The Department of Official Language celebrated its 50th anniversary and has been instrumental in promoting the use of Indian languages in governance.

About the Department of Official Language

• Establishment: It was established in 1975 to promote the use of Hindi and other Indian languages in official work.
• Objective: Its primary goal is to ensure that governance in India is carried out in a manner that reflects the linguistic diversity of the country. The department works toward making Indian languages, especially Hindi, a central part of administrative functions at the national and state levels.
• Jurisdiction: It comes under the Union Home Ministry and plays a key role in the promotion and implementation of language policies related to governance.

About Official Language

• Definition: The term “official language” refers to the language(s) used by the government for administrative purposes, communication, and public documentation.
• Constitutional Provisions:
  • Article 343 of the Indian Constitution designates Hindi as the official language of the Republic of India.
    • The Official Languages Act, 1963 allows for the continued use of English for official purposes alongside Hindi.
  • Article 345: States in India are free to use their regional languages for official administrative purposes, reflecting the country’s linguistic diversity.
  • Article 348 specifies that the language used for the official proceedings of the Supreme Court, High Courts, and Bills introduced in Parliament shall be English unless the Parliament prescribes otherwise.
• The Eighth Schedule to the constitution of India lists the official languages of India.
  • It consists of the following 22 languages: Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi,Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Bodo, Santhali, Maithili and Dogri.
  • However, there are no established criteria for a language to be deemed eligible for incorporation into the Eighth Schedule.
• Role of Hindi: Hindi is the primary official language of the central government, as specified in the Constitution.

Government Initiatives

• “Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat”: This initiative aims to promote cultural and linguistic unity by encouraging interaction between different regions of India.
• “Bhasha Sangam”: A platform for strengthening unity through language, where students are taught commonly used phrases in 22 languages recognized by the Constitution.
• “Hindi Shabdsindhu”: A dictionary designed to include regional words in Hindi, making it more flexible and inclusive by incorporating commonly spoken words, regardless of their origin.
• Bharatiya Bhasha Anubhag: This initiative aims to ensure that both state and central administration functions in Indian languages, supporting the use of regional languages in governance.
• New Education Policy (NEP) 2020: The NEP emphasizes the importance of mother tongue education up to Class 5 and Class 8 to foster language development and strengthen India’s cultural roots.
• Classical Languages: The recognition of 11 classical languages—Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese, and Bengali—reflects India’s rich linguistic heritage.

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