Information on Languages in India

Information on Languages in India

Number of Languages

  • The number of languages recognised by the Indian Constitution is 22
  • At the inception of Indian Constitution in 1950, the number of recognised languages was 14
  • The languages which were added to the Eighth Schedule are Sindhi, Konkani, Nepali, Manipuri, Maithili, Dogri, Bodo and Santhali.
  • Number of identifiable mother tongues as per Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation report of 2011 is 234
  • The first language to be conferred the status of a Classical Language is Tamil
  • Other languages which have been conferred the status of a Classical Language are Sanskrit, Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu and Odia

Official Languages

  • As per Article 343(1) of the Indian Constitution, the official language of India is Hindi in Devanagari script
  • The official language of Nagaland is English
  • The official language of Jammu and Kashmir is Urdu
  • The official language of Goa is Konkani
  • The official language of the Supreme Court and High Court as prescribed by the Constitution of India is English
  • The two States which have Sanskrit as one of their official languages are Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh
  • English is not in the list of recognised languages

Miscellaneous

  • The Indian language known as the 'Italian of the East' is Telugu
  • The principal languages of Lakshadweep are Jeseri (Dweep Bhasha) and Mahal
  • Foreign language commonly spoken in Puducherry (formerly Pondicherry) is French
  • The principal languages of the Andaman & Nicobar islands are Hindi, Nicobarese, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu.

Institutions for promotion of Languages in India

List of Institutions

InstitutionLocation
Central Institute of Hindi (Kendriya Hindi Sansthan)Agra, U.P.
Central Institute of Indian LanguagesMysore, Karnataka
Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi VishwavidyalayaWardha, Maharashtra
English and Foreign Languages UniversityHyderabad, A.P.
Rashtriya Sanskrit SansthanNew Delhi
Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit VidyapeethNew Delhi
Rashtriya Sanskrit VidyapeethTirupathi
Maulana Azad National Urdu UniversityHyderabad
Central Institute of Classical TamilChennai
Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical TeluguNellore
To Top