[sivaharimani]

India languages and their speaking community

The following table lists the languages set out in the eighth schedule as of May 2007, together with the regions where they are used:

1.Assamese/Asomiya--Assam
2.Bengali/Bangla--Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Tripura, West Bengal,
3.Bodo--Assam
4.Dogri--Jammu and Kashmir
5.Gujarati--Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Gujarat
6.Hindi--Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, the national capital territory of Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
7.Kannada--Karnataka
8.Kashmiri--Jammu and Kashmir
9.Konkani--Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra
10.Maithili--Bihar
11.Malayalam--Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Kerala
12.Manipuri (also Meitei or Meithei)--Manipur
13.Marathi--Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Goa, Maharashtra
14.Nepali--Sikkim, West Bengal
15.Oriya--Orissa
16.Punjabi--Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab
17.Sanskrit--Listed as a Classical Language of India.
18.Santhali--Santhal tribals of the Chota Nagpur Plateau (comprising the states of Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa)
19.Sindhi--Sindhi community
20.Tamil--Tamil Nadu, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Puducherry--> Listed as a Classical Language of India.
21.Telugu--Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu
22.Urdu--Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh

[vishaw]

Thanks, could you please tell me that Hindi is a national language or not? Because this question was asked to me and I replied it is national and I was wrong.........???

[sivaharimani]

yes vishaw you are right, the language Hindi is our national language. And the following informations are very usefull to know about languages used in government functions., Viz.,

Hindi and English

The Indian constitution declares Hindi in Devanagari script to be the official language of the union. Unless Parliament decided otherwise, the use of English for official purposes was to cease fifteen years after the constitution came into effect, i.e., on 26 January 1965. The prospect of the changeover, however, led to much alarm in the non Hindi-speaking areas of India, as a result of which Parliament enacted the Official Languages Act, 1963, which provided for the continued use of English for official purposes along with Hindi, even after 1965. An attempt was made in late 1964 to expressly provide for an end to the use of English, but it was met with protests from across the country. Some of these protests also turned violent. Widespread protests occurred in states such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Karnataka, Pondicherry and Andhra Pradesh. As a result of these protests, the proposal was dropped, and the Act itself was amended in 1967 to provide that the use of English would not be ended until a resolution to that effect was passed by the legislature of every state that had not adopted Hindi as its official language, and by each house of the Indian Parliament.

The current position is thus that the Union government may continue to use English in addition to Hindi for its official purposes as a "subsidiary official language," but is also required to prepare and execute a programme to progressively increase its use of Hindi. The exact extent to which, and the areas in which, the Union government uses Hindi and English, respectively, is determined by the provisions of the Constitution, the Official Languages Act, 1963, the Official Languages Rules, 1976, and statutory instruments made by the Department of Official Language under these laws.

The language of Parliamentary proceedings and laws

The Indian constitution draws a distinction between the language to be used in Parliamentary proceedings, and the language in which laws are to be made. Parliamentary business, according to the Constitution, may be conducted in either Hindi or English. The use of English in parliamentary proceedings was to be phased out at the end of fifteen years unless Parliament chose to extend its use, which Parliament did through the Official Languages Act, 1963. In addition, the constitution permits a person who is unable to express himself in either Hindi or English to, with the permission of the Speaker of the relevant House, address the House in his mother tongue.

In contrast, the constitution requires the authoritative text of all laws, including Parliamentary enactments and statutory instruments, to be in English, until Parliament decides otherwise. Parliament has not exercised its power to so decide, instead merely requiring that all such laws and instruments, and all bills brought before it, also be translated into Hindi, though the English text remains authoritative.

The language of the judiciary

The constitution provides that all proceedings in the Supreme Court of India, the country's highest court, shall be in English. Parliament has the power to alter this by law, but has not done so.

The language of administration

The Union government is required by law to progressively increase the use of Hindi in its official work, which it has sought to do through "persuasion, incentive and goodwill."

The Official Languages Act provides that the Union government shall use both Hindi and English in most administrative documents that are intended for the public. The Official Languages Rules, in contrast, provide for a higher degree of use of Hindi in communications between offices of the central government (other than offices in Tamil Nadu, to which the rules do not apply). Communications between different departments within the central government may be in either Hindi or English, although a translation into the other language must be provided if required.
Communications within offices of the same department, however, must be in Hindi if the offices are in Hindi-speaking states, and in either Hindi or English otherwise with Hindi being used in proportion to the percentage of staff in the receiving office who have a working knowledge of Hindi. Notes and memos in files may be in either Hindi or English, with the Government having a duty to provide a translation into the other language if required.

In addition, every person submitting a petition for the redress of a grievance to a government officer or authority has a constitutional right to submit it in any language used in India.

[Anish K. Joseph]

But Manivannan, you have defined Hindi as the official language in your post. Vishaw's question was whether it's our national language....
Is the national language has the same meaning as official language?...
If it's so India has 23 official languages. Out of these which is our national language?...

I referred "wikipedia" in this regard...

It states that "India has a list of 23 official languages but no specific national language"...

[vishaw]

Thanks to both of you, Sivaharimani and Joseph.....I got my answer that Hindi is official language but not national...

[sivaharimani]

hai Anish joseph,
In constitution of India, the word national language is found no where. the constitution has talked about official languages but not national languages.
1.But it talks about Hindi as an official language of union(Art-343) and english
language was planed to use for official purpose of the union upto 15 years from the commensment of the constitution(1950-1965).
2.The Official language Act 1963 and 1967(amendment) provided for continuing English as a official language status in addition to Hindi.
3.the constitution also provides, legislature of a state may adopt Hindi or their own language or more of the languages in use in the state as their official languages. Until that is done , the english would be the official language.
4.The 6 states--Himachal pradesh,Uttar pradesh,Madhya pradesh,Bihar,Haryana and Rajasthan have adopted Hindi as official language. The Gujarat and Punjab have opted for Hindi in addition to Gujaratti and punjabi.
5.The states -- Andra,Kerala,Assam,west Bengal,Orissa,Tamil Nadu ect., have opted for their own language as official language.

So, Joseph, the official language and national language are not one and the same. But the primary language is hindi in India which tries to integrate Indian as a whole like all India services. In the common man language-- it is national language. besides, Hindi can be best called as the National Language which is pervasive in allover Indian states as an optional legislative language. But, as a CS aspirants, we have to call it as an Official language.

[Anish K. Joseph]

Thank you Manivannan for clearing my doubt.......