You're absolutely right, moog. English is also becoming the "lingua franca" (pun not intended) and more popular even among the poor and people in the rural areas. The so-called vernacular schools are going out of existence and the only reason many of them exist is because of politicians who whip up linguistic passions whenever it is time for elections.
Sounds like our elections:). English has long been that way all over the world. Koreans learned English, though many of them could not speak it at all when I was there. I do know that there are many very good Indian speakers of English, but it is gosh dang hard to understand them on the phone sometimes and they don't always know the vernacular.