Pooja,very informative,I shocked to know that Hindi is not a National language.

Students should be given opportunity to omit Hindi at SSC level. Unneccesarily creates burden of 3 languages at age of 15-16. Hindi is of no use if mothertongue of students is different. However, this article can wreck havoc across India.....and isn’t it shameful we couldn’t round up on one single language in past 60 years? Sanskrit, mother of all Indian languages makes a good option than English or Hindi....

I really liked the story but it is not at all practical. If we want people across India to be able to communicate, we need a common language. If you allow students to omit Hindi at SSC level, will you force them to learn Sanskrit, the alleged mother of all languages. Or make English mandatory and declare it our National Language so that people from all over the country can communcate with each other.
Or else, would you consider making a sign language our natioanl language. Sign language can be accepted throughout the world.

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You are spreading false information.

Originally, 15 national languages were recognized by the Indian government. At present 18 languages are included in the Constitution of India (See Languages According to the 1991 Census of India.). In many cases the State boundaries have been drawn on linguistic lines. The acknowledged languages are: Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telegu and Urdu. See link :

http://www.languageinindia.com/nov2001/1991Languages.html

According to the Article 343 (1) of the Constitution, the Official Language of the Union (India Constitution. 1998.)is Hindi written in devnagri script.

On record hindi is not national language, but practically it is.

I have quoted a government record to say that there are 18 national languages in India, including Hindi. Please check the comments and the link above.

for the first time i am glad to agree with what Mr.Ramesh Balam has to say, and i am quite relieved actually!

i always knew(since school) that hindi is one of our national languages!

Thank you for your comments, just wanted to add that India does not have the concept of a single ”national language”. The Indian Constitution does not recognize Hindi as the national language of India. Instead, ”official languages” are recognized for individual states. Article 343 of the Indian Constitution recognises Hindi in Devanāgarī script as the official language of the Union Government. The states have their own official languages, depending on their linguistic demographics.
According to the eighth schedule as of May 2007 there are 22 scheduled languages.

You can see more info here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_languages_of_India

What is ”schedule”, if I pray to know, lady? Isn’t the ”schedule” part of the constitution?

For your kind information, certain castes and tribes which were untouchables or backwards earlier have been mentioned in another schedule of the constitution of India; that is why they are called Schedule caste or schedule tribe. Got it?

Kindly revise and update your knowledge please.

I just checked up the recently updated Constitution of India. Schedule VIII in reference to Articles 344 (1) and 351 lists 22 official languages including Hindi at serial 6 of page 330 of the printed version available at the link below :-

http://lawmin.nic.in/coi/coiason29july08.pdf

I stand corrected as I had given only 18 official languages earlier. 4 more may kindly be added to the above list.

Which record you are talking about. constitution of India lists Hindi as official as well as national language.

Mr Ramesh Balam, I would request you to please let me know, which ARTICLE of the INDIAN CONSTITUTION provides for “Hindi” being our national language.
Chapter 33 of the Indian Constitution defines the Official Languages of the nation and no where mentions the national language of the country. Article 343 specifically mentions 22 languages as has been recognized by the Constitution after the Constitution (Ninety-Second Amendment) Act, 2003. Clause 2 of Article 343 stresses on the point of continued use of English language,

English language shall continue to be used for all the official purposes of the union for which it was being used immediately before the commencement of the constitution.

Article 345 further provides for the official languages of the states and empowers the states to adopt any one or more languages in use therein or Hindi as the language or languages to be used for all or any of the official purposes of that state. For this purpose the legislature of the state may make a law. Proviso to article 345 clearly states that until the state legislature so provides by law, English language shall continue to be used in that state for those official purposes for which it was being used immediately before the commencement of the constitution.

Also, I’d like to ask who is challenging the schedule as not being part of the Indian Constitution? And from where does the question of “certain castes and tribes which were untouchables or backwards” arise is beyond my comprehension! The discussion is on national language and not what is a part of the constitution and what is not?

Constitution of India speaks of the official language of the union. The constitution lists 22 languages which are national languages out of more than 100 that are spoken to in more than thousand dialects. The constitution does not speak any thing else on the subject. Hence, the inference that it does not speak of Hindi as national language is not correct because Hindi is not an anti-national language.

I gave an example of the schedule to refer to the constitution. If it is not our national constitution then which one is?

Had your article said that Hindi is one of the many national languages or not the only national language; then I have no point to make. I do not like our language and national symbols to be denigrated because some one can’t simply intrepret the book.

If you still feel that you are right and I am wrong; please have your way. I have said my say.

Webster’s new dictionary of English describnes national language as the language spoken and written by the majority of people in a country; also, the official language of a country, recognized and adopted by its government.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/national%20language

I think mr ramesh balam is 100% right and pooja may be wrong on this topic because as fas as i am concern to this topic.govt of india only recognizes hindi as our national language ..just for example.. on ur national emblem all of u can see ”SATAMEV JAYATE” mean ”the truth wins”

so pooja please not spread wrong information here ........please update your knowledge ..............

@Gaurav
I am NOT spreading any kinda WRONG info, I came across this article on net and thought of sharing, THAT ALL!

Yes mr ramesh u r right...........thanks for sharing this info with us.....

Hindi is one of the national languages. In addition to that learning Hindi is compulsory.
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A common language is very necessary to integrate the regions which speak different languages. If you want to travel through different parts of country then you realize how tough it would have been without a common language. I generally go for travel in deep rural areas of different region, and it is a relief that now you can find at least some one who speaks a common language.
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This was must for national integration. Even China has done the same - by making Mandarin as the common mandatory language. For very small countries, it is practical not to have a common language, as its native language itself is common.
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Regarding some people mentioning that it is unnecessary burden to learn a new language - I do not think that learning just basics of a language is too much of a burden. So the focus should be to just teach the basics - and I think the focus is really this. I doubt if you are expected to learn literature etc in the third language. I currently live in Bangalore. Here every one seems to be knowing 4 to 6 languages. Even those who have not formally attended high school. So, I feel that it is just a mindset that learning 3 languages is a burden.

Hello Mr Hassan,, i think hindi is not at all its connection with hindus whereas i assume hindi as corrupt version of Saskrit ancient legend language ..which i think connected properly to hindu..........

I think Ramesh needs to revisit his knowledge concerning India. Hindi is an official language alongwith English, infact English has a wider reach within India in this regard than Hindi. Doesn’t matter what Ramesh or anyone thinks, the fact remains that India has no national language.