Language policy of India
Topic: Federalism and Centre-State Relations · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 2 "Federalism"
Meaning
India's language policy is a flexible way of handling many languages. India has no "national language". Hindi in Devanagari is the official language of the Union under Article 343, and English continues alongside it. The Eighth Schedule protects 22 languages, and each state chooses its own official language. Hindi is promoted (Article 351) but not forced on anyone. This approach helped keep a very diverse country together.
Example
After the anti-Hindi agitation in Tamil Nadu in 1965, the Official Languages Act was amended in 1967 to keep English in use. Tamil Nadu also kept a two-language policy in schools instead of the three-language formula.
Don't confuse with
- National language: India has none. A common exam trap is the statement "Hindi is the national language", which is FALSE. Hindi is only the Union's official language.
Related concepts
- Official language of the Union
- Official Language Commission
- Official Languages Act 1963
- Anti-Hindi agitation
- Eighth Schedule
- Classical language
- Three-language formula