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
| Institution | Location |
|---|---|
| Central Institute of Hindi (Kendriya Hindi Sansthan) | Agra, U.P. |
| Central Institute of Indian Languages | Mysore, Karnataka |
| Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya | Wardha, Maharashtra |
| English and Foreign Languages University | Hyderabad, A.P. |
| Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan | New Delhi |
| Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth | New Delhi |
| Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth | Tirupathi |
| Maulana Azad National Urdu University | Hyderabad |
| Central Institute of Classical Tamil | Chennai |
| Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Telugu | Nellore |