Languages of India

This article is about the general overview of Indian languages. For historical context, see Linguistic history of India.

Not to be confused with Languages of the Indian subcontinent.

Languages of India
Official	Assamese Bengali Bodo Dogri English [1] [2] [3] Gujarati Hindi [1] [4] Kannada Kashmiri Konkani Maithili Malayalam Marathi Meitei Nepali Odia Punjabi Sanskrit Santali Sindhi Tamil Telugu Urdu (total of official languages: 23, including 22 8th Schedule languages and additional official language, English)
Signed	Indo-Pakistani Sign Language Alipur Sign Language Naga Sign Language (extinct)
Keyboard layout	QWERTY and InScript keyboard

Languages spoken in the Republic of India belong to several language families, the major ones being the Indo-Aryan languages spoken by 78.05% of Indians and the Dravidian languages spoken by 19.64% of Indians; ^{[5] [6]} both families together are sometimes known as Indic languages. ^{[7] [8] [9] [a]} Languages spoken by the remaining 2.31% of the population belong to the Austroasiatic, Sino–Tibetan, Tai–Kadai, and a few other minor language families and isolates. ^{[10] : 283} According to the People's Linguistic Survey of India, India has the second highest number of languages (780), after Papua New Guinea (840). ^[11] Ethnologue lists a lower number of 456. ^[12]

Article 343 of the Constitution of India stated that the official language of the Union is Hindi in Devanagari script, with official use of English to continue for 15 years from 1947. Later, a constitutional amendment, The Official Languages Act, 1963, allowed for the continuation of English alongside Hindi in the Indian government indefinitely until legislation decides to change it. ^[2] The form of numerals to be used for the official purposes of the Union are "the international form of Indian numerals", ^{[13] [14]} which are referred to as Arabic numerals in most English-speaking countries. ^[1] Despite some misconceptions, Hindi is not the national language of India; the Constitution of India does not give any language the status of national language. ^{[15] [16]}

The Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution lists 22 languages, ^[17] which have been referred to as scheduled languages and given recognition, status and official encouragement. In addition, the Government of India has awarded the distinction of classical language to Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu. This status is given to languages that have a rich heritage and independent nature.^{[ citation needed ]}

According to the Census of India of 2001, India has 122 major languages and 1599 other languages. However, figures from other sources vary, primarily due to differences in the definition of the terms "language" and "dialect". The 2001 Census recorded 30 languages which were spoken by more than a million native speakers and 122 which were spoken by more than 10,000 people. ^[18] Three contact languages have played an important role in the history of India in chronological order: Sanskrit, ^[19] Persian ^[20] and English. ^[21] Persian was the court language during the Indo-Muslim period in India and reigned as an administrative language for several centuries until the era of British colonisation. ^[22] English continues to be an important language in India. It is used in higher education and in some areas of the Indian government.^{[ citation needed ]}

Hindi, which has the largest number of first-language speakers in India today, ^[23] serves as the lingua franca across much of northern and central India. However, there have been concerns raised with Hindi being imposed in South India, most notably in the states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. ^{[24] [25]} Some in Maharashtra, West Bengal, Assam, Punjab and other non-Hindi regions have also started to voice concerns about imposition of Hindi. ^[26] Bengali is the second most spoken and understood language in the country with a significant number of speakers in eastern and northeastern regions. Marathi is the third most spoken and understood language in the country with a significant number of speakers in the southwest, ^[27] followed closely by Telugu, which is most commonly spoken in southeastern areas. ^[28]

Hindi is the fastest growing language of India, followed by Kashmiri in the second place, with Meitei (officially called Manipuri) as well as Gujarati, in the third place, and Bengali in the fourth place, according to the 2011 census of India. ^[29]

According to the Ethnologue, India has 148 Sino-Tibetan, 140 Indo-European, 84 Dravidian, 32 Austro-Asiatic, 14 Andamanese, 5 Kra-Dai languages. ^[30]

History

Main article: Linguistic history of India

Further information: Persian language in the Indian subcontinent

The Southern Indian languages are from the Dravidian family. The Dravidian languages are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. ^[31] Proto-Dravidian languages were spoken in India in the 4th millennium BCE and started disintegrating into various branches around 3rd millennium BCE. ^[32] The Dravidian languages are classified in four groups: North, Central (Kolami–Parji), South-Central (Telugu–Kui), and South Dravidian (Tamil-Kannada). ^[33]

