8th Schedule of Indian Constitution – 22 Official Languages

8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution – Languages under 8th Schedule: There were originally eight schedules of the Indian constitution until November 1949, but after several amendments, there are now twelve schedules in the constitution. Schedules are a list that contains additional information that is not mentioned in the articles of the constitution. These schedules are an important part of the legal framework in India.

Let us study in detail the schedules, most specifically the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution. Read below this article to learn more.

Overview of the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution

About

It lists all the 22 official languages of India. It covers all the languages from Article 344 to Article 351. The Union Minister of Education has announced in the Lok Sabha the several steps that the government has taken to promote all the official languages in the Eighth Schedule.

History

The Indian language is primarily made up of the Indo-Aryan and Dravidian language families. English and Hindi are both essential for communicating and handling administrative dealings in India. But this does not impose any regulation on people to speak these languages. This schedule allows the states to choose any of their regional languages and use them for educational and administrative purposes. Moving back to the time during the freedom movement, the Britishers made English their language for communication. However, the majority of Indians chose Hindi to communicate. In the year 1950, the Eighth Schedule was added, which marked 14 languages under ‘official languages’ status. Hindi was declared the official Indian language. Later, many amendments were made, and many other languages were added to this list.

Objective

• To accommodate and embrace diversity.
• To give equal representation to all races.
• To enable more businesses and trades that are possible by making common grounds of communication.
• Empowering all groups of people by giving them access to their native language.

Articles related to 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution

There are a total of 12 Schedules in the Constitution of India and each one has importance. The Constitutional provisions relating to the 8th Schedule are in articles 344 (1) and 351 of the Indian Constitution:

8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution and the Articles related to it
Article 344	Committee and Commission of Parliament on Official Language
Article 344(1)	establishment of a Commission by the President on the expiration of 5 years from the commencement of the Constitution and afterwards at the expiration of 10 years from such commencement It should comprise a chairman and other members representing the various languages specified in the 8th Schedule to make recommendations to the President for the dynamic use of Hindi for official purposes of the Government of India.
Article 351	The duty of the Union to encourage the spread of the Hindi language to advance it so that it may serve as a medium of communication for all the components of the composite culture of India and to safeguard its enhancement by integrating without interfering with its genius, style and expressions used in Hindustani and in the other languages of India specified in the 8th Schedule, and by drawing, anywhere essential or required, for its terminology, mainly, on Sanskrit and secondarily on other languages.

22 Official Languages of 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution

At present, there are 22 official languages in 8th schedule of the Indian Constitution and it is given below:

Language	Spoken in Indian State of	Year of Recognition
Assamese	Assam	1950
Bengali	West  Bengal	1950
Gujarati	Gujarat	1950
Hindi	North India	1950
Kashmiri	Jammu & Kashmir	1950
Kannada	Karnataka	1950
Malayalam	Kerala	1950
Marathi	Maharashtra	1950
Odia	Odisha	1950
Punjabi	Punjab	1950
Sanskrit	Karnataka (Shivamogga District)	1950
Tamil	Tamil Nadu	1950
Telugu	Andhra Pradesh, Telangana	1950
Urdu	Jammu & Kashmir, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh	1950
Sindhi	Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh	1967
Konkani	Goa	1992
Manipuri	Manipur	1992
Nepali	Sikkim, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh	1992
Bodo	Assam and Meghalaya	2004
Dogri	Jammu and Himachal Pradesh	2004
Maithili	Bihar and Jharkhand	2004
Santhali	West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha	2004

Articles associated with 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution

The Constitutional provisions related to the Eighth Schedule are:

• Article 344: It ensures the periodic establishment of a commission by the President of India. This will initially take place after the first five years since the Constitution came into effect, and the commission is to be formed every ten years thereafter. The composition of the Commission: It will have a chairman and additional members. These members will be the representatives of the languages specified in the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution. It focuses on the dynamic use of Hindi in the official functioning of the Government of India.
• Article 351: It deals with the promotion of the Hindi language. It states that it is the sole duty of the national government to promote the usage of Hindi so that it can promote culture and accommodate diversity.

Classical languages under 8th Schedule of Indian Constitution

All the Classical Languages are listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. As per the current stats, there are six classical languages:

Language	Year
Tamil	2004
Sanskrit	2005
Kannada	2008
Telugu	2008
Malayalam	2013
Odia	2014

Conditions to qualify as a classical language:

• High antiquity of its early texts or recorded history over a period of 1500–2000 years.
• It should have a culturally rich and ancient text that should be considered valuable by the speakers.

Insertion of languages in the 8th Schedule

The addition of every language will pose a big challenge for the constitution, so there must be a few rules for it. The issue was solved by setting up a committee in 1996 and 2003 by the legislature. The committee formed in 1996 was known as the Pahwa Committee and was set up under the chairmanship of Shri Ashok Pahwa. In September 2003, another committee was set up under the chairmanship of Shri Sitakant Mohapatra to set the parameters for the inclusion of a language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. Later, an Inter-Ministerial Committee was formed in 2012 to take the concern seriously.

Conclusion – 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution – Languages under 8th Schedule

In 2019, a bill was introduced in parliament to give all 22 official languages the status of national languages. It proposed an official amendment to Article 343. It was rejected by many members of the opposition because one of the points in the bill opposed the use of Hindi in Parliament. Home Minister Amit Shah too held that even though he belonged to a non-Hindi-speaking town, he said that Hindi is a common language for India.

Relates Articles:

• Schedules of Indian Constitution
• 71st Amendment of the Indian Constitution
• 21st Amendment Act of Indian Constitution

FAQs: 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution – Languages under 8th Schedule

1. What is the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution?

The 22 languages are considered official languages under the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution.

2. Is there any national language in India?

No, there is no national language in India.

3. Is English included in the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution?

No, English was never considered the official language since India was made a democratic republic.

• The literature should not be borrowed from other communities.