Posted by: deshbhaktanepali August 19, 2008
BJP warns of severe backlash if Hindi not recognised
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Official languages

Article 343 of the Indian Constitution recognises Hindi in Devanāgarī script as the official language of the Union Government. The states have their own official languages, depending on their linguistic demographics. For example, the state of Tamil Nadu has Tamil as its sole official language, while the state of Jammu and Kashmir has Kashmiri, Urdu and Dogri as its official languages. The Constitution also allows for the continuation of use of the English language for official purposes. Article 345 provides constitutional recognition to "official languages" of the union to include any one or more of the languages in use in the state or Hindi language adopted by a state legislature as the official language of that state. Until the Twenty-First Amendment of the Constitution in 1967, the country recognised 14 official regional languages. The Eighth Schedule and the Seventy-First Amendment provided for the inclusion of Sindhi, Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali, thereby increasing the number of official regional languages of India to 18[17]. Individual states, whose borders are mostly drawn on socio-linguistic lines, are free to decide their own language for internal administration and education. In 2004, the government elevated Tamil,[18][19][20] to the newly created official status of "Classical Language", followed by Sanskrit[21] in 2005. The Constitution of India recognises 22 languages, spoken in different parts the country, namely:

  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. Oriya
  16. Punjabi
  17. Sanskrit
  18. Santhali
  19. Sindhi
  20. Tamil
  21. Telugu
  22. Urdu

Hindi is an official language of the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Bengali is the official language of West Bengal and certain parts of North-east. Marathi is an official language of Maharashtra. Punjabi is a official language of Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Himachal Pradesh. Gujarati is the official language of Gujarat. Tamil is a official language of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Malayalam is the official language of Kerala and Lakshadweep. Kannada is the official language of Karnataka. Telugu is the official language of Andhra Pradesh. Oriya is the official language of Orissa. English is the co-official language of the Indian Union, and each of the several states mentioned above may also have another co-official language.

 

Source: wikipedia.com

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