News: Union Home Minister addressed the ‘Golden Jubilee Celebration’ of the Department of Official Language in New Delhi as the Chief Guest.
About Official Language
Constitutional Provisions
- Part XVII of the Constitution (Articles 343–351) governs language use in the Union, States, Parliament, judiciary, and inter-state communication.
- So, the official language policy of India is enshrined in Articles 343 to 351 of the Constitution.
- Article 343: Hindi in Devanagari script is the official language of the Union.
- Article 343(3) & Article 348: English is to be used for all official purposes of the Union, including parliamentary proceedings, judiciary, and communication between the Centre and non-Hindi-speaking states, until otherwise decided by Parliament.
- Article 344: A committee of parliament is to be constituted to examine the recommendation of the commission and to report its views on them to the President.
- Official Languages Act 1963: Continued use of English without time limit (amended in 1967 – use of English in addition to Hindi, compulsory in certain cases).
- Official Commissions:
- G. Kher Commission (1955)
- Parliament committee under G. B. Pant (1957).
- Article 345: official languages or languages of the state
- State Language Provisions: The Constitution does not specify the official language of different states. In this regard, it makes the following provisions:
- The legislature of the state may adopt any one or more of the languages in use in the state or Hindi as the official language of the state.
- Until that is done, English is to continue as the official language of that state.
- States are not confined to selecting languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
- State Language Provisions: The Constitution does not specify the official language of different states. In this regard, it makes the following provisions:
- Article 346: The official language of Union (i.e., English) shall be the link language for communications between the Union and states.
- However, two or more states have the freedom to mutually decide to utilize Hindi, rather than English, for communication among themselves.
- Article 347: Recognition of Language
- When the President (on a demand being made) is satisfied that a substantial proportion of the population of a state desires the use of any language spoken by them to be recognised by the state, then he may direct to officially recognize the same to protect the linguistic interest of the minority of state.
- Article 348: Language of the Judiciary and Legal Texts
- English shall be used in the Supreme Court, High Courts, and for authoritative texts of laws, bills, acts, ordinances, and orders.
- Special Directives for Linguistic Minorities
- Article 350: Language to be used in representations for redress of grievances
- Article 350A: Facilities for instruction in mother-tongue at primary stage
- Article 350B: Provides for a Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities, appointed by the President, to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards for linguistic minorities.
- Article 351: Directive for development of the Hindi language.
- Schedule Languages: Eighth Schedule of the Constitution consists of the following 22 languages:
- (1) Assamese, (2) Bengali, (3) Gujarati, (4) Hindi, (5) Kannada, (6) Kashmiri, (7) Konkani, (8) Malayalam, (9) Manipuri, (10) Marathi, (11) Nepali, (12) Oriya, (13) Punjabi, (14) Sanskrit, (15) Sindhi, (16) Tamil, (17) Telugu, (18) Urdu (19) Bodo, (20) Santhali, (21) Maithili and (22) Dogri.
