Language policy: official language, scheduled languages and the three-language formula

Detail

1. The basic idea: no "national language"

• Language policy of India: the set of constitutional rules, laws and education policies that decide which languages the government, courts and schools use.
• The Constitution gives no language the status of a "national language". Hindi is the Union's official language, which is a different thing.
• Hindi is promoted, not imposed. Each state chooses its own official language or languages.

• The Gujarat High Court (2010) said the same: Hindi is the official language, not the national language.

• Why it matters for federalism: India accepts many languages, and that is one reason it stayed united. NCERT (Class 10) contrasts this with Sri Lanka's 1956 "Sinhala-only" policy, which pushed Tamil speakers away and led to conflict.

2. Constitutional scheme: Part XVII (Arts. 343–351)

Part XVII is divided into four chapters.

Chapter	Articles	What it covers
I: Language of the Union	343–344	Official language of the Union; the Commission and Committee on official language
II: Regional languages	345–347	State official languages; language for communication between states, and between a state and the Union; languages spoken by a section of a state's people
III: Courts and laws	348–349	Language of the Supreme Court, High Courts, Acts and Bills; a special procedure for laws on language
IV: Special directives	350, 350A, 350B, 351	Petitions in any language; mother-tongue teaching; Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities; the duty to spread Hindi

Art. 343: official language of the Union

• Official language of the Union: the language the Central government uses for its own work, such as files, orders and letters.
• Art. 343 makes Hindi in the Devanagari script the official language.
• Numerals follow the international form of Indian numerals (1, 2, 3), not Devanagari numerals.
• English was to continue for 15 years, until 1965. Parliament could extend its use by law, and it did so in 1963.

The Munshi-Ayyangar compromise (14 September 1949)

• The Constituent Assembly was deeply split. One side wanted Hindi alone. The other, mainly members from South India, feared that Hindi would disadvantage non-Hindi speakers.
• K.M. Munshi and N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar drafted a middle path: Hindi as the official language, English for 15 years, and no "national language".
• It was adopted on 14 September 1949. That day is now celebrated as Hindi Diwas.
• NCERT (Class 11) shows a 1949 cartoon of Nehru urging Hindi-speaking provinces to be tolerant of other languages.

Art. 344: Commission and Committee

• Official Language Commission: a body the President sets up under Art. 344 to recommend how to increase the use of Hindi and reduce the use of English for Union purposes.
• The first commission was set up in 1955 under B.G. Kher.

• Its members come from the languages in the Eighth Schedule.

• A committee of 30 MPs (20 from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha) examines the Commission's report. The President can then issue directions.

Arts. 345–347: states and communication

• Art. 345: a state legislature can adopt one or more languages used in the state, or Hindi, as its official language. Until it does so, English continues.
• Art. 346: communication between states, and between a state and the Union, uses the Union's official language. Two states may agree to use Hindi between themselves.
• Art. 347: if a large section of a state's people demands it, the President can direct that their language also be officially recognised in that state.

Arts. 348–349: courts and laws

• Art. 348: English remains the language of the Supreme Court, the High Courts, and the authoritative text of all Acts, Bills, ordinances and rules, until Parliament decides otherwise.
• Art. 348(2): the Governor, with the President's consent, can authorise Hindi or the state language in High Court proceedings. Hindi is authorised in the Rajasthan, UP, MP and Bihar High Courts. Judgments and decrees still need English.
• Art. 349: for the first 15 years, a Bill on the language of courts or laws needed the President's prior sanction before it could be introduced.

Arts. 350–351: special directives

• Art. 350: a person can send a petition to any Union or state authority in any language used in the Union or the state.
• Art. 350A: states must try to provide teaching in the mother tongue at the primary stage for children from linguistic minorities (groups whose language is not the state's main language). It was added by the 7th Amendment (1956).
• Art. 350B: a Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities, appointed by the President, checks whether minority-language safeguards are followed and reports to the President (7th Amendment, 1956). This officer is treated under constitutional bodies.
• Art. 351: the Union must spread Hindi and develop it so it can express India's composite culture. It should draw words mainly from Sanskrit and also from the other Eighth Schedule languages.

3. From the Constitution to the 1967 veto

Before 1950: the first Madras agitation (1937–40)

• In 1937, C. Rajagopalachari's Congress ministry in Madras made Hindi compulsory in schools.
• Protests by the Justice Party and E.V. Ramasamy (Periyar) followed, and the order was withdrawn in 1940.
• This history explains why Tamil Nadu was so strongly opposed to Hindi in 1965.

Official Languages Act 1963

• Official Languages Act 1963: the law Parliament passed under Art. 343(3) so that English could continue alongside Hindi after 26 January 1965.
• It said English "may" continue. Non-Hindi states worried that this word gave no firm guarantee.

Anti-Hindi agitation (1965)

• Anti-Hindi agitation: the mass protests, mainly in Tamil Nadu, against Hindi replacing English as the only official language on 26 January 1965.
• The deadline came → students and the DMK led violent protests → several people died, and some burnt themselves alive.
• The Centre gave assurances that English would continue.
• Political effect: the agitation helped the DMK win the 1967 Tamil Nadu election. Congress has not ruled the state since.
• NCERT (Class 11) treats these 1960s agitations as part of a wider demand for cultural and linguistic autonomy.

The 1967 amendment: a veto for non-Hindi states

• English continues until both of the following happen: 1. the legislatures of every state that has not adopted Hindi pass resolutions to end English, and 2. each House of Parliament then passes a resolution to the same effect.

• Result: any one non-Hindi state can block the end of English. In effect, this is a veto.

• The Act also requires many Union documents to be bilingual, in Hindi and English.

Committee of Parliament on Official Language (1976)

• It was set up in 1976 under Section 4 of the 1963 Act. It is chaired by the Union Home Minister.
• It reviews how far the use of Hindi has progressed in Union work and reports to the President.

4. Eighth Schedule

• Eighth Schedule: the list of languages the Constitution recognises (Arts. 344(1) and 351). It started with 14 languages and now has 22.

Amendment (year)	Change	Total
Original (1950)	14 languages	14
21st (1967)	Sindhi added	15
71st (1992)	Konkani, Manipuri, Nepali added	18
92nd (2003)	Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Santali added	22
96th (2011)	"Oriya" renamed "Odia"	22

Why being listed matters

• Members of the Official Language Commission are drawn from these languages (Art. 344).
• Art. 351 says Hindi should draw words from these languages.
• UPSC Civil Services exam papers can be written in any scheduled language (NCERT Class 10).

Demands for inclusion

• The Union government has received demands to add 38 more languages, including Bhojpuri, Rajasthani and Tulu [4][5]. Bhoti is also among them.
• There are no fixed criteria for adding a language. Dialects and languages keep changing over time [4][5].
• Two earlier attempts to set criteria failed: the Pahwa Committee (1996) and the Sitakant Mohapatra Committee (2003) [4][5].
• The government's position (Lok Sabha, February 2025): requests will be examined with care, but there is no fixed timeline [4].

5. Linguistic diversity: Census 2011 (NCERT Class 10 box and table)

• Over 1,300 mother tongues were recorded. They were grouped into 121 languages: 22 scheduled and 99 non-scheduled.
• Hindi is the mother tongue of 43.63% of people (NCERT text: "about 40 per cent"). Even counting people who speak it as a second or third language, Hindi speakers are under 50%.
• English is the mother tongue of only 0.02%, but about 11% speak it as a second or third language.
• Lesson: no single language is spoken by a majority. That is why India accommodates languages instead of imposing one.

6. Classical languages

• Classical language: a status the Union government gives to a language with very old, rich and original literature. It brings money for research, chairs and awards.

Year	Language(s)	Running total
2004	Tamil (first)	1
2005	Sanskrit	2
2008	Telugu, Kannada	4
2013	Malayalam	5
2014	Odia	6
3 Oct 2024	Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese, Bengali	11 [2]

Revised criteria (Linguistics Experts Committee under the Sahitya Akademi, 25 July 2024) [3]

• Early texts or recorded history that is 1,500–2,000 years old.
• A body of ancient literature that generations of speakers treat as their heritage.
• Knowledge texts, especially prose as well as poetry, plus evidence from inscriptions.
• The classical form may be different from, or not continuous with, the modern language.
• Note: Pali and Prakrit have no Eighth Schedule status. A classical language does not have to be a scheduled language.

7. The three-language formula

• Three-language formula: the education policy that every school student learns three languages, chosen so that both Hindi and non-Hindi regions share the burden.
• It came from the Kothari Commission (1964–66) and was adopted in the National Policy on Education (NPE) 1968.

Region	Language 1	Language 2	Language 3
Hindi-speaking states	Hindi	English	A modern Indian language (preferably a southern one)
Non-Hindi states	Regional language	Hindi	English

[6]

• Tamil Nadu never accepted it. It follows a two-language policy (Tamil and English).
• Weak point: most Hindi states did not seriously teach a South Indian language. This weakened the "shared burden" idea.

NEP 2020: a flexible formula

• The formula continues, but with more flexibility. No language is imposed on any state [6].
• States, regions and students choose the three languages, as long as at least two are native to India [6].
• The medium of instruction (the language used to teach all subjects) should be the mother tongue or local language at least until Grade 5, and preferably until Grade 8, in both public and private schools [6].
• Sanskrit is to be offered as an option at all levels [6].

Recent disputes

• Tamil Nadu vs the Centre: Tamil Nadu rejected NEP 2020's three-language model. Its dispute with the Centre widened when Samagra Shiksha funds were linked to adopting NEP-related schemes.
• Maharashtra (2025): the state issued an order making Hindi the third language in primary schools. It withdrew the order after protests.
• Both cases show that education is in the Concurrent List, so the Centre and the states clash over language in schools.

8. Assessment (NCERT Class 10)

• Success of accommodation: India avoided a Sri Lanka-type conflict through Hindi without force, English continuing, and linguistic states (1956).
• Criticism: English has allowed a small English-speaking elite to keep its advantage. NCERT's exercise has three students, Sangeeta, Arman and Harish, who debate whether the policy helped national unity or helped the elite.
• Key principle: promoting Hindi ≠ imposing Hindi.

Prelims Hooks

• 14 September 1949: the Munshi-Ayyangar compromise was adopted, and the day is now Hindi Diwas. The Constitution names no "national language".
• Art. 343 sets Hindi in Devanagari with the international form of numerals, and Art. 351 gives the duty to spread Hindi. A common trap: Art. 351 tells Hindi to draw words mainly from Sanskrit.
• Art. 350A (mother-tongue teaching at primary level) and Art. 350B (Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities) were both added by the 7th Amendment, 1956.
• Eighth Schedule pairs: 21st (1967) Sindhi, 71st (1992) Konkani, Manipuri, Nepali, 92nd (2003) Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Santali, and 96th (2011) Oriya → Odia.
• No fixed criteria exist for Eighth Schedule inclusion. The Pahwa (1996) and Sitakant Mohapatra (2003) committees could not agree on any [4].
• There are 11 classical languages. Tamil (2004) was first, and five were added on 3 October 2024 [2]. Pali and Prakrit are classical but not scheduled.
• The first Official Language Commission (Art. 344) was set up under B.G. Kher in 1955. The Committee of Parliament on Official Language (1976) is chaired by the Home Minister.
• The 1967 amendment means English continues until every non-Hindi state legislature and both Houses of Parliament pass resolutions.
• Under NEP 2020, at least two of the three languages must be native to India, and the mother tongue is the medium at least until Grade 5 [6].
• Census 2011: Hindi is the mother tongue of 43.63%, English of 0.02%, and 121 languages were recorded (22 scheduled + 99 non-scheduled).

Mains Points

• Language as federal bargaining: the 1967 amendment gives each non-Hindi state a veto over ending English. This is a rare case where the states, not the Centre, hold the final key. It shows "holding-together" federalism working through accommodation rather than imposition. The contrast is Sri Lanka's Sinhala-only policy.
• The three-language formula in practice: it was meant to share the burden equally, but Hindi states rarely taught a South Indian language, and Tamil Nadu kept two languages. NEP 2020's "no imposition, two native languages" approach is more flexible. Still, linking Samagra Shiksha funds to it, and Maharashtra's withdrawn 2025 order, show that Concurrent List education remains a point of Centre-state friction.
• Eighth Schedule without criteria: demands for 38 more languages (Bhojpuri, Rajasthani, Tulu and others) [4] raise identity politics and dialect-versus-language disputes. Reform options: set clear, objective criteria, or give stronger non-schedule support (education, broadcasting, digitisation) so that being listed matters less.
• English: unifier or elite gatekeeper? English is a neutral link language that keeps non-Hindi states comfortable. But only about 11% speak it, so it can lock out the rural poor. A balanced answer favours mother-tongue schooling (Art. 350A, NEP 2020), Indian-language courts under Art. 348(2), and Indian-language options in exams such as UPSC.