Facts about Languages in India

The constitution of India, in 1950, recognized Hindi in Devanagari script as the official language of Union as per Article 343. The constitution also identifies the regional languages as the official languages of states(Article 345). Originally English was recognized as Legislative and Judicial language as per Article 348 of constitution.

Article 343 of constitution provides that for a period of 15 years from commencement of constitution (i.e. from 1950), The English language shall continue for official purposes of the Union. It was expected that after expiry of 15 years (i.e. from 1965) Hindi will replace English completely and will remain the only official language

Implementation of Hindi as the only official language caused much unrest and protest in the southern states where Hindi is not a mother tongue. As a result of this Official Languages Act was passed in 1963, which gave English the status of secondary official language and it was clear that English can also be used for official use along with Hindi.

Subsequent developments have turned the current in favor of continuing English as the official language. No definite date was being fixed for elimination of English and replacement by Hindi.

Intra- state official correspondence started to be used in Official language of state, while inter state and state-centre correspondence started to be used either in Hindi or English.

Eighth Schedule of Constitution for Official Languages

As per Eighth Schedule of constitution, only 15 of the regional state languages were given the status of official languages of states. These languages are – 1) Assamese, 2) Bengali, 3) Gujarati, 4) Hindi, 5) Kannada, 6) Kashmiri, 7) Malayalam, 8) Marathi, 9) Oriya, 10) Punjabi, 11) Sanskrit, 12) Tamil, 13) Telugu, 14)Urdu, 15) Sindhi

71st Amendment of Constitution for Official Languages

By the 71st amendment of constitution Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali were also added in 1992 making the official languages count to 18.

92nd Amendment of Constitution for  Official Languages

Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santali were added in the 92nd amendment of constitution thus making total official languages list to 22.

Language Map of India

Indian States and their Official Languages

State	Official Language
Andhra Pradesh	Telugu and Urdu
Arunachal Pradesh	English
Assam	Assamese, English, Bengali
Bihar	Hindi, Urdu
Chhattisgarh	Hindi, Chhattisgarhi
Goa	Konkan, Marathi, English
Gujarat	Gujarati
Haryana	Hindi, Punjabi
Himachal Pradesh	Hindi, English
Jammu and Kashmir	Urdu and English
Jharkhand	Santali, Oriya, Bengali
Karnataka	Kannad
Kerala	Malyalam, English
Madhya Pradesh	Hindi
Maharashtra	Marathi
Manipur	Manipuri, English
Meghalaya	English, Garo, Khasi
Mizoram	Mizo
Nagaland	English
Odisha	Oriya
Punjab	Punjabi
Rajasthan	Hindi
Sikkim	Nepali
Tamil Nadu	Tamil, English
Telangana	Telugu, Urdu
Tripura	Bengali, Kokborok
Uttar Pradesh	Hindi, Urdu
Uttarakhand	Hindi, Sanskrit
West Bengal	Bengali, English, Nepali

Union Territories and their Official Languages

Union Territory	Official Languages
Andaman and Nicobar Islands	Hindi, English
Chandigarh	English
Dadra and Nagar Haveli	English
Daman and Diu	Konkani, Marathi, Gujarati
Delhi	Hindi
Lakshdweep	English
Puducherry	Tamil, French, English