Indian Polity and Constitution
Random

Click random to get a fresh chapter.

Official Languages

Official Language

▸ According to Article 343, the official language of the union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script. The form of numerals to be used for the official purposes of the union, shall be the international form of Indian numerals.
▸ However, the President may authorise the use of the Hindi language in `addition to the English language and of the Devanagari form of numerals, in addition to the international form of Indian numerals for any of the official purposes of the union.
▸ However, for a period of 15 years from the commencement of the Constitution, the English language would continue to be used for all the official purposes of the union, for which it was being used before 1950.
▸ Even after 15 years, the Parliament may provide for the continued use of English language for the specified purpose.
▸ The Eighth Schedule of the Constitution consists of 22 languages, of these, 14 were initially included in the Constitution. 'Sindhi' was added in 1967 (21st Amendment). There after three more languages viz., Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali were included in 1992 (71st Amendment). Subsequently, Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali were added in 2004 (92nd Amendment).

Commission and Committee of Parliament on Official Language

▸ The President shall constitute a Commission which shall consist of a Chairman and such other members representing the different languages specified in the 8th Schedule, as the President may appoint and shall define the procedure to be followed by the Commission.
▸ In making their recommendations, the Commission shall have due regard to the industrial, cultural and scientific advancement of India and the just claims and the interests of persons belonging to the non-Hindi speaking areas in regard to the public services.
▸ Official language is used for communication between one state and another or between a state and the union. Provided that if two or more states agree that the Hindi language should be the official language for communication between such states, that language may be used for such communication under Article 346.
▸ As per Article 344 (4) there shall be constituted a committee consisting of thirty members of whom twenty shall be members of the House of the people and then shall be members of the Council of States to be elected respectively by the members of the House of people and the members of the Council of State in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.
▸ It shall be the duty of the Committee to examine the recommendations of the Commission and to report to the President their opinion thereon.

Official Language Commission

▸ As provided in Article 344 of the Constitution, the Official Language Commission was appointed in 1955 with Shri BG Kher as Chairman. Its report was submitted in 1957 and then examined by a Joint Parliamentary Committee.
▸ The recommendations of the Commission were as follows:
— English should be the principal official language and Hindi, the subsidiary official language till 1965. After 1965, when Hindi becomes the principal official language, English should continue as the subsidiary official language.
— Considerable importance to be attached to Article 351 in order to make Hindi that serve as a medium for expression for all elements of the composite culture of India.
— No rigid date-line for change over for use of an Indian language for the purposes of the union. The transition should be smooth with minimum inconvenience.

Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities

▸ According to Article 350B, there shall be a special officer for linguistic minorities to be appointed by the President. It shall be the duty of the special officer to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards provided for linguistic minorities under the Constitution and report to the President upon those matters at such intervals, as the President may direct and the President shall cause all such reports to be laid before each House of Parliament and sent to the governments of the states concerned.

Regional Languages

▸ The Constitution does not specify the official language of different states. In this regard, the constitutions deals some Article. These are as follows:
▸ Article 345, Official language or languages of a State Subject to the provisions of Article 346 and 347, the Legislature of a State may by law adopt any one or more of the languages in use in the State or Hindi as the language or languages to be used for all or any of the official purposes of that State.
▸ In is also provided that, until the Legislature of the State otherwise provides by law, the English language shall continue to be used for those official purposes within the State for which it was being used immediately before the commencement of this Constitution.
▸ Article 346, Official Language for Communication between one State and another or between a State and the Union
The language for the time being authorised for use in the Union for official purposes shall be the official language for communication between one State and another State and between a State and the Union.
▸ Article 347, Special Provision Relating to Language Spoken by a Section of the Population of a State On a demand being made in that behalf the President may, if he is satisfied that a substantial proportion of the population of a State desire the use of any language spoken by them to be recognised throughout that State or any part thereof such purpose as he may specify.

Language of the Judiciary and Texts of Laws

▸ The constitutional provisions dealing with the language of the Courts and legislation are as follows:
1. Article 348, Language to be used in the Supreme Court and in the High Courts and for Acts, Bills, etc shall be in English language, until Parliament by law provides otherwise:
— All proceedings in the Supreme Court and in every High Court.
— The authoritative texts of Bills, Acts, Ordinances, Orders, Rules Regulations and Bye-laws at the centre and states level.
The Governor or a State may, with the previous consent of the President, authorise the use of the Hindi language, or any other language used for any official purposes of the state, in proceedings in the High Court having its principal seat in that state: Provide that nothing in this clause shall apply to any judgement, decrease or order passed or made by such High Court. Similarly the Legislature of a State has prescribed any language other than the English language for use in Bills introduced in, or Acts passed by, the Legislature of the State or in ordinances promulgated by the Governor of the State or in any order, rule, regulation or bye law shall be translated of the same into the English language and to be published under the authority of the Governor of the State.
2. Article 349, Special Procedure for Enactment of Certain Laws Relating to Language
During the period of 15 years from the commencement of this Constitution, no Bill or amendment making provision for the language to be used for any of the purposes mentioned in Clause (1) of Article 348 shall be introduced or moved in either House of Parliament without the previous sanction of the President and the President shall not give his sanction to the introduction of any such Bill or the moving of any such amendment except after he has taken into consideration the recommendations of the Commission constituted under Clause (1) of Article 344 and the report of the committee constituted under Clause (4).

