PART 17 – OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
Article 343 to 351 Article 343- Official language of the Union.
Hindi in Devanagari script as the official language of
National Language the Union
The most popular language of the country. It also states that for 15 years from the
Ex.: Hindi- India, Urdu→ Pakistan constitution's commencement, English would
continue to be used for official purposes.
State Language
Article 344- Commission and Committee of
The most popular language of the state Parliament regarding the official language.
The popular language of each state may be
different. It outlines the process for establishing these bodies
Ex.: to advise on the use of Hindi and English for official
Maharashtra = Marathi purposes.
Gujarat = Gujarati The chairman of the first Official Language
Bihar = Hindi Commission was Bal Gangadhar (BG) Kher.
Official Language Article 345- official languages of the State.
Hindi in Devanagari script is the official language of It allows the state legislature to choose one or more
the Union languages in use in the state, or Hindi, as the official
It allows for the continued use of English for official language for state purposes
purposes, particularly for communication between Until the state legislature acts, the existing official
the Union and states that have not adopted Hindi language, which is currently English, continues to be
It was also called the court language. The language used
in which work or paper work is done is called the The official language of each state is different.
official language. Hindi is the official language of 9 states.
Used as Darbari = Paper Work The official language of Meghalaya, Mizoram and
The official language of the Union is different. The Nagaland is English.
state has a different official language. The official language of Jammu and Kashmir is Urdu
On 14 September 1949, Hindi was declared the and Hindi. (Dogri)
official language of the country on the basis of the The official language of Uttarakhand is Hindi and
Ayengar formula. Sanskrit.
For this reason, 'Hindi Day' is celebrated on
14 September. Remark :-
English is the auxiliary official language for the Union
Narmada ji first called Hindi the national language.
(Centre) and all the States.
The demand for making Hindi the official language
was first made by Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Article 346-
44% people in India speak Hindi. The official language of communication between
one State and another State or between a Union
Remark :-
The Constitution does not declare Hindi as the national shall be Hindi or English.
language but declares Hindi as the official language. If two or more states agree to use Hindi for
communication between themselves, that language
may be used
PART 17 – OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
Article 347- Article 351
The President can grant the status of official It shall be the duty of the Government to develop
language to any language on the demand of the the Hindi language.
population of a state.
Some separate provisions related to language
Article 348-
The official language used for Supreme Court and Articles 29 and 30 provide for the education of
High Court Acts, Bills etc. is English. linguistic minorities.
The language of notifications issued by the Article 120 states that only Hindi or English
language will be used in the Parliament.
government and the President and Governor will be
English. According to Article 210, English or the official
The language of the Women Ordinance by Pal language of that state will be used in the legislature.
Article 349- 8th Schedule
It outlines a special procedure for enacting certain
The 8th Schedule discusses the languages
laws related to language
recognized by the Constitution
Formation of Official Language Commission or Joint
It consist of 22 languages
Parliamentary Committee(JPC) for official language
In our original Constitution, the number of
related reforms is passed with 2/3rd majority
languages in the 8th Schedule was only 14 (Hindi,
The first Official Language Commission was formed
Sanskrit, Urdu, Assamese, Oriya, Bengali, Marathi,
under the leadership of Bal Gangadhar Kher (B.G.
Gujarati, Punjabi, Kashmiri, Kannada, Malayalam,
Kher) while the first JPC was formed under the
Tamil, Telugu)
leadership of Govind Ballabh Pant.
Currently, it has increased to 22.
Article 350- Sindhi language has been added as the 15th
Information regarding any grievance or complaint language by the 21st Amendment of 1967.
can be given to the concerned officer in any By the 71st Amendment in 1992, 3 more languages
language. (Nepali, Manipuri, Konkani) were added.
It is not necessary that it should be in the official By the 92nd Amendment of 2003, 4 more languages
language. (Bodo, Dongri, Maithili, Santhali) were added.
Article 350 (a) Note :-
It concerns instruction in the mother tongue at the Rajasthani, Bhojpuri and English have not been included
in the 8th Schedule.
primary stage
Article 350 (b)
It establishes a Special Officer (Commissioner) for
Linguistic Minorities by President
Remark :-
Minority status is given on the basis of language and
religion, whereas reservation is given on the basis of
caste.
PART 17 – OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
Classical Language In 1955 A.D. under the chairmanship of B.G. Kher
the first Official Language Commission was
Languages from 1500 BC ago are called Classical constituted under Article 344 of the Indian
languages. Constitution
They were recognised in 2004. B. G. Kher was the first Chairman of the Official
The eleven recognized classical languages of India Language Commission formed in 1955
are Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, In Article 350A of the constitution it is provided that
Odia, Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese, and Bengali. Every State shall endeavour to provide adequate
Originally recognized: facilities for instruction in the mother tongue at the
Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and primary stage of education
Odia. By 92nd constitutional amendment, Bodo, Dogri,
New additions: Santhali and Maithili languages were included in the
Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese, and Bengali. 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution
Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam,these are collectively The eighth appendix relates to by language
called Dravidian languages. 22 languages are recognized as regional languages
Note:- in the Indian Constitution
The Brahui language of Balochistan in Pakistan Santhali language was added to the Eighth Schedule
resembles the Dravidian language of India of the Indian Constitution in the year 2003?
Memorable Facts
The number of languages included in the Eighth
Schedule of the Constitution is 22
Articles 343 to 351 of the Indian Constitution are
the provisions relating to official language
mentioned
Hindi is the official language of India
English language is recognised by the Constitution
as the official language of the Indian Union
Under Article 343 (i) of the Constitution, Hindi has
been given the status of official language.
Hindi is the official language of the country, but for
infinite time the use of English language been
permitted for government purposes
State Legislature has the right to adopt a language
as the official language of a state
Jammu and Kashmir state has adopted Urdu as the
official language
Dogri language is spoken in Jammu and Kashmir
By 21st constitutional amendment was Sindhi
included in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution