Official Languages

India is home to hundreds of languages, so the Constitution had to decide which language the government would work in, without forcing one region's tongue on another. Part XVII (Articles 343–351) settles this carefully. The answer it gives is deliberate: India has an official language, not a national language.

• Article 343: the official language of the Union is Hindi in the Devanagari script, with the international form of Indian numerals. English was to continue for all official Union purposes for fifteen years from commencement (i.e. until 1965) under Article 343(2). Article 343(3) lets Parliament by law provide for the continued use of English and the Devanagari form of numerals even after that. Parliament did so through the Official Languages Act, 1963 (the central law that regulates use of Hindi and English for Union purposes), which (as amended in 1967, after southern states feared a forced switch-over) allows English to continue indefinitely alongside Hindi.
• Article 344: provides two bodies to advise the President on the progressive use of Hindi and restrictions on English:
  • Official Language Commission: constituted by the President at the expiration of five years and again ten years from commencement, with representatives of the languages in the Eighth Schedule (the first such Commission was set up in 1955 under B. G. Kher).
  • Joint Parliamentary Committee of 30 members (20 from the Lok Sabha, 10 from the Rajya Sabha): chosen by proportional representation, it examines the Commission's recommendations and reports its opinion to the President.
• Article 351: a directive to the Union to promote the spread of Hindi and develop it as a medium of expression for all elements of India's composite culture, drawing on the other languages in the Eighth Schedule, without interfering with the genius, forms and expressions of Hindustani.

• Article 345: a state legislature may adopt any one or more of the languages in use in the state, or Hindi, as its official language(s). The word "may" gives the legislature discretion it can exercise more than once, but it cannot adopt a language unless that language is actually "in use" in the state, except Hindi, which a state may declare official even if not in use there.
• Article 347: distinct from Article 345, the President may direct that a language be recognised for official purposes in a state (or part of it) where a substantial proportion of the population demands it. Once the President issues such a direction, the state legislature cannot override it.
• Article 348: unless Parliament provides otherwise, the authoritative language of the Supreme Court and every High Court, and of authoritative texts of all Bills, Acts, Ordinances, orders, rules and regulations, is English. A state governor may, with the previous consent of the President, authorise Hindi or another language for proceedings in that state's High Court (but not for its judgments, decrees or orders).
• Article 350: every person may submit a representation for redress of a grievance to any Union or state authority in any language used in the Union or the state. It cannot be rejected merely for not being in Hindi or English.
• Article 350A: every state and local authority must provide adequate facilities for instruction in the mother tongue at the primary stage for children of linguistic-minority groups. The President may direct a state to secure this. The Supreme Court held in 2014 that the state cannot compel linguistic minorities to choose only their mother tongue as the medium of instruction.
• Article 350B: a Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities, appointed by the President, investigates all matters relating to the constitutional safeguards for linguistic minorities and reports to the President, who lays the reports before Parliament and sends them to the state concerned.

• The Eighth Schedule lists the languages the Constitution formally recognises, now 22 languages. Representatives of these languages staff the Official Language Commission, and candidates may answer some public examinations in any of them.
• The count grew by amendment, and the sequence is a favourite exam point:
  • The original Constitution recognised 14 languages.
  • Sindhi was added by the 21st Amendment (1967), making it 15.
  • Konkani, Manipuri (Meitei) and Nepali were added by the 71st Amendment (1992), making it 18.
  • Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali were added by the 92nd Amendment (2003), making it 22. (A common trap: Maithili came in 2003, not 1992. It was not in the 71st Amendment batch.)
  • The 96th Amendment (2011) changed the spelling of "Oriya" to "Odia" but did not add a new language.
• Recognising a language in the Eighth Schedule is separate from the government's scheme for classical languages (such as Tamil, declared in 2004, and Sanskrit). That is an administrative decision by the Centre, not a constitutional listing, and it carries no place in the Eighth Schedule.