The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India lists the languages officially recognized by the Government of India., 22 languages have been classified under the schedule.
As per the Constitution of India, the provisions belonging to the eight schedule are defined in articles 344(1) and 351. Article 351 deals with the promotion of usage of Hindi by Government of India, which was declared as an official language. English was declared as an additional official language to be used for a period not exceeding 15 years and article 344(1) defined a set of 14 regional languages which were represented in the Official Languages Commission. The commission was to suggest steps to be taken to progressively promote the use of Hindi as the official language of the country.[1]
The Official Languages Act, 1963 which came into effect on 26 January 1965, made provision for the continuation of English as an official language alongside Hindi.[2] In 1968, the official language resolution was passed by the Parliament of India. As per the resolution, the Government of India was obligated to take measures for the development of the languages defined in the eighth schedule.[3]
The Eighth schedule of the Constitution defined 14 languages in 1950.[4] These included Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.[5] In 1967, 21st amendment to the constitution added Sindhi as one of the languages in the eight schedule. The 71st Amendment, enacted in 1992, included three more languages Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali to the list. In 2003, the 92nd Amendment was enacted, which added Bodo, Dogri, Santhali and Maithali, raising the total number of languages to 22.[5] In 2011, the spelling Oriya was changed to Odia by 96th amendment.[6]
, following are the languages recognized under the eighth schedule of the Constitution of India:
| Language | Speakers[7] (millions, 2011) | Year included | Script | Language family[8] | States/UTs where official[9] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assamese | 15.3 | 1950 | Bengali–Assamese | Indo-Aryan | Assam |
| Bengali | 97.2 | Assam, West Bengal, Tripura | |||
| Bodo | 1.48 | 2003 | Devanagari | Sino-Tibetan | Assam |
| Dogri | 2.6 | Indo-Aryan | Jammu and Kashmir | ||
| Gujarati | 55.5 | 1950 | Gujarati | Gujarat | |
| Hindi | 528 | Devanagari | Andaman and Nicobar, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Ladakh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal | ||
| Kannada | 43.7 | Kannada | Dravidian | Karnataka | |
| Kashmiri | 6.8 | Sharda | Indo-Aryan | Jammu and Kashmir | |
| Konkani | 2.25 | 1992 | Devanagari | Goa | |
| Maithili | 13.6 | 2003 | Jharkhand | ||
| Malayalam | 34.8 | 1950 | Malayalam | Dravidian | Kerala, Puducherry, Lakshadweep |
| Manipuri | 1.8 | 1992 | Meitei | Sino-Tibetan | Manipur |
| Marathi | 83 | 1950 | Devanagari | Indo-Aryan | Goa, Maharashtra |
| Nepali | 2.9 | 1992 | Sikkim, West Bengal | ||
| Odia | 37.5 | 1950 | Odia | Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal | |
| Punjabi | 33.1 | Gurmukhi | Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, West Bengal | ||
| Sanskrit | 0.02 | Devanagari | Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand | ||
| Santali | 7.6 | 2003 | Ol Chiki | Austroasiatic | Jharkhand, West Bengal |
| Sindhi | 2.7 | 1967 | Devanagari and Perso-Arabic | Indo-Aryan | None |
| Tamil | 69 | 1950 | Tamil | Dravidian | Puducherry, Tamil Nadu |
| Telugu | 81.1 | Telugu | Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Telangana, West Bengal | ||
| Urdu | 50.7 | Perso-Arabic | Indo-Aryan | Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal |
In 2003, a committee was established by Government of India, to study the possible inclusion of more languages to the schedule. As per the Ministry of Home Affairs, there are demands for inclusion of 38 more languages in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. These are:[1]