You think you know what India’s National Language is?
2007
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Rishabh Srivastava - Profile
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Do you know what is the National Language of India?
If you thought it was Hindi, you don’t need to feel miserable about it, because a majority of the Indian population is with you. Most of us are/were under the same impression.
Even we were in the same boat and it was really shocking to know that India does not have ANY National Language.
Our previous post on Hindi Divas got a comment from raj saying that India does not have any National Language with some substantial proof. You may like to go through the proofs that he has mentioned. Here’s the eye-opening comment raj posted:
India does NOT have any national language
http://vetri-vel.blogspot.com/2006/12/india-does-not-have-national-language.html
Part XVII of the constitution:
This part 17, defines an OFFICIAL language, NOT a national language.
http://www.astro.virginia.edu/~sk4zw/india-const/p17.htmlArticle 345: This gives the State govt., power to decide its own “OFFICIAL LANGUAGE”
http://www.astro.virginia.edu/~sk4zw/india-const/p17345.htmlArticle 343: This defines Hindi in devangari script and English to be the “OFFICIAL LANGUAGES” of union govt.
http://www.astro.virginia.edu/~sk4zw/india-const/p17343.htmlDIFFERENCE between National and Official Language:
NATIONAL LANGUAGE: Defines the people of the nation, culture, history.
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: A language that is used for official communication
While a National language by default can become the Official language, an Official language has to be APPROVED legally to become the National language.
All languages spoken in India, starting from the most populous to the least are our national languages, because all of them define the people of this nation, culture and their history collectively.
India has NO LEGALLY DEFINED NATIONAL LANGUAGES ONLY 23 OFFICIAL languages as per the constitution.
After finding this out, we started asking all our friends online and offline. Each and every person in our contact had the impression that our Raashtra Bhaasha is Hindi.
We put this question up on the Orkut community “India”. The response is here for you to see:
http://www.orkut.com/CommMsgs.aspx?cmm=370&tid=2560002691870956709
We also put up a poll on the community, and at the time of writing the post, it had 128 votes and 66% had voted for Hindi. The poll is located here:
http://www.orkut.com/CommPollResults.aspx?cmm=370&pct=1192094654&pid=1339647175
Let us just take a look at some facts about this issue.
According to the Constitution of India any language, which will be accepted by all the states of India as their official language will be given the status of national language. In India no language is accepted or spoken by all the states unanimously. Even Hindi, a single language largely spoken by the people of India is unable to attain the status of national language as it is does not fulfill the condition of Constitution of India. Though it is spoken by a large number of people but just 10 states of India have accepted it as their official language.
The Indian Constitution (Article 343) declares Hindi to be the official language of the Union.
English remains the additional official language of India. It is the authoritative legislative and judicial language. In fact, one could say that English is the official language in India for all practical purposes. For many educated Indians, English is virtually their first language though a large number of Indians are multi-lingual.
What is the difference between National Language and Official Language?
NATIONAL LANGUAGE: Defines the people of the nation, culture, history.
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: A language that is used for official communication
While a National language by default can become the Official language, an Official language has to be APPROVED legally to become the National language.
All languages spoken in India, starting from the most populous to the least are our national languages, because all of them define the people of this nation, culture and their history collectively.
India has no legally defined national languages and we have 18 official languages as per the constitution.
Though there is special provision for development of Hindi under article 351.
Article 351:It shall be the duty of the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language, to develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India and to secure its enrichment by assimilating without interfering with its genius, the forms, style and expressions used in Hindustani and in the other languages of India specified in the Eighth Schedule, and by drawing, wherever necessary or desirable, for its vocabulary, primarily on Sanskrit and secondarily on other languages.
A peek into the History
The constitution of India came into existence on January 26, 1950. Enshrined in the constitution was the status of Hindi and English to be the “Official Languages” of the Central Government of India till 1965 (for a period of 15 years), after which Hindi was expected to take up the pre-eminent position as the sole “National and Official Language” of India irrespective of the state or central government. Hindi and English were the “Official Languages” in every department controlled by the Central Government, which is why Hindi is prominent in Railways, Nationalised Banks etc which come under the Central Government.
