What does it mean to study English literature in India ? Do you learn any skill at all this course of study?How different would it be to study...

To study English Literature in India is as important as
studying English Literature in any other country.  In my opinion, the grand prize of
English Literature can be summed up in one word:  Shakespeare.  Shakespeare alone (even
if you consider him to actually be Kyd or Marlowe) makes English Literature worthwhile
studying.  This is not because England is some kind of extraordinary country.  No.  It
is simply because the literature of Shakespeare (including both his plays AND his
sonnets) is so incredibly profound and so astonishingly universal that all cultures have
been able to identify with the many characters enmeshed within it.  In fact, even if you
consider "English Literature" to be ANY literature written in the English language, . .
. the word Shakespeare can STILL sum it up
nicely.

Therefore, there isn't one specific "skill" that
someone learns by reading only English Literature.  (Unless you want to point to
something specifically English, such as the type of sonnet called the Shakespearean
Sonnet.)  It is less a set of "skills" as it is a set of amazing authors:  Bede,
Chaucer, Shakespeare, Keats, Shelley, Austen, and Shaw just to scratch the surface.  In
fact, I would argue that one would be quite handicapped indeed if English Literature
were the ONLY kind of literature taught in high schools and
universities. 

Consider the course of study for most high
school students in the United States of America:  9th grade, grammar/writing; 10th
grade, American Literature; 11th grade, British Literature (English Literature);
and 12th grade, World Literature.  To be well-read, therefore, an American student
should have knowledge of Indian Literature as well!  And I would hope that the high
school equivalent in India would include a full year of Indian Literature and that
perhaps English and American Literature would be grouped into one, or perhaps even
included in a World Literature class.

I believe any of us
would be quite narrow-minded if we knew literature only from our own country; therefore,
kudos to those who stress the importance of World Literature to expand student
knowledge!