8th Schedule of Indian Constitution - Official Languages

There are 22 official languages in India and they are covered under the 8th schedule of the Indian Constitution. Schedules in the constitution are important for aspirants to learn for IAS Exam and 8th schedule is one of these. This article will discuss the topic, ‘8th schedule of Indian Constitution,’ which is an important one from UPSC Polity syllabus.

Articles related to 8th Schedule of Indian Constitution

There are a total of 12 Schedules in the Indian Constitution and each one is important. The Constitutional provisions relating to the 8th Schedule are in articles 344(1) and 351 of the Indian Constitution:

To read more important articles in the Indian Constitution, follow the linked article.

Schedule 8 of the Indian Constitution – 22 Official Languages

Initially, there were 14 official languages. Now, there are 22 official languages in the 8th schedule of the Indian constitution. Check the list of languages below:

For more details on the scheduled languages in India, aspirants can refer to the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs’ Department of Official Language Website (https://rajbhasha.gov.in/en/languages-included-eighth-schedule-indian-constitution.)

Special Directives

The Constitution of India contains certain special directives to protect the interests of linguistic minorities and to promote the development of Hindi language. The provisions are as followings:

1. Every aggrieved person has the right to submit a representation for the redress of any grievance to any officer or authority of the Union or a state in of the languages used in the Union or in the state, as the case may be. This means that a representation cannot be rejected on the ground that it is not an official language.

2. Every stat and a local authority in the state should provide adequate facilities for instruction in the mother-tongue at the primary stage of education to children belonging to linguistic minority groups. The president can issue necessary directions for this purposes.

3. The president should be appointed a special officer for linguistic minorities to investigate all matters relating to the constitutional safeguards for linguistic minorities and to report to him. The president should place all such reports before the Parliament and send to the stare government concerned.

Classical Language Status

• In 2004, the government of India decided to create new category of languages called as “classical languages”. In 2006, it laid down the criteria for conferring the classical language status. The criteria is as follows:
• A language must have its early texts recorded history over a period of 1500-2000 years
• A body of ancient literature/texts which is considered a valuable heritage by generation of speakers and a literary tradition that is original and not borrowed from another speech community.

So far, as of 2016, six languages have been granted classical language status. Tamil was the first language granted in 2004 while Odia was the latest to be conferred classical language status in 2014.

Once a language is declared classical, it gets financial assistance for setting up a centre of excellence for the study of that language and also opens up an avenue for two major awards for scholars of eminence.

Conclusion

Learning about 22 languages that are officially a part of the Indian Constitution is important for UPSC 2023 aspirants. You should know about the year of recognition and the chronology of the languages under the 8th schedule of the Indian Constitution so as to answer questions asked in UPSC Prelims.

Aspirants reading, ‘8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution,’ can also read similar Polity topics linked in the table below:

UPSC Preparation: