There is no national language in India. Rather, Hindi is the "official" language.[1][2][3] There are various recognised languages in India depending on the state or territory you are in. However, section 343(1) of the Indian constitution directly states: "The official language of the Union shall be Hindi in the Devanagari script. The form of numerals to be used for the official purposes of the Union shall be the international form of Indian numerals."[3] The business in Indian parliament can only be transacted in Hindi or in English. English is allowed to be used in official purposes such as parliamentary proceedings, judiciary, and communications between the central government and a state government.
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The Constitution lists 22 scheduled languages of India: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.[4]
List of Languages of the Indian State
changeThis table shows the most spoken language and other official languages in each Indian state or territory.
State / Union Territory | Most Spoken Language | Other Official Languages |
---|---|---|
Andhra Pradesh | Telugu | |
Arunachal Pradesh | English | Nyishi |
Assam | Assamese | |
Bihar | Hindi | |
Chhattisgarh | Hindi | |
Goa | Konkani | |
Gujarat | Gujarati | |
Haryana | Hindi | |
Himachal Pradesh | Hindi | |
Jharkhand | Hindi | |
Karnataka | Kannada | |
Kerala | Malayalam | |
Madhya Pradesh | Hindi | |
Maharashtra | Marathi | |
Manipur | Meitei | |
Meghalaya | Khasi | English |
Mizoram | Mizo | English |
Nagaland | English | Angami |
Odisha | Odia | |
Punjab | Punjabi | |
Rajasthan | Hindi | |
Sikkim | Nepali | English, Sikkimese (Bhutia), Lepcha |
Tamil Nadu | Tamil | |
Telangana | Telugu | |
Tripura | Bengali | Kokborok, English |
Uttar Pradesh | Hindi | |
Uttarakhand | Hindi | |
West Bengal | Bengali | |
Andaman & Nicobar Islands (UT) | Hindi | English |
Chandigarh (UT) | Hindi | Punjabi, English |
Dadra & Nagar Haveli (UT) | Gujarati | Hindi, English |
Daman & Diu (UT) | Gujrati | Hindi, English |
Delhi (NCT) | Hindi | English, Punjabi, Urdu |
Jammu & Kashmir (UT) | Kashmiri | Dogri, Hindi, Urdu, English |
Ladakh (UT) | Ladakhi | Hindi, English, Urdu |
Lakshadweep (UT) | Malayalam | Jeseri, Mahl, English |
Puducherry (UT) | Tamil | Telugu, Malayalam, French, English |
Notice: When a state is marked with (UT), it means it is an Indian territory, not state. An example is that Puerto Rico is a US territory or Hong Kong is a Chinese territory. If there is a blank space in the third column, that means there is only one official language.
Related pages
changeReferences
change- ↑ PTI (25 January 2010). "Hindi, not a national language: Court". The Hindu. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
- ↑ "Constitutional Provisions: Official Language Related Part-17 of The Constitution Of India". Department of Official Language, Government of India. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE POLICY OF THE UNION | Department of Official Language | Ministry of Home Affairs | GoI". rajbhasha.nic.in. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ↑ "India", The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 11 April 2023, retrieved 15 April 2023
Other websites
change- Kulkarni-Joshi, Sonal. "Linguistic history and language diversity in India: Views and counterviews." Journal of Biosciences 44 (2019): 1-10.