Special Directives

▸ The Constitution of India contains Special Directives to protect the interests of linguistic minorities and to promoter the development of Hindi language. Some articles are related to this are as follows:
▸ Article 350 Language to be used in representations for redress of grievances; Every person shall be entitled to submit a representation for the redress of any grievance to any officer or authority of the Union or a State in any of the languages used in the Union or in the State, as the case may be.
▸ Article 350A Facilities for instruction in mother-tongue at primary stage; it shall be the endeavour of every State and of every local authority within the State to provide adequate facilities for instruction in the mother-tongue at the primary stage of education to children belonging to linguistic minority groups; amd the President may issue such directions to any State as he considers necessary or proper for securing the provision of such facilities.
— There shall be a Special Officer for linguistic minorities to be appointed by the President.
— It shall be the duty of the Special Officer to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards provided for linguistic minorities under this Constitution and report to the President upon those matters at such intervals as the President may direct and the President shall cause all such reports to be laid before each House of Parliament and sent to the Governments of the States concerned.
▸ Article 351 Directive for development of the Hindi language; It shall be the duty of the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language, to develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India and to secure its enrichment by assimilating without interfering with its genius, the forms style and expressions used in Hindustani and in the other languages of India specified in the 8th Schedule and by drawing, wherever necessary or desirable, for its vocabulary, primarily on Sanskrit and secondarily on other languages.

Official Languages Act, 1963

▸ Some of the important provisions of Official Languages Act, 1963 were
— Even after the expiration of 15 years from the commencement of Constitution, English may be continued to be used in addition to Hindi in Parliament and for other purposes, for which it was used earlier.
— Translations of any Central Act or ordinance or by-laws made under a Central Act, under the authority of the President shall be deemed to be the authoritative texts thereof in Hindi.
— The Governor of a State may, with the previous consent of the President, authorise the use of Hindi or the official language of the state, in addition to the English language.
▸ For the purposes of any judgement, decree or order passed or made by the High Court for that state and where any judgement, decree or order is passed or made in any such language (other than English), then it shall be accompanied with an English translation issued under the authority of court.
— English shall be used for purposes of communication between the union and the state, which has not adopted Hindi as the official language. When Hindi is used for communication between one state and another which has not adopted Hindi as official language, then it shall be accompanied with an English translation.

Constitution Bench Decision on Language

▸ The Supreme Court in May, 2014 held that imposition of the mother tongue as the medium of instruction in primary classes in government-recognised, aided or unaided private schools was unconstitutional.
▸ The Bench said the State could not compel minority schools, protected under Articles 29(1) and 30(1) of the Constitution and private unaided schools enjoying the right to carry on any occupation under Article 19(1)(g) , to offer instruction in the mother tongue or Kannada.
▸ The Bench held that imposition of the mother tongue 'affects the fundamental rights under Articles 19, 29 and 30 of the Constitution. The State has no power under Article 350A of the Constitution to compel the linguistic minorities also to choose their mother tongue only as a medium of instruction in primary schools.'
▸ 'The right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution includes the freedom of a child to be educated at the primary stage of school in a language of the choice of the child and the State cannot impose controls on such choice just because it thinks that it will be more beneficial for the child if he is taught in the primary stage in his mother tongue,' the Bench said.
Classical Languages
▸ In September 2004, the Government of India declared that languages that met certain requirements could be accorded the status of a 'classical language in India'.
▸ The criteria for declaring a language as classical mandates high antiquity of its early text/recorded history over a period of 1500-2000 years, a body of ancient literature/texts which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers and a literary tradition that is original.
▸ Once a language is declared classical, it gets financial assistance for setting up a centre of excellence for the study of that language and also opens up an avenue for two major awards for scholars of eminence.
▸ Six languages thus, far declared to be classical languages are Tamil (2004), Sanskrit (2005), Telugu (2008), Kannada (2008), Malayalam (2013) and Oriya (2014).
Languages Under 8th Schedule
1. Assamese 2. Bengali 3. Bodo 4. Dogri 5. Gujarati 6. Hindi 7. Kannada 8. Kashmiri 9. Konkani 10. Maithili 11. Malayalam 12. Manipuri 13. Marathi 14. Nepali 15. Odiya 16. Punjabi 17. Sanskrit 18. Santhali 19. Sindhi 20. Tamil 21. Telugu 22. Urdu