Tim Starling wrote:
Choice of language is a political issue, see e.g.
http://www.languageinindia.com/feb2004/langnewsfeb2004.html
I think the production of content accessible to less well educated people who aren't connected to the Internet is a goal in line with Wikipedia's mission. Much closer to our mission than a producing a species database, in any case. Perhaps there might be funding available for generating content in these languages.
There are, of course, two solutions to this problem. One is to help less-well-educated people become better educated, which in India means learning English (or, to some extent, Hindi). The other is to produce content in less-widely-spoken languages of India.
As you noted, the choice is a political one, and I'm not sure we ought to be in the business of running political campaigns. Providing resources for anyone to work on a Wikipedia in any language they choose, sure; but to actively promote the use of particular languages over other languages isn't our place.
-Mark