The Northern Indian languages from the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European family evolved from Old Indo-Aryan by way of the Middle Indo-Aryan Prakrit languages and Apabhraṃśa of the Middle Ages. The Indo-Aryan languages developed and emerged in three stages — Old Indo-Aryan (1500 BCE to 600 BCE), Middle Indo-Aryan stage (600 BCE and 1000 CE), and New Indo-Aryan (between 1000 CE and 1300 CE). The modern north Indian Indo-Aryan languages all evolved into distinct, recognisable languages in the New Indo-Aryan Age. ^[34]

In the Northeast India, among the Sino-Tibetan languages, Meitei language (officially known as Manipuri language) was the court language of the Manipur Kingdom (Meitei : Meeteileipak). It was honoured before and during the darbar sessions before Manipur was merged into the Dominion of the Indian Republic. Its history of existence spans from 1500 to 2000 years according to most eminent scholars including Padma Vibhushan awardee Suniti Kumar Chatterji. ^{[35] [36]} Even according to the "Manipur State Constitution Act, 1947" of the once independent Manipur, Manipuri and English were made the court languages of the kingdom (before merging into Indian Republic). ^{[37] [38]}

Persian, or Farsi, was brought into India by the Ghaznavids and other Turko-Afghan dynasties as the court language. Culturally Persianized, they, in combination with the later Mughal dynasty (of Turco-Mongol origin), influenced the art, history, and literature of the region for more than 500 years, resulting in the Persianisation of many Indian tongues, mainly lexically. In 1837, the British replaced Persian with English and Hindustani in Perso-Arabic script for administrative purposes and the Hindi movement of the 19th Century replaced Persianised vocabulary with Sanskrit derivations and replaced or supplemented the use of Perso-Arabic script for administrative purposes with Devanagari. ^{[20] [39]}

Each of the northern Indian languages had different influences. For example, Hindustani was strongly influenced by Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian, leading to the emergence of Modern Standard Hindi and Modern Standard Urdu as registers of the Hindustani language. Bangla on the other hand has retained its Sanskritic roots while heavily expanding its vocabulary with words from Persian, English, French and other foreign languages. ^{[40] [41]}

Inventories

Main article: List of languages by number of native speakers in India

The first official survey of language diversity in the Indian subcontinent was carried out by Sir George Abraham Grierson from 1898 to 1928. Titled the Linguistic Survey of India, it reported a total of 179 languages and 544 dialects. ^[42] However, the results were skewed due to ambiguities in distinguishing between "dialect" and "language", ^[42] use of untrained personnel and under-reporting of data from South India, as the former provinces of Burma and Madras, as well as the princely states of Cochin, Hyderabad, Mysore and Travancore were not included in the survey. ^[43]

Languages of India by language families (Ethnologue) ^[44]

   Sino-Tibetan (34.90%)

   Indo-European (33.01%)

   Dravidian (19.81%)

   Austroasiatic (7.54%)

   Andamanese (3.30%)

   Kra–Dai (1.17%)

  Isolates (0.23%)

Different sources give widely differing figures, primarily based on how the terms "language" and "dialect" are defined and grouped. Ethnologue , produced by the Christian evangelist organisation SIL International, lists 435 tongues for India (out of 6,912 worldwide), 424 of which are living, while 11 are extinct. The 424 living languages are further subclassified in Ethnologue as follows: ^{[44] [45]}

• Institutional– 45
• Stable– 248
• Endangered– 131
• Extinct– 11

The People's Linguistic Survey of India, a privately owned research institution in India, has recorded over 66 different scripts and more than 780 languages in India during its nationwide survey, which the organisation claims to be the biggest linguistic survey in India. ^[46]

The People of India (POI) project of Anthropological Survey of India reported 325 languages which are used for in-group communication by 5,633 Indian communities. ^[47]

Census of India figures

The Census of India records and publishes data with respect to the number of speakers for languages and dialects, but uses its own unique terminology, distinguishing between language and mother tongue. The mother tongues are grouped within each language. Many of the mother tongues so defined could be considered a language rather than a dialect by linguistic standards. This is especially so for many mother tongues with tens of millions of speakers that are officially grouped under the language Hindi.