As January 26, 1965 neared, some in the non-Hindi, particularly Tamils, started voicing their apprehensions openly. Between 1948 and 1961, on an average, every year close to 24% of Central Government Officials were selected from the state of Madras (present day Tamil Nadu). The next best was Uttar Pradesh with about 16%. The idea of making Hindi the sole National language was blasphemous to the students as it was combined with the complete removal of English - even as a medium for competitive examinations for jobs and education. This would mean that the Northern regions with their Hindi proficiency would dominate the government posts and also education. Since government jobs were the most lucrative positions before the 1991 liberalization, this was seen as an indirect means to usurp the English-educated South Indians of jobs. The non-Hindi-speaking people in South India feared that they would be discriminated against in government employment and in other ways.
The 1940s, 50s and the first half of the 1960s saw many anti-Hindi imposition protests in the form of public meetings, marches, hunger strikes, demonstrations before schools and Indian government offices, and black flag demonstrations before visiting Indian government ministers. Most of these were organized either by the DK or the DMK, and the general public supported them fully. There were several hundred such protests around Tamil Nadu and several thousand people went to jail. Several hundreds were injured when police used lathi charge to disburse peaceful protesters. Lal Bahadur Shastri, then PM, even though supportive of the pro-Hindi group, realising the seriousness, came up with a set of compromises that did not give Hindi any “Sole National Language” status.
To know more, see the source of this peek:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Hindi_agitations
We should eliminate such myths from staying in our society and it is our responsibility to be aware of such common facts about our country and to keep our fellow citizens aware about them.
On checking out the List of Multilingual Countries and Regions on Wikipedia, it was evident that most of the multilingual countries do not have any National Language.
So it does not seem to us that it is such a big issue that India does not have any national language.
What is alarming is that most of us have been under the very wrong impression that our National Language is Hindi.
Why does a majority have this imprinted in their minds? Who is responsible for this?
- by Rishabh Srivastava and Mitesh Ashar
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October 14th, 2007 at 8:50 am
very true actually it was a political lobby from a segment of our own country forcing Hindi as a national tongue having vested interests. now a days international English has become national and international language of many countries. even in America majority speaks Latin but they declared their mother tongue English although i too am not very sure why??
October 14th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
This was unbelievable…may be because we all have been taught in schools that our “rashtriya bhasha” is Hindi. So they were all wrong. There are enough reliable proofs available on internet such as these :
http://india.gov.in/knowindia/official_language.php
http://www.rajbhasha.gov.in/2863engls.pdf
The 18 different official languages of states who do not have Hindi as their official language are here :
http://www.housefull.in/languages/index.html
May be we were under this wrong impression because of efforts taken by the government to promote Hindi amongst all the states. The question that arises in my mind is whether its really necessary to have a national language afterall ? Won’t the native languages loose their existance gradually ? Native languages are equally important as representatives of the local people and their culture. Knowledge and Culture are accompanied by the language of communication. If day by day Hindi takes the place of the language of communication in currently non-Hindi speaking regions of India, won’t it be harmful to us ?
October 14th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
Hey thats really surprising since we all assumed that Hindi is our National Language. Thanks for shedding some light on the difference between National language and Official Language
October 15th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
@SunniestGnome
That is an interesting reason that we can quote for the wrong impression among the public.
We’ve mentioned in the end that we don’t feel that it is a very big issue that India doesn’t have a National Language.
Rather we wanted to highlight this:
October 16th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
Look ever since I grew up I have always learnt in school “Rashtra bhasha Hindi” Roughly translated that means National language Hindi…I can bet students are still learning this at schools….
I like the idea of conducting poll at orkut.
It has wider reach to youths.
October 18th, 2007 at 1:46 am
thanks for your article and en lighting fellow Indians that India has no national language.
October 18th, 2007 at 3:37 am
Why does a majority have this imprinted in their minds? Who is responsible for this?
