Official Language

Why is in news? Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah chairs the 38th meeting of the Committee of Parliament on Official Language in New Delhi

In his address, Union Home Minister said that in the year of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, Prime Minister has kept “Panch Pran” in front of the country, out of which two Pran are- respect of heritage and erasing the signs of slavery.

He said that for 100% implementation of these two Pran, all the Indian languages and the official language will have to show their strength.

He said that Hindi is not in competition with local languages, the nation will be empowered only by promoting all Indian languages. He said that there is a need to develop acceptance for the official language without any kind of opposition, even if its pace is slow.

About the languages in India:

Part XVII of the Indian Constitution deals with the official language in Articles 343 to 351.

Language of union: According to Article 343, the official language of the Indian Union shall be Hindi in the Devanagari script.

The numerals form to be used for the official purpose of the Union shall be the international form of Indian numerals.

Official Language of States: Under Article 345, the Legislature of a State may adopt any one or more of the languages as the Language or Languages to be used for official purposes of that State.

Official Language of Judiciary: Until Parliament provides otherwise, English will be the language used in Supreme Court and High courts.

Authoritative texts of bills, acts, orders, ordinances, regulations etc at central and state levels will be in English.

Communication between states: English would remain the link language for communication between Union and the state or between various states.

However, two or more states are free to use Hindi as a language of communication between them.

Official Language of India Act, 1963:

The act provides for continued use of English even after 1965 for all official purposes of the Union and also transaction in Parliament.

Development of Hindi Language:

Under Article 351, The Indian Constitution imposes a duty upon the Centre to promote the spread and development of the Hindi language.

Eighth Schedule languages:

The 8th Schedule of the Constitution specifies 22 languages (originally 14 languages). These are Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri (Dongri), Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Mathili (Maithili), Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

Sindhi was added by the 21st Amendment Act of 1967.

Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali were added by the 71st Amendment Act of 1992.

Bodo, Dongri, Maithili and Santhali were added by the 92nd Amendment Act of 2003.