1951 Census

Separate figures for Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi were not issued, due to the fact the returns were intentionally recorded incorrectly in states such as East Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, PEPSU, and Bilaspur. ^[48]

1961 Census

The 1961 census recognised 1,652 mother tongues spoken by 438,936,918 people, counting all declarations made by any individual at the time when the census was conducted. ^[49] However, the declaring individuals often mixed names of languages with those of dialects, subdialects and dialect clusters or even castes, professions, religions, localities, regions, countries and nationalities. ^[49] The list therefore includes languages with barely a few individual speakers as well as 530 unclassified mother tongues and more than 100 idioms that are non-native to India, including linguistically unspecific demonyms such as "African", "Canadian" or "Belgian". ^[49]

1991 Census

The 1991 census recognises 1,576 classified mother tongues. ^[50] According to the 1991 census, 22 languages had more than a million native speakers, 50 had more than 100,000 and 114 had more than 10,000 native speakers. The remaining accounted for a total of 566,000 native speakers (out of a total of 838 million Indians in 1991). ^{[50] [51]}

2001 Census

According to the census of 2001, there are 1635 rationalised mother tongues, 234 identifiable mother tongues and 22 major languages. ^[18] Of these, 29 languages have more than a million native speakers, 60 have more than 100,000 and 122 have more than 10,000 native speakers. ^[52] There are a few languages like Kodava that do not have a script but have a group of native speakers in Coorg (Kodagu). ^[53]

2011 Census

According to the most recent census of 2011, after thorough linguistic scrutiny, edit, and rationalization on 19,569 raw linguistic affiliations, the census recognizes 1369 rationalized mother tongues and 1474 names which were treated as ‘unclassified’ and relegated to ‘other’ mother tongue category. ^[54] Among, the 1369 rationalized mother tongues which are spoken by 10,000 or more speakers, are further grouped into appropriate set that resulted into total 121 languages. In these 121 languages, 22 are already part of the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India and the other 99 are termed as "Total of other languages" which is one short as of the other languages recognized in 2001 census. ^[55]

Multilingualism

Main article: Multilingualism in India

A danger sign in India containing eight languages, all using different scripts.

2011 Census India

Languages in India (2011)

   Hindi (43.63%)

   Bengali (8.30%)

   Marathi (6.83%)

   Telugu (6.70%)

   Tamil (5.70%)

   Gujarati (4.58%)

   Urdu (4.19%)

   Kannada (3.61%)

   Odia (3.10%)

   Malayalam (2.88%)

   Punjabi (2.74%)

   Assamese (1.16%)

   Maithili (1.12%)

   Meitei (0.15%)

  Others (5.31%)

First, second, and third languages by number of speakers in India (2011 Census)

Language	First language speakers		Second language	Third language	Total speakers
	Numbers [56]	As % of total population	Speakers (millions)		(millions) [57]	As % of total population [58]
Hindi	528,347,193	43.63	139	24	692	57.1
Bengali	97,237,669	8.30	9	1	107	8.9
Marathi	83,026,680	6.86	13	3	99	8.2
Telugu	81,127,740	6.70	12	1	95	7.8
Tamil	69,026,881	5.70	7	1	77	6.3
Gujarati	55,492,554	4.58	4	1	60	5.0
Urdu	50,772,631	4.19	11	1	63	5.2
Kannada	43,706,512	3.61	14	1	59	4.9
Odia	37,521,324	3.10	5	0.03	43	3.5
Malayalam	34,838,819	2.88	0.05	0.02	36	2.9
Punjabi	33,124,726	2.74	0.03	0.003	36	3.0
Assamese	15,311,351	1.26	7.48	0.74	24	2.0
Maithili	13,583,464	1.12	0.03	0.003	14	1.2
Meitei (Manipuri)	1,761,079	0.15	0.4	0.04	2.25	0.2
English	259,678	0.02	83	46	129	10.6
Sanskrit	24,821	0.00185	0.01	0.003	0.025	0.002

Language families

Ethnolinguistically, the languages of South Asia, echoing the complex history and geography of the region, form a complex patchwork of language families, language phyla and isolates. ^[10] Languages spoken in India belong to several language families, the major ones being the Indo-Aryan languages spoken by 78.05% of Indians and the Dravidian languages spoken by 19.64% of Indians. The most important language families in terms of speakers are: ^{[59] [5] [6] [10] [60]}