The culprit is the central government of India by publishing incorrect information in text books [ eg NCERT] and this got carried over to the majority of the population.
source: http://agastyabhrata.blogspot.com/2005_08_01_archive.html
“All those of us who are fooled by the age-old NCERT text books which repeatedly teach us that Hindi is our National and Official Language may correct themselves as this tells for itself: Click here.
Thanks to an Elocution Competition organised in Hindi in our college with the topic as “Raashtra bhaasha Hindi hain yaa Angrezi?” - We’ve got to know that all of us got into a dreamland created by our own teachings till Prof. Sangal and Prof. Naresh Sharma informed us that There is no SINGLE National Language for India.
”
I feel that we should know the facts whether it’s right or wrong. I will give you couple of examples.
See the map of Kashmir
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/kashmir_disputed_2003.jpg
According to the map we lost of significant portion of the Kashmir to Pakistan but was this mentioned in any text book or the map showing the actual loc was printed in any text book.
I feel that even if we lose a war our fellow Indians should know the real facts not to live with ignorance.
War with Pakistan
I always believed that India had won all the wars with Pakistan but now I feel t that it was another brainwashing by the government. If we had won we will be having more of Pakistan but Pakistan has occupied a significant portion of India
October 18th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
@Raj
Are u fool or what????? About that war thing let me tell you barring 1962 war with China India had won all the wars. And i am pretty sure this time around. Its stupid of u that u call yourself an Indian without having the proper knowledge. Better brush up your knowledge and refer to some authentic source.
India went on to capture Lahore after 1971 but they later gave it back to Pakistan.
October 18th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
@Rishabh
Even I strongly believed that India had won all the wars with Pakistan. I did some research on the war with paksitan and found that the war ended in stalemate not with either side winning.We lost some parts of kashmir and gained some parts of pakistan but in the end we gave what we captured but didn’t get back what was captured by pakistan.I don’t understand why our leaders handed over captured areas.
source : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1965
“India held 710 mi² (1,840 km²) of Pakistani territory and Pakistan held 210 mi² (545 km²) of Indian territory”
I’m an Indian and proud to call myself Indian. Hope our future generations fight and get back our lost territory.
October 18th, 2007 at 8:40 pm
Whoa whoa whoa….
You guys are moving far away from the topic…
Please stay on track
October 18th, 2007 at 9:01 pm
I’m sorry for dragging the conversation in the wrong direction but what I want to convey to everyone is don’t believe what you see or what you hear from others.Do your own research and analyze the facts.
October 20th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
dude,really shocked to knw this…i guess i never knew that hindi aint our national language…. nice goin..
October 21st, 2007 at 12:09 am
good wrk!
tera kaam bhi kar diya visit kar ke…
October 26th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
mam plz dont do this…
hindi& sanskrit are our national language.plz accept it and if u are really an indian then dont create these rumour’s.
i dont know u but i think that u are an indian.
jai hind..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 26th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
There are lots of things about which we don’t know………..Its a time to think and learn yourself …………… Hindi is only official language…………
November 13th, 2007 at 11:28 pm
@digvijay singh
i think you didnt read the article…
u just saw the title and posted a comment..
we are definitely indian…
and we believe that u are an indian as well… only that u are not aware of this astounding fact…
November 14th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
I read this post and the other one about Hindi with a sense of deja vu as I have a similar post on my blog and there you will find a truly emotional outpouring of those who have suffered because they were humiliated for not knowing Hindi. For me at least that was an eyeopener, I had no idea that so many people resented Hindi. Anyone who feels that they do not understand why people resent Hindi should read the comments…
and one point that has not been mentioned in the posts here is that Hindi has become a language spoken by the majority as the central govt. has made it compulsory in all states.
November 15th, 2007 at 4:05 am
Nowhere has it been declared that Hindi is the National language. Merely because it is spoken and understood by many Hindi cannot be assumed as National Language. In the Indian context a National Language cannot be defined, let alone assigned. Because India is a multilingual state unlike Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy etc. Even in the UK, which comprises of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland besides England, although English is spoken and understood in the entire union, English is not declared as National language of UK.
