Introduction to Official Languages of India:
Part XVII of the Constitution deals with the official language in Articles 343 to 351. Its provisions are divided into four heads namely, Language of the Union, Regional languages, Language of the judiciary, and texts of laws and Special directives.
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The First Language Committee was appointed in 1955. It submitted its report in 1956. As a follow-up of the report, parliament enacted the Official Language Act, of 1963. The act laid down that even after 15 years, English may continue to be used along with Hindi for all official purposes of the Union and also for the transaction of business in parliament. Again through the Official Languages (Amendment) Act, of 1967, it was provided that the use of English would continue indefinitely.
The Constitution also permitted certain regional languages to be used for intra-state official transactions. Initially, the Constitution recognized 14 regional languages which were included in the Eighth Schedule. At present, 22 languages are recognized.
List of 22 languages in the constitution:
Below is the list of Official Languages of the Indian Constitution
|
Language |
States |
| 1. Assamese | Assam, Arunachal Pradesh |
| 2. Benga | West Bengal, Assam and Tripura, Andaman islands and Bangladesh |
| 3. Gujarati | Gujarat, Daman, and Diu |
| 4. Hindi | Almost every part of the country including North-Central India |
| 5. Kannada | Karnataka |
| 6. Kashmiri | Kashmir |
| 7. Konkani | It is the official language of Goa but spoken in Southern Maharashtra, North Karnataka, Kerala also. |
| 8. Malayalam | Southwestern Kerala, Lakshadweep, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu |
| 9. Manipuri | Manipur, Assam, Mizoram, Tripura, Bangladesh, and Myanmar |
| 10. Marathi | In addition to Maharashtra, it is spoken in Goa, Karnataka, Gujarat, Daman and Diu and Dadar, and Nagar Haveli. |
| 11. Nepali | It is the national language of Nepal. It is also spoken in Sikkim, West Bengal, North-eastern states, Bhutan, Tibet, and Myanmar. |
| 12. Odia | Mainly spoke in Odisha. It is the official language of the Odisha state. |
| 13. Punjabi | It is the principal language of Punjab but spoken in Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Pakistan, USA, Canada, and Australia also. |
| 14. Sanskrit | At present; this language is not spoken in almost any part of India. But it is still spoken in Mattur (Mathur) village of Karnataka state. |
| 15. Sindhi | This language is mainly spoken in Gujarat and Sindh province of Pakistan. |
| 16. Tamil | This is the official language of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. It is spoken in Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Mauritius, and Vietnam also. |
| 17. Urdu | It is an additional official language of Jammu & Kashmir, Telangana, Delhi, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh. There are 4.81 crores Urdu speakers in India, 1.07 crores in Pakistan, 6.5 lacs in Bangladesh and 4 lacs in Britain. |
| 18. Telugu | It is the principal language of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states. Apart from these states; it is spoken in the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Odisha, Puducherry, and Chhattisgarh also. |
| 19. Bodo | Bodo or Baro is a Tibetan-Burmese language spoken by Bodo people living in northeast, Nepal, and Bangladesh. |
| 20. Dogri | Spoken in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. Dogri is the dialect of Punjabi. |
| 21. Maithili | The Maithili language is spoken in the northern region of Bihar and the Valley of Nepal. |
| 22. Santali | It is spoken in Assam, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Tripura and Bengal. It is spoken in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan also. |