Language family	Population (2011 census) [61]
Indo-European language family	945,333,910 (78.07%)
Dravidian language family	237,840,116 (19.64%)
Austroasiatic language family	13,493,080 (1.11%)
Tibeto-Burman language family	12,257,382 (1.01%)
Semito-Hamitic language family	54,947 (0%)
Other languages	1,875,542 (0.15%)
Total speaker/population	1,210,854,977 (100%)

Indo-Aryan language family

Main article: Indo-Aryan languages

Present-day geographical distribution of the major Indo-Aryan language groups. Romani, Domari, Kholosi, Luwati, and Lomavren are outside the scope of the map.

   Pashai (Dardic)

   Khowar (Dardic)

   Shina (Dardic)

   Kohistani (Dardic)

   Kashmiri (Dardic)

   Punjabi (Northwestern)

   Sindhi (Northwestern)

   Rajasthani (Western)

   Gujarati (Western)

   Khandeshi (Western)

   Bhili (Western)

   Western Pahari (Northern)

   Central Pahari (Northern)

   Eastern Pahari (Northern)

   Western Hindi (Central)

   Eastern Hindi (Central)

   Bengali-Assamese (Eastern)

   Bihari (Eastern)

   Odia (Eastern)

   Halbic (Eastern)

   Marathi-Konkani (Southern)

   Sinhala (Southern)

   Dhivehi (Southern)

(not shown: Kunar (Dardic), Chinali-Lahuli (Unclassified))

The largest of the language families represented in India, in terms of speakers, is the Indo-Aryan language family, a branch of the Indo-Iranian family, itself the easternmost, extant subfamily of the Indo-European language family. This language family predominates, accounting for some 1035 million speakers, or over 76.5 of the population, per a 2018 estimate. The most widely spoken languages of this group are Hindi, ^{[n 1]} Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Odia, Maithili, Punjabi, Marwari, Kashmiri, Assamese (Asamiya), Chhattisgarhi and Sindhi. ^{[62] [63]} Aside from the Indo-Aryan languages, other Indo-European languages are also spoken in India, the most prominent of which is English, as a lingua franca .

Dravidian language family

Main article: Dravidian languages

The second largest language family is the Dravidian language family, accounting for some 277 million speakers, or approximately 20.5% per 2018 estimate. The Dravidian languages are spoken mainly in southern India and parts of eastern and central India as well as in parts of northeastern Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. The Dravidian languages with the most speakers are Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam. ^[6] Besides the mainstream population, Dravidian languages are also spoken by small scheduled tribe communities, such as the Oraon and Gond tribes. ^[64] Only two Dravidian languages are exclusively spoken outside India, Brahui in Balochistan, Pakistan and Dhangar, a dialect of Kurukh, in Nepal. ^[65]

Austroasiatic language family

Families with smaller numbers of speakers are Austroasiatic and numerous small Sino-Tibetan languages, with some 10 and 6 million speakers, respectively, together 3% of the population. ^[66]

The Austroasiatic language family (austro meaning South) is the autochthonous language in Southeast Asia, arrived by migration. Austroasiatic languages of mainland India are the Khasi and Munda languages, including Bhumij and Santali. The languages of the Nicobar islands also form part of this language family. With the exceptions of Khasi and Santali, all Austroasiatic languages on Indian territory are endangered. ^{[10] : 456–457}

Tibeto-Burman language family

The Tibeto-Burman language family is well represented in India. However, their interrelationships are not discernible, and the family has been described as "a patch of leaves on the forest floor" rather than with the conventional metaphor of a "family tree". ^{[10] : 283–5}

Padma Vibhushan awardee Indian Bengali scholar Suniti Kumar Chatterjee said, "Among the various Tibeto-Burman languages, the most important and in literature certainly of much greater importance than Newari, is the Meitei or Manipuri language". ^{[67] [68] [69]}

In India, Tibeto-Burman languages are spoken across the Himalayas in the regions of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam (hills and autonomous councils), Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and West Bengal. ^{[70] [71] [72]}

Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in India include two constitutionally recognised official languages, Meitei (officially known as Manipuri) and Bodo as well as the non-scheduled languages like Karbi, Lepcha, and many varieties of several related Tibetic, West Himalayish, Tani, Brahmaputran, Angami–Pochuri, Tangkhul, Zeme, Kukish sub linguistic branches, amongst many others.

Tai-Kadai language family

The Ahom language, a Southwestern Tai language, had been once the dominant language of the Ahom Kingdom in modern-day Assam, but was later replaced by the Assamese language (known as Kamrupi in ancient era which is the pre-form of the Kamrupi dialect of today). Nowadays, small Tai communities and their languages remain in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh together with Sino-Tibetans, e.g. Tai Phake, Tai Aiton and Tai Khamti, which are similar to the Shan language of Shan State, Myanmar; the Dai language of Yunnan, China; the Lao language of Laos; the Thai language of Thailand; and the Zhuang language in Guangxi, China.

Andamanese language families

The languages of the Andaman Islands form another group: ^[73]

• the Great Andamanese languages, comprising a number of extinct, and one highly endangered language Aka-Jeru.
• the Ongan family of the southern Andaman Islands, comprising two extant languages, Önge and Jarawa, and one extinct language, Jangil.

In addition, Sentinelese is thought likely to be related to the above languages. ^[73]

Language isolates

The only language found in the Indian mainland that is considered a language isolate is Nihali. ^{[10] : 337} The status of Nihali is ambiguous, having been considered as a distinct Austroasiatic language, as a dialect of Korku and also as being a "thieves' argot" rather than a legitimate language. ^{[74] [75]}

The other language isolates found in the rest of South Asia include Burushaski, a language spoken in Gilgit–Baltistan (administered by Pakistan), Kusunda (in western Nepal), and Vedda (in Sri Lanka). ^{[10] : 283} The validity of the Great Andamanese language group as a language family has been questioned and it has been considered a language isolate by some authorities. ^{[10] : 283  [76] [77]} The Hruso language, which is long assumed to be a Sino-Tibetan language, it may actually be a language isolate. ^{[78] [79]} Roger Blench classifies the Shompen language of the Nicobar Islands as a language isolate. ^[80] Roger Blench also considers Puroik to be a language isolate. ^[81]

In addition, a Bantu language, Sidi, was spoken until the mid-20th century in Gujarat by the Siddi. ^{[10] : 528}

Official languages

Main article: Languages with official status in India

States and union territories of India by the most commonly spoken (L1) first language

Official languages of India by state and union territory. Hindustani refers to both Hindi and Urdu in this map.

Federal level

See also: Anti-Hindi agitations of Tamil Nadu

Language proficiency in India (2001, 2011) [83] [84]
Language	Year		percent
Hindi	2001		53.61%	+3.50%
	2011		57.11%
English	2001		12.19%	-1.57%
	2011		10.62%

After Mughal rule and prior to Independence, in British India, English was the sole language used for administrative purposes as well as for higher education purposes. ^[85]

In 1946, the issue of national language was a bitterly contested subject in the proceedings of the Constituent Assembly of India, specifically what should be the language in which the Constitution of India is written and the language spoken during the proceedings of Parliament and thus deserving of the epithet "national". The Constitution of India does not give any language the status of national language. ^{[15] [16]}

Members belonging to the northern parts of India insisted that the Constitution be drafted in Hindi with the unofficial translation in English. This was not agreed to by the drafting committee on the grounds that English was much better to craft the nuanced prose on constitutional subjects. The efforts to make Hindi the pre-eminent language were bitterly resisted by the members from those parts of India where Hindi was not spoken natively.

Eventually, a compromise was reached not to include any mention of a national language. Instead, Hindi in Devanagari script was declared to be the official language of the union, but for "fifteen years from the commencement of the Constitution, the English Language shall continue to be used for all the official purposes of the Union for which it was being used immediately before such commencement." ^[85]

Article 343 (1) of the Constitution of India states "The Official Language of the Union government shall be Hindi in Devanagari script." ^{[86] : 212  [87]} Unless Parliament decided otherwise, the use of English for official purposes was to cease 15 years after the constitution came into effect, i.e. on 26 January 1965. ^{[86] : 212  [87]}

As the date for changeover approached, however, there was much alarm in the non-Hindi-speaking areas of India, especially in Kerala, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, West Bengal, Karnataka, Puducherry and Andhra Pradesh. Accordingly, Jawaharlal Nehru ensured the enactment of the Official Languages Act, 1963, ^{[88] [89]} which provided that English "may" still be used with Hindi for official purposes, even after 1965. ^[85] The wording of the text proved unfortunate in that while Nehru understood that "may" meant shall, politicians championing the cause of Hindi thought it implied exactly the opposite. ^[85]

