{"id":644,"date":"2020-11-18T10:01:55","date_gmt":"2020-11-18T10:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/?p=644"},"modified":"2020-11-18T10:01:55","modified_gmt":"2020-11-18T10:01:55","slug":"constitution-of-india-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/2020\/11\/18\/constitution-of-india-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Constitution of India"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Official Language<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Few\nconstitutions have such elaborate provisions dealing with the official language\nas the Constitution of India. Ordinarily, official language is not a subject\nwhich requires any special treatment in a constitutional enactment. This is\nbecause, in most countries, a single language is employed as the common medium\nof expression of the entire population, or at least of an overwhelming\nmajority. There are, of course, exceptions to this general pattern in some\nparts of the world and some countries have made even special provisions to\nsolve the problems arising out of bilingualism or multilingualism within their\nborders. India belongs to the latter category, hence a special Chapter in the\nConstitution dealing with the official language. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nthe course of the discussion on the official language, the Constituent Assembly\nwitnessed some of the most agitated scenes, surcharged with emotions, riding on\nthe crest of linguistic fanaticism. Nevertheless, the Assembly produced a\ncompromise formula after a long and heated discussion. The provisions dealing\nwith official language are the product of this compromise formula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Language of the\nUnion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nmain provisions dealing with the official language of the Union as embodied in\nArticles 343 and 344 are as follows :<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(1)\nHindi written in Devanagari script will be the official language of the Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(2)\nFor a period of fifteen years from the commencement of the Constitution, how\u00adever,\nEnglish will continue to be used for all official purposes of the Union. But\nduring this period, the President may authorise the use of Hindi in addition to\nEnglish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(3)\nNotwithstanding anything in Article 343, Parliament may, by law, provide for\nthe use, after the said period of fifteen years, of\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(a)   the English language, or<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(b)   the Devanagari form of numericals, for such\npurposes as may be specified in the law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regional Languages<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each\nState legislature is empowered under Article 345 to adopt any one or more of\nthe languages in use in the State for all or any of the official purposes of\nthe State concerned. But so far as communication between a State and the Union\nor between one State and another is concerned, the official language of the\nUnion will be the authorised language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\norder to protect the linguistic interests of minorities in certain States, the\nCons\u00adtitution has incorporated a special provision. This is in addition to the\ncultural rights that are guaranteed as Fundamental Rights under Article 29 of\nthe Constitution. According to this, the President is empowered under\nArticle 347 to direct a State Government to recognise a parti\u00adcular\nlanguage for official purposes for either the whole or part of the State, if he\nis satisfied, on a representation
\nmade to him in this regard, that a substantial proportion of the population of\nthe State desires such recognition. This power in the hands of the Centre will\nhelp to curb any tendency towards linguistic fanaticism and the domination of\nthe majority over linguistic minorities in different States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Language in Courts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under\nArticle 348, the Constitution makes a special provision for the retention of\nthe English language, if Parliament so decides, even after the fifteen-year\nperiod, for the following purposes :<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(1)\nAll proceedings in the Supreme Court and the High Courts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(2)\nAuthoritative texts of Bills, Acts, Ordi\u00ad\u00adnances, orders, rules, regulations\nand bye-laws issued under the Constitution or under any law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However,\nParliament is empowered to stop the use of English even in the courts whenever\nit likes, once the fifteen-year period is over. It is also provided that Hindi\nor any regional language may be used even earlier for conducting the\nproceedings in a High Court if the President gives his consent for the measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Special Directives<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nConstitution also embodies a directive for the development and enrich\u00adment of\nthe Hindi language with a view to making it serve as a real medium of\nexpression for all the elements of the composite culture of India. Such\nenrichment may be secured by drawing primarily on Sanskrit and secondarily on\nother languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After\nthe Constitution (Ninety-second Amendment) Act, 2003 which provided for  the inclusion of four languages, viz., Bodo,\nDogri, Maithili and Santhali, the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution specifies\nthe following 22 languages :<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(1) Assamese, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(2) Bengali, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(3) Bodo, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(4) Dogri,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(5) Gujarati, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(6) Hindi, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(7) Kannada,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(8) Kashmiri, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(9) Kon\u00adkani, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(10) Maithili, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(11) Malayalam, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 (12) Manipuri, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(13) Marathi, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(14) Nepali, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(15) Odiya, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(16) Punjabi, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(17) San\u00adskrit, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(18) Santhali, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(19) Sindhi,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(20) Tamil, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(21) Telugu, and <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(22) Urdu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Official Language Few constitutions have such elaborate provisions dealing with the official language as the Constitution of India. Ordinarily, official language is not a subject which requires any special treatment in a constitutional enactment. This is because, in most countries, a single language is employed as the common medium of expression of the entire population, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":645,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644\/revisions\/645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}