What is our national language?.Is hindi is our national language?  Many of us assume that hindi is our national language but Surprisingly   as a diverse country we don't have any national language. 

But there are two official languages I.e hindi and english which  are  used by union, states , judiciary (courts)and the parliament. 

Official language of union

 According to Article 343 - official language of the union shall be hindi in devnagari script. 

Also Article 343(3) states that parliament may by law provide for the use of the english language. 


8th  schedule of the Constitution consists of the following 22 languages  

    Languages           recognition in state   

  1. Assamese  ---  Assam, Arunachal pradesh
  2. Bengali ---       west Bengal/tripura
  3. Bodo ---           Assam
  4. Dogri ---          official language of jammu and Kashmir
  5. Gujrati ---        Dadra and nagar haveli and Daman and diu, Gujrat
  6. Hindi ---           northern states (Uttar pradesh, bihar etc) 
  7. Kannada  ---    karnataka

  9. Konkani ---      Kerala, goa, Maharashtra karnataka etc. 
  10. Maithili ---       bihar, jharkhand
  11. Malayalam --- Kerala, lakshadweep, Puducherry
  12. Manipuri ---    manipur
  13. Marathi ---       Maharashtra, goa, dada and nagar haveli and daman and diu
  14. Nepali ---         sikkim and west Bengal
  15. Odia ---             official language of odisha
  16. Punjab ---         official language of Punjab and chandigarh
  17. Sanskrit ---       Himachal pradesh, uttarakhand
  18. Santali ---         jharkhand, Assam, bihar, chhattisgarh, mizoram, odisha tripura and west Bengal
  19. Sindi ---            Gujarat and Maharashtra
  20. Tamil ---           Tamilnadu, Puducherry
  21. Telugu ---         Andhra pradesh, Telangana, Puducherry
  22. Urdu ---            Jammu and Kashmir, west Bengal, Telangana, bihar etc.           

Of these languages 14 were initially included in the Constitution. 

  • Sindhi language was added by the 21st amendment Act of 1967

  • Konkani, manipuri and Nepali were included by the 71th  amendment Act 1992

  • Bodo, dogri, maithili and santhali were added by 92th amendment Act of 2003
Since 2003 no language is added in 8th schedule. 


Official language of parliament

Members in the parliament can speak any of the 22 languages mention in the 8 th schedule of the Constitution along with english. 

Language of oath

Parliament allows members to take oath in english and 22 other Indian languages as specified in the 8 th schedule of the Constitution. 

Official language of judiciary/court's

According to article 348 it is Categorically stated that the proceedings in the high court and supreme Court would be conducted in english and the authoritative text of all acts, orders, rules and regulations would be in english. 

Article 348(2) states that governor of the state with the concent of president can authorize the use of the hindi Or any other languages in the courts .but the judgment passed by such court shall be in english. 

Official language of state

Legislature of state may by law can adapt any one or more of the languages (other than 8 th schedule) in use in the state.