dear etc
by Rishi Mehta on Jun 16, 2016 11:34 PM
there are more than a million english teachers in india....there can be many more...but just one HRD Minister....there cannot be anymore...so settle for where you are....people wanted her to be the Czarina....if you were competent enough, they would have made you the Czar....but then there are a lot more and better english teachers than you in every city of India ! I repeat, 'YOGA' is the best recourse for you.....rise above all and connect to Nature !
It looks some thing wrong with this Lady. Why she is thinking herself so high. To creat a controversy seems to be in her blood. There is nothing wrong if she is addressed Dear----.As per her Q she is not even fit for HRD Min. She should thank her stars & P.M. NAMO ji. for occupying her post as there r much highly Q people in India to occupy the said post & By the way what steps she has taken to eradicate 40% illiteracy & what abt. the future of those children who r from poor families what pass IIT exam & unable to join because of poverty has she created any Emergency fund to help such children, merely making noises on letter etiquette is not going to help her & the country as well. Hope good sense in her will prevail.
Re: Never learnt English
by haya vada na on Jun 16, 2016 08:27 PM
Seshagiri Raghukumar do you have the proof and first it is necessary for us to know r u PhD holder in English
......on how to keep a communication of public domain and governance 'impersonal and objective' in addressing the said. govt. functionary. In no way should such words be used which 'can be' perceived as the writer intending to influence a govt. functionary by personalising the said communication through the words used in addressing the said fucntionary. Read my preceding comment also. Ms Irani is absolutely right in her contentious objection to the use of the word 'dear' by an ingorant education minister of bihar where school/college/competitive exam-cheating frauds take place by the day ! If scuh practices are not checked , govt. functionaries can be 'falsely' accused of doing favours to those who touch their feet, which has always been a congress trait !
Re: Bihar Education Minister Needs To Be Educated.....
by sudiptamoy chakraborty on Jun 17, 2016 01:51 PM
Incorrect. there is a difference between addressing anybody as " Dear" and " My Dear". while "my Dear" is a strict no for an official form of communication " Dear" can be used. in case of Govt. communication there is a instrument called "Demi Official letter" or DO letter. where the term "dear" is used frequently. in this case a state minister is writing to a central minister. he in his capacity can write/ address each other as "dear". there is no protocol which prohibits the same. however, for common people generally write " Honorable/ Respected" minister. though the same is not mandatory. as one must remember the politicians including ministers are elected representative of the country and as such public servant. so, addressing the minister is not a major issue in this case.
calling for vote itself is wrong. Indian culture gives high regard for ladies , further Mrs.Irani is central minister. No way she should be addressed as Dear Smriti or Dear Smriti Irani. Bihar minister should follow the protocol when writing official letters
.....an issue which needs to be dealt with seriously...'how we address govt. officials, be so at the ministerial level' . In the present context too, she is right that 'dear' interferes with the 'principle of fairness in public dealing' as all addressing should be 'impersonal'....you are not addressing the person, but the official/ govt., functionary, in her case the minister that she is. 'Dear' 'can be' perceived as personalising the relationship while simple 'Madam Smriti Irani' would be absolutely objective and unbiased in the tone of address, and therefore always correct. The Bihar Education Minister needs to educate himself on these subtle differences and not Smriti Irani. Indians at large need to come out of the 'jee hujoori' culture that a traitorous colonial congress got them conditioned to over the decades....in corrupt-congress rule everyone from the peon to the president 'expected' to be treated as 'mai-baap', which is not so in BJP-Led-NDA government where the top man himself recognises he is the first worker of the nation and not a master ! And therefore the addressing of ministers and govt. officials must be 'neutral and fair' in tone and not any such words that could be perceived as 'influencing by personalising' a communication of public domain and governance.