In the event, as 1965 approached, India's new Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri prepared to make Hindi paramount with effect from 26 January 1965. This led to widespread agitation, riots, self-immolations, and suicides in Tamil Nadu. The split of Congress politicians from the South from their party stance, the resignation of two Union ministers from the South, and the increasing threat to the country's unity forced Shastri to concede. ^{[85] [25]}

As a result, the proposal was dropped, ^{[90] [91]} and the Act itself was amended in 1967 to provide that the use of English would not be ended until a resolution to that effect was passed by the legislature of every state that had not adopted Hindi as its official language, and by each house of the Indian Parliament. ^[88]

Hindi

Main article: Hindi

The Hindi-belt, including Hindi-related languages such as Rajasthani and Bhojpuri

In the 2001 census, 422 million (422,048,642) people in India reported Hindi to be their native language. ^[92] This figure not only included Hindi speakers of Hindustani, but also people who identify as native speakers of related languages who consider their speech to be a dialect of Hindi, the Hindi belt. Hindi (or Hindustani) is the native language of most people living in Delhi and Western Uttar Pradesh. ^[93]

"Modern Standard Hindi", a standardised language is one of the official languages of the Union of India. In addition, it is one of only two languages used for business in Parliament. However, the Rajya Sabha now allows all 22 official languages on the Eighth Schedule to be spoken. ^[94]

Hindustani, evolved from khari boli (खड़ी बोली), a prominent tongue of Mughal times, which itself evolved from Apabhraṃśa, an intermediary transition stage from Prakrit, from which the major North Indian Indo-Aryan languages have evolved.^{[ citation needed ]}

By virtue of its being a lingua franca , Hindi has also developed regional dialects such as Bambaiya Hindi in Mumbai. In addition, a trade language, Andaman Creole Hindi has also developed in the Andaman Islands. ^[95] In addition, by use in popular culture such as songs and films, Hindi also serves as a lingua franca across North-Central India.^{[ citation needed ]}

Hindi is widely taught both as a primary language and language of instruction and as a second tongue in many states.

English

Main articles: English language and Indian English

British colonialism in India resulted in English becoming a language for governance, business, and education. English, along with Hindi, is one of the two languages permitted in the Constitution of India for business in Parliament. Despite the fact that Hindi has official Government patronage and serves as a lingua franca over large parts of India, there was considerable opposition to the use of Hindi in the southern states of India, and English has emerged as a de facto lingua franca over much of India. ^{[85] [25]} Journalist Manu Joseph, in a 2011 article in The New York Times , wrote that due to the prominence and usage of the language and the desire for English-language education, "English is the de facto national language of India. It is a bitter truth." ^[96] English language proficiency is highest among urban residents, wealthier Indians, Indians with higher levels of educational attainment, Christians, men and younger Indians. ^[97] In 2017, more than 58 percent of rural teens could read basic English, and 53 percent of fourteen year-olds & sixty percent of 18-year-olds could read English sentences. ^[98]

Scheduled languages

Main languages of India and their relative size according to how many speakers each has

Until the Twenty-first Amendment of the Constitution of India in 1967, the country recognised 14 official regional languages. The Eighth Schedule and the Seventy-First Amendment provided for the inclusion of Sindhi, Konkani, Meitei and Nepali, thereby increasing the number of official regional languages of India to 18. The Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India, as of 1 December 2007, lists 22 languages, ^{[86] : 330} which are given in the table below together with the regions where they are used. ^[92]

Fastest growing languages of India — Hindi (first), Kashmiri (second), Gujarati & Meitei/Manipuri (third), Bengali (fourth) — based on 2011 census of India

