Eight Schedule & Official Languages

Why in the news?

The Supreme Court said that it cannot direct the Centre to declare Rajasthani Language as an official language in the eighth schedule as it is a policy matter of the Union.

Official Language (Article 343 - 351) Part XVII: 

1)      Language of the Union: Constitutional provisions

a)     Hindi in Devanagari Script + International form of Indian numerals.

b)     English to continue for 15 years (1950-1965)

c)      After 5 and again 10 years of commencement of the constitution, a Commission shall be appointed to check the progressive use of Hindi.

·         B.G Kher commission (1955) - official language commission

d)     Official languages Act, 1963

·         Enables use of English indefinitely along with Hindi.

·         Mandatory use of English besides Hindi in certain cases which includes,

o   Orders rules aur other reports issued by the central government.

o   Administrative and other reports late before parliament.

o   Contracts and agreements issued by the central government or by a corporation or a company owned by the central government.

2)     Regional Languages

a)     Legislature of a state can adopt more than one language or Hindi as official language of the state (not limited to languages in the 8th schedule) 

b)     Communication between Union and State or between States should be in English (Hindi can be used on mutual agreements)

c)      Communication between Union/ a Hindi state with non-Hindi state should be in English

d)     President on demand by the public can direct a language to be officially recognised by a state.

3)      Language of the Judiciary and texts of the Laws:

a)     Until Parliament provides otherwise, only English should be used in

·         All proceedings of the Supreme Court and high court.

·         Authoritative texts of all bills of Central and state levels.However with prior consent of the president, the Governor can authorize Hindi or the state's official language to be used in a High court.

b)     The State legislature can prescribe use of Hindi or any language regarding bills, ordinances, rules etc along with English language Publication.

c)      Every Bill in the parliament should be accompanied by a Hindi translation.

d)     Parliament has so far not made any provision for the use of Hindi in the Supreme Court.

4)     Special Directives

a)     Protection of Linguistic minorities

·         Representation of an aggrieved person cannot be rejected on the ground that it is not an official language.

·         Every state and local authority should provide facilities for primary education in mother tongue to linguistic minority groups. The President can issue necessary directions.

·         The President shall appoint a special officer for linguistic minorities and its report shall be placed before the parliament by the President.

b)     Development of Hindi language

·         The constitution specifies that it is the duty of the centre to promote spread & development of Hindi + Enrichment of Hindi.

5)     Objective of the eighth schedule

a)     Members of a language can have representation in the official language Commission.

b)     Forms, style and expression of these languages can be used for enrichment of Hindi language.
The union Home minister is elected as the chair of the official languages committee (as a convention)

c)      Languages included in the Eighth schedule,