Official Languages: Constitutional Provisions
» The Constitution of India designates
the official language of the Government of India as Hindi written
in the Devanagari script, as well as English.
There is no national language as declared by the
Constitution of India. Hindi and English are
used for official purposes such as parliamentary proceedings, judiciary,
communications between the Central Government and a State Government. States
within India have the liberty and powers to specify their own official
language(s) through legislation and therefore there are 22 officially
recognized languages in India.
» The Indian constitution, in 1950,
declared Hindi in Devanagari script
to be the official language of the union. Unless
Parliament decided otherwise, the use of English for
official purposes was to cease 15 years after the constitution came into
effect, i.e., on 26 January 1965.
» Parliamentary
business, according to the Constitution, may be conducted in either Hindi or
English. The use of English in parliamentary proceedings was to be phased out
at the end of fifteen years unless Parliament chose to extend its use, which
Parliament did through the Official Languages Act, 1963. In addition, the
constitution permits a person who is unable to express themselves in
either Hindi or English to,
with the permission of the Speaker of the relevant House, address the
House in their mother tongue.
» The
constitution provides that all proceedings in the Supreme Court of India, the country's
highest court and
the High Courts, shall be in English.
Parliament has the power to alter this by law, but has not done so. However, in
many high courts, there is, with consent from the president, allowance of the
optional use of Hindi. Such proposals have been successful in the states of
Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar.
» The Union
government is required by law to progressively increase the use of Hindi in its
official work, which it has sought to do through "persuasion,
incentive and goodwill".
» The
Official Language Act provides that the Union government shall use both Hindi
and English in most administrative documents that are
intended for the public. The Official Languages Rules, in contrast, provide for
a higher degree of use of Hindi in communications between offices of the
central government (other than offices in Tamil Nadu, to which the rules do not
apply). Communications between different departments within
the central government may be in either Hindi or English, although a
translation into the other language must be provided if required.
» The Indian
constitution does not specify the official languages to be used by the states
for the conduct of their official functions, and leaves each state free to,
through its legislature, adopt Hindi or any language used in its territory as
its official language or languages. The language need not be one of those
listed in the Eighth Schedule, and several states have adopted official
languages which are not so listed. Examples include Kokborok in Tripura; Mizo in Mizoram; Khasi and Garo in Meghalaya.
» States
have significantly less freedom in relation to determine the language in which
judicial proceedings in their respective High Courts will be conducted. The
constitution gives the power to authorise the use of Hindi, or the state's
official language in proceedings of the High Court to the Governor,
rather than the state legislature, and requires the Governor to obtain the
consent of the President of India, who in these matters acts
on the advice of the Government of India. The Official Languages Act
gives the Governor a similar power, subject to similar conditions, in relation
to the language in which the High Court's judgments will be delivered.
» Four
states—Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya
Pradesh and Rajasthan—have
been granted the right to conduct proceedings in their High Courts in their
official language, which, for all of them, was Hindi. However, the only
non-Hindi state to seek a similar power—Tamil Nadu,
which sought the right to conduct proceedings in Tamil in
its High Court—had its application rejected by the
central government earlier, which said it was advised to do so by the Supreme
Court. In 2006, the law ministry said that it would not object to Tamil
Nadu state's desire to conduct Madras High
Court proceedings in Tamil. In
2010, the Chief Justice of the Madras High
Court allowed lawyers to argue cases in Tamil.
» Various
steps have been taken by the Indian government to implement the use and
familiarisation of Hindi extensively. Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha headquartered
at Chennai was
formed to spread Hindi in South Indian
states. Regional Hindi implementation offices at Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, Mumbai, Kolkata, Guwahati, Bhopal, Delhi and Ghaziabad have
been established to monitor the implementation of Hindi in Central government
offices and PSUs.
» The Eighth
Schedule to the Indian Constitution contains a list
of 22 scheduled languages. At the time the constitution was enacted, inclusion
in this list meant that the language was entitled to representation on the Official Languages Commission, and
that the language would be one of the bases that would be drawn upon to enrich
Hindi, the official language of the Union. The list has since, however,
acquired further significance. The Government of India is now under an
obligation to take measures for the development of these languages, such that
"they grow rapidly in richness and become effective means of communicating
modern knowledge." In addition, a candidate appearing in an
examination conducted for public service at a higher level is entitled to use
any of these languages as the medium in which he or she answers the paper.
» Via the
92nd Constitutional amendment 2003, four new languages – Dogri, Maithili, Santali and Bodo –
were added to the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
» The table
below lists the 22 languages set out in the Eighth Schedule as of May 2008,
together with the regions where they are used.
» Even
though the English language is not included in the Eighth Schedule (as it is a
foreign language), it is one of the official languages of the Union of India.
List of Languages mentioned in Eighth Schedules of Indian Constitution
Language
|
State(s)
|
Assamese
|
Assam, Arunachal Pradesh
|
Bengali
|
West Bengal, Tripura, Assam, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Jharkhand[76]
|
Bodo
|
Assam
|
Dogri
|
Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab
|
Gujarati
|
Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and
Diu, Gujarat
|
Hindi
|
Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar
Pradesh, and Uttarakhand
|
Kannada
|
Karnataka
|
Kashmiri
|
Jammu and Kashmir
|
Konkani
|
Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala (The Konkan
Coast)
|
Maithili
|
Bihar
|
Malayalam
|
Kerala, Lakshadweep, Puducherry
|
Manipuri (also Meitei or Meithei)
|
Manipur
|
Marathi
|
Maharashtra, Goa, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman and
Diu
|
Nepali
|
Sikkim, Darjeeling, Northeast India
|
Odia
|
Odisha, Jharkhand
|
Punjabi
|
Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal
Pradesh, Jammu, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand
|
Sanskrit
|
Uttarakhand
|
Santali
|
Santhal tribals of the Chota Nagpur Plateau (comprising
the states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha)
|
Sindhi
|
Sindh (now Sindh in Pakistan)
|
Tamil
|
Tamil Nadu, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Puducherry
|
Telugu
|
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar Islands
|
Urdu
|
Jammu and Kashmir, Telangana, Delhi, Bihar and Uttar
Pradesh
|
» Of the 22
official languages, 15 are Indo-Aryan, four are Dravidian, two are Tibeto-Burman,
and one is Munda.
» Since
2003, a government committee has been looking into the feasibility of treating
all languages in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution as "Official
Languages of the Union"
Frequently
asked:
How many national languages are recognized by the Indian
Constitution?
or
How many Indian languages have been notified in the
Constitution?
or
Which language is not included in the 8th schedule?
or
Is English an official language in India?
or
8 schedule of Indian constitution recognizes how many languages
The Constitution of India recognises 22 languages,
spoken in different parts the country, namely Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri,
Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Meitei,
Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and
Urdu. The English is one of the official languages of Union of India.
