One of my theories is that by the year 2100, many Indian languages,particularly hindi would be in danger of becoming extinct, like sanskrit, particularly in the cities. And this would be unavoidable.

Reason for this ? --the debate of hindi vs regional languages is a useless one. In reality, it was always English that was the real official language of India. The only reason it has not gained the prominence deserving of an official language is that till now , very few people had access to good education.

But as India's economy develops rapidly, the number of people who can afford good ( read english medium ) education would increase rapidly. infact ,thats already happening. As more people become affluent and join the ranks of the middle class, they would dump regional langauge-medium education for english medium. ( I have seen many upper middle class mothers talking to their kids in english ).

for a live demonstration of this effect, just travel aboard any train. You would see almost all people in the AC compartments reading english magazines and newspapers, and people in non-ac compartments reading hindi/local language newspapers. As the economy grows ,and people's income grows, more people would travel by AC compartment. Already we have new trains that have only AC coaches .

With the passage of time, more people would join the ranks of the AC-compartment " class " . they would be carrying English, not tamil, telegu or hindi magazines.

I went to a school where a student could be punished if found speaking in " any language other than English " . ( although this rule was rarely enforced ) . In the 1990s, attending such schools was the privelege of few, the creamy layer of urban indian society. But as India's economy grows at a rapid rate , more and more parents would send their kids to such schools. ( India's Real per capita income grew by 50 % from 2000-01 to 2007-08 ) http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Indias-per-capita-income-doubled-in-last-7-years/articleshow/4053216.cms