it is difficult to not want to say something after this:

http://ia.rediff.com/news/2006/sep/27spec.htm

i agree one must not forget one's roots and one's own vernacular language. after all, india's vernacular languages are amonsg those few in the world which have a very rich cultural and literary treasure attached to it. Most of our languages have such great works of literature that in this mad rush to use our advantage of becoming 'english-speaking graduates', we tend to forget the fact that India houses several beautiful languages! So for instance when Karnataka issued a state rule(around 2000) that all shops boardings, bus boardings and any public boarding must also contain the same in Kannada, i thought it a rather sensible thing to do-a simple yet subtle way of reintroducing the language to the masses.
But this is taking everything to an extreme. By denying some one the benefit of education in english, what does one gain?
a tamil guy once argued that the 'reason' tamils were against Hindi (in TN, of course) is because they didn't need to know that language and that forcing something down one's throat is not democratic. True enough. By the same token, so is this!
Some people have argued that many Europeans also prefer to converse in only one language and that they feel their language is by no means inferior to English. That is of course true but the point is that the people there do so after a choice.
If the state really wishes to reinforce to the people the beauty and aesthetics of the language, then they ought to spread the word by investing more into it. No one would wish to be a litterateur simply because there is NO MONEY in it!
create more opportunities, make kannada(or tamil or whatever language in question)-speaking something people would want to do rather than force it down their throats.
But our governments always opt for the weasel way out. As for instance, the tamil nadu government announces that films without tamil titles will have to pay more tax(they state it the other way but this is the real situation).