December 6th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
hmmm……….I see.
So still hindi is not the national language.
don’t worry folks now it will become the “National Language of India”
December 27th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Hi,
In fact all the 13 languages that you find in the Indian Currency is officially the national languages. Not only the Hindi language.
February 16th, 2008 at 3:50 am
This website must be dominated by those in the Hindi belt; from Bihar, Chandigarh, Chattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand. People from exterior India (e.g. West Bengal, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Orissa, Jammu, northeastern India, etc.) would know that this is not the case.
While Hindi will one day become the National Language, because of the stark contrast in the development of interior India as opposed to exterior India - interior India makes up most of the undeveloped Indian states - that results in a high birth rate, it is important to understand that not everyone in India speaks Hindi. As a matter of fact, a large portion (more than 40%) of India is still highly rural, and the rural populations of exterior India have no knowledge of any language besides their mother tongues. To impose Hindi as a National Language on the rural populations of exterior India would be to strip them of any opportunites they ever had to succeed - which, being in Rural India, is almost nil anyway.
Yes, indeed Hindi will become the National Language one day, because of the huge birth rates from the heartland - Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar.
Hindi is a beautiful language, and it is growing in popularity in exterior India, but it is this ‘assumption’ from heartland-India that causes resentment. However, it is hard to blame as heartland-India is, unfortunately, underdeveloped, uneducated, and rural.
February 16th, 2008 at 3:54 am
“mam plz dont do this…
hindi& sanskrit are our national language.plz accept it and if u are really an indian then dont create these rumour’s.
i dont know u but i think that u are an indian.
jai hind..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
-Digvijay Singh
Balle Balle Paaji, read the constitution - in whichever one of the official languages you are proficient in (if any); I wouldn’t suggest English.
February 16th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Sorry dude!! i m not Mam and moreover there is no national Language of India. I have put in enormous efforts and u are advised to read the constitution. Many are surprised but it is true……
February 18th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
@Suraj
Do we have the translation of our constitution in other languages beside English…
If it is, then plz let me know…
As per my knowledge till the time of NDA goverment, we didn’t have a copy of constitution even in hindi… the so called or rather believed national language.
The goverment was planning to bring the translated copy “SOON”
I would like to know if this “SOON” has come!!!
February 20th, 2008 at 1:20 am
I am certain that while the Federal government did not create an OFFICIAL translated copy, that state governments would show the national constitution in the state-language. I have seen the entire constitution in Malayalam and in Tamil, and have parts of both. As a matter of fact, whenever a new CM is inaugurated, the national head reads out the oaths in Enlgish whereas the state-CM repeats it in his/her mothertongue. I’m certain it’s available, even if it is not one officially created by the national government / not legally binding.
February 20th, 2008 at 1:20 am
have read*
February 20th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
@ Suraj
thx for the information And I take your words…
But I seriously Doubt if it was made available by the State goverment…
But the point is copies should be made official for certain words in constitution should be interpreted in exact manner otherwise what’s the pointt of having a translation if one cannot use it for legal purposes.
And jus to remind you while it is relativcely easier to translate the oath .. translating the entire constitution is a different ball game altogether.
Thx anyways..
April 6th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
I am from the eastern part of India and know this fact since my school days. It’s really surprising to know that so many people still believe Hindi as national language of India. I think it’s all b’coz we failed to understand the whole concept behind The Dominion of India or the Union of India. We failed to understand that there are more than 25 states and hundreds of languages. We failed to respect languages other than Hindi and English.
If you know history of India and how (and why) we united together after British raj, you will never be surprised to know the fact that Hindi is just an official language and nothing else.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Whatz actually der 2 make sucha fuss ’bout?? I’m a Keralite…….the CBSE school i had studied in taught me dat ther is no NAtional Language 4 India…wat has really happen’d is dat we hav become parrots repeating the wrong information taught 2 us!!!