Official Language Notes with PDF

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Constitutional Provisions for Languages in India

1. Specific Constitutional Articles

• Article 343:
  • Declares Hindi in the Devanagari script as the official language of the Union.
  • It does not declare Hindi as the “National Language.”
• Article 344:
  • Deals with the establishment of the Official Language Commission by the President.
• Article 345:
  • Provides the procedure for a State legislature to adopt any one or more of the languages in use in the State or Hindi as the official language(s) of that state.
• Article 350-A:
  • Mandates that every state shall endeavor to provide adequate facilities for instruction in the mother-tongue at the primary stage of education to children belonging to linguistic minorities.
  • The President can issue directions to any state for this purpose.
  • This article was inserted by the 7th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1956.

2. Amendment of Language Provisions

• The provisions related to the official language of the Union (under the Official Language Act, 1963) can be amended by the Parliament by a simple majority.

The Eighth Schedule & Official Languages

1. Recognition and Number

• The Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution lists the official languages of the Republic of India.
• The current number of officially recognized languages in the Eighth Schedule is 22.
• This number was raised from 18 to 22 by the Constitution (92nd Amendment) Act, 2003.

2. Chronology of Additions to the Eighth Schedule

• Original (1950): 14 languages.
• 21st Amendment Act (1967): Added Sindhi.
• 71st Amendment Act (1992): Added Konkani, Manipuri, and Nepali.
• 92nd Amendment Act (2003): Added Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, and Santhali.

3. Examples of Languages in the Eighth Schedule

• Included Languages (the full list of 22): Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu.
• Languages NOT included (examples): Angika, Bhojpuri, Rajasthani.

Official Language Commission and Committees

• The First Official Language Commission was established in 1955 under the chairmanship of B.G. Kher.
• A Parliamentary Committee under Govind Ballabh Pant was formed in 1957 to review the commission’s report.

State-Level Language Initiatives

• Uttarakhand has given Sanskrit the status of the second official language of the state (since January 1, 2010).

Linguistic Demographics

1. Within India

• According to Census data, Hindi is the most widely spoken language as a mother tongue in India (approx. 41-44%).
• Among the 22 scheduled languages, after Hindi, Bengali is spoken by the largest number of people, followed by Marathi and Telugu.

2. Global Context

• Globally, some of the most spoken languages include English, Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, and French.

Classical Languages of India

• The Government of India grants the “Classical Language” status to languages with an ancient literary heritage.
• The six classical languages of India and the year they were granted status are:
  1. Tamil (2004)
  2. Sanskrit (2005)
  3. Kannada (2008)
  4. Telugu (2008)
  5. Malayalam (2013)
  6. Odia (2014)

Miscellaneous Linguistic Facts

• Brahui, a language spoken in Baluchistan (Pakistan), belongs to the Dravidian language family (like Tamil, Telugu, etc.), making it a significant linguistic isolate in that region.

Know More About Official Language:

• Official Language – Old Year Questions
• Official Language One Liner Questions & Answers