News: The President of India released the Constitution of India in the Santhali language, written in the Ol Chiki script, at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
About Santhali Language
- The Santhali language is one of the most ancient living languages of India and is spoken by the Santal tribal community.
- Script: Santhali is primarily written in the Ol Chiki script, which is considered its official script.
- It is also written using Bengali, Odia, Devanagari, and Latin scripts in some regions.
- Spoken by: Santhali is spoken by a significant number of people in Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, and Bihar.
- The Santhali-speaking community is also spread across Assam, Tripura, Chhattisgarh, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal.
- According to the 2011 Census of India, more than seventy lakh people speak the Santhali language in India.
- Official status: Santhali was included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India through the 92nd Amendment Act, 2003.
- It is recognised as a scheduled language and has official status in Jharkhand and West Bengal.
- Also known as
- In Nepal, it is known as Satar.
- In North Bengal, it is known as jaŋli or pahaɽia.
- In Bihar, it is known as parsi.
- About Ol Chiki script
- Inventor: Ol Chiki was created in 1925 by Raghunath Murmu to write the Santhali language.
- It was developed to promote Santhali culture and identity.
- Script type: Ol Chiki is an alphabetic script in which vowels and consonants are written as separate and independent letters.
- Direction: It is written from left to right.
- Character count: The script has a total of 30 letters, including 6 vowels and 24 consonants, along with 10 digits.
- The centenary of the Ol Chiki script is being celebrated in the year 2025.
