Language

A new mall opened across the street from our office. A few months ago signs at the site advertised the name of the mall in English since many of the stores in the mall cater to ex-pats. But then the government changed hands and a new law was passed that forced every business in the city to post their signs in Marathi. Hindi and English are the 2 national languages but Marathi is the official language of the state, although more than 50% of the population in Mumbai do not speak Marathi. So by passing this law, shop owners now need to pay money to get new signs written in a language that many of them and their customers can't read. Some friends at work - highly educated Indians - can not read the signs and must guess at what the shop sells. Marathi may look a lot like Hindi to me, but I'm told that they are very different - not like Spanish and English where you can usually figure out meaning since the characters and words are so similar.

I find the government decision strange for such an international city. I understand the importance of preserving language, thereby preserving culture, but how can this new law lead to anything but confusion, frustration, and loss of revenue?