Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India

The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India lists the languages officially recognized by the Government of India. As of 2024^[update], 22 languages have been classified under the schedule.

Definition

As per the Constitution of India, the provisions belonging to the eight schedule are defined in articles 344(1) and 351. Article 351 deals with the promotion of usage of Hindi, an Indo-Aryan language written with Devanagari script, by Government of India, which was declared as an official language. English, a Germanic language written with Latin script, was declared as an additional official language to be used for a period not exceeding 15 years and article 344(1) defined a set of 14 regional languages which were represented in the Official Languages Commission. The commission was to suggest steps to be taken to progressively promote the use of Hindi as the official language of the country.^[1]

The Official Languages Act, 1963 which came into effect on 26 January 1965, made provision for the continuation of English as an official language alongside Hindi.^[2] In 1968, the official language resolution was passed by the Parliament of India. As per the resolution, the Government of India was obligated to take measures for the development of the languages defined in the eighth schedule.^[3]

Scheduled languages

The Eighth schedule of the Constitution defined 14 languages in 1950.^[4] These included Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.^[5] In 1967, 21st amendment to the constitution added Sindhi as one of the languages in the eight schedule. The 71st Amendment, enacted in 1992, included three more languages Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali to the list. In 2003, the 92nd Amendment was enacted, which added Bodo, Dogri, Santhali and Maithali, raising the total number of languages to 22.^[5] In 2011, the spelling Oriya was changed to Odia by 96th amendment.^[6]

As of 2024^[update], following are the languages recognized under the eighth schedule of the Constitution of India:

Language[1]	Speakers[7] (millions, 2011)	Year included[5]	Script	Language family[8]	States/UTs where official[9]
Assamese	15.3	1950	Bengali–Assamese	Indo-Aryan	Assam
Bengali	97.2				Assam, West Bengal, Tripura
Bodo	1.48	2003	Devanagari	Sino-Tibetan	Assam
Dogri	2.6			Indo-Aryan	Jammu and Kashmir
Gujarati	55.5	1950	Gujarati		Gujarat
Hindi	528		Devanagari		Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand.
Kannada	43.7		Kannada	Dravidian	Karnataka
Kashmiri	6.8		Perso-Arabic	Indo-Aryan	Jammu and Kashmir
Konkani	2.25	1992	Devanagari		Goa
Maithili	13.6	2003			Jharkhand
Malayalam	34.8	1950	Malayalam	Dravidian	Kerala, Puducherry, Lakshadweep
Manipuri	1.8	1992	Meitei	Sino-Tibetan	Manipur
Marathi	83	1950	Devanagari	Indo-Aryan	Goa, Maharashtra
Nepali	2.9	1992			Sikkim, West Bengal
Odia	37.5	1950	Odia		Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal
Punjabi	33.1		Gurmukhi		Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, West Bengal
Sanskrit	0.02		Devanagari		Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand
Santali	7.6	2003	Ol Chiki	Austroasiatic	Jharkhand, West Bengal
Sindhi	2.7	1967	Devanagari and Perso-Arabic	Indo-Aryan	None
Tamil	69	1950	Tamil	Dravidian	Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Haryana (1969-2010, was used as a rebuff language to Punjabi)
Telugu	81.1		Telugu		Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Telangana, West Bengal
Urdu	50.7		Perso-Arabic	Indo-Aryan	Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal

Demands for expansion

In 2003, a committee was established by Government of India, to study the possible inclusion of more languages to the schedule. As per the Ministry of Home Affairs, there are demands for inclusion of 38 more languages in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. These are:^[1]

1. Angika
2. Banjara
3. Bajjika
4. Bhojpuri
5. Bhoti
6. Bhotia
7. Bundelkhandi
8. Chhattisgarhi
9. Dhatki
10. English
11. Garhwali
12. Gondi
13. Gujjari
14. Ho
15. Kachhi
16. Kamtapuri
17. Karbi
18. Khasi
19. Kodava
20. Kokborok
21. Kurmali
22. Kumaoni
23. Kurukh
24. Lepcha
25. Limbu
26. Mizo
27. Magahi
28. Mundari
29. Nagpuri
30. Nicobarese
31. Pahari
32. Pali
33. Rajasthani
34. Sambalpuri
35. Shauraseni Prakrit
36. Saraiki
37. Tenyidie
38. Tulu

References

1. "Constitution of India, Eighth schedule" (PDF). Government of India. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
2. Official Languages Act (PDF). Parliament of India. 1963. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
3. Official Languages Resolution. Parliament of India. 1968. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
4. "The Constitution of India" (PDF). Government of India. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
5. "Eighth Schedule" (PDF). Government of India. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
6. "The Constitution (Ninety-Sixth Amendment) Act, 2011". eGazette of India. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
7. Abstract of Speakers' Strength of Languages and Mother Tongues – 2011 (PDF) (Report). Government of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 June 2018.
8. "Indian languages". Ethnologue. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
9. Report of the Commissioner for linguistic minorities: 50th report (July 2012 to June 2013) (PDF) (Report). Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 July 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2015.