Honouring, safeguarding, and nurturing a native language in an international, multi-lingual city is always a challenge. The continuing fracas over making Marathi compulsory for autorickshaw and taxi drivers in Mumbai reflects this.

The Maharashtra government’s gazette of June 12, 2026, which made the practical working knowledge of Marathi necessary for drivers of autorickshaws, taxis, and app-based cabs, was brought into effect earlier this month.

Most of them see this as an imposition. To protest the move, drivers have resorted to a strike at sporadic points across Mumbai, causing major disruptions to the regular rhythm of the city’s transport network and inconveniences to lakhs of people, including children who depend on them for........

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