Language	Family	ISO 639 code
Assamese	Indo-Aryan	as
Bengali (Bangla)	Indo-Aryan	bn
Bodo	Sino-Tibetan	brx
Dogri	Indo-Aryan	doi
Gujarati	Indo-Aryan	gu
Hindi	Indo-Aryan	hi
Kannada	Dravidian	kn
Kashmiri	Indo-Aryan	ks
Konkani	Indo-Aryan	gom
Maithili	Indo-Aryan	mai
Malayalam	Dravidian	ml
Meitei (Manipuri)	Sino-Tibetan	mni
Marathi	Indo-Aryan	mr
Nepali	Indo-Aryan	ne
Odia	Indo-Aryan	or
Punjabi	Indo-Aryan	pa
Sanskrit	Indo-Aryan	sa
Santali	Austroasiatic	sat
Sindhi	Indo-Aryan	sd
Tamil	Dravidian	ta
Telugu	Dravidian	te
Urdu	Indo-Aryan	ur

The individual states, the borders of most of which are or were drawn on socio-linguistic lines, can legislate their own official languages, depending on their linguistic demographics. The official languages chosen reflect the predominant as well as politically significant languages spoken in that state. Certain states having a linguistically defined territory may have only the predominant language in that state as its official language, examples being Karnataka and Gujarat, which have Kannada and Gujarati as their sole official language respectively. Telangana, with a sizeable Urdu-speaking Muslim population, and Andhra Pradesh ^[100] has two languages, Telugu and Urdu, as its official languages.

Some states buck the trend by using minority languages as official languages. Jammu and Kashmir used to have Urdu, which is spoken by fewer than 1% of the population, as the sole official language until 2020. Meghalaya uses English spoken by 0.01% of the population. This phenomenon has turned majority languages into "minority languages" in a functional sense. ^[101]

In addition to official languages, a few states also designate official scripts.

State	Official language(s)	Additional official language(s)	Mandated scripts
Andhra Pradesh	Telugu [102]	English, [103] Urdu [7]
Arunachal Pradesh	English [104]
Assam [105]	Assamese and Bodo	Bengali in three districts of Barak Valley [106]	Bodo is officially written in the Devanagari script.
Bihar	Hindi [107]	Urdu [107]
Chhattisgarh [108]	Hindi [109]	Chhattisgarhi	Devanagari
Goa	Konkani, English [110]	Marathi [111] : 27  [112]
Gujarat	Gujarati, Hindi [113]
Haryana [114]	Hindi	English, [111] Punjabi [115]	Hindi should be written in Devanagari. Punjabi should be written in Gurmukhi.
Himachal Pradesh [116]	Hindi	Sanskrit [117]	Both Hindi and Sanskrit are written in Devanagari.
Jharkhand	Hindi [104]	Angika, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Bhumij, Ho, Kharia, Khortha, Kurmali, Kurukh, Magahi, Maithili, Mundari, Nagpuri, Odia, Santali, Urdu [118] [119]
Karnataka	Kannada
Kerala	Malayalam	English
Madhya Pradesh [120]	Hindi
Maharashtra [121]	Marathi		Devanagari
Manipur [122]	Manipuri	English	Meetei mayek
Meghalaya	English [123]	Khasi and Garo [124] (associate official in districts)
Mizoram	Mizo, English [125]
Nagaland	English
Odisha	Odia [126]	English
Punjab	Punjabi [111]		Gurmukhi
Rajasthan	Hindi
Sikkim	English, Nepali, Sikkimese, Lepcha [111] [127]	Gurung, Limbu, Magar, Mukhia, Newari, Rai, Sherpa and Tamang [111]
Tamil Nadu	Tamil	English
Telangana	Telugu	Urdu [128] [129]
Tripura	Bengali, English, Kokborok [130] [131] [132]
Uttar Pradesh	Hindi	Urdu [133]
Uttarakhand	Hindi	Sanskrit
West Bengal	Bengali, English [111] [134]	Nepali in Darjeeling and Kurseong sub-divisions; [111] Urdu, Hindi, Odia, Santali, Punjabi, Kamtapuri, Rajbanshi, Kudmali/Kurmali, Kurukh and Telugu in blocks, divisions or districts with population greater than 10 per cent [135] [136] [137] [138]

Union territory	Official language(s) [111]	Additional official language(s)
Andaman and Nicobar Islands [139]	Hindi, English
Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu [140] [141]		Gujarati
Delhi [142]		Urdu, Punjabi
Ladakh
Chandigarh [143]	English
Lakshadweep [144] [145]
Jammu and Kashmir	Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi, Urdu, English [146]
Puducherry	Tamil, Telugu (in Yanam), Malayalam (in Mahe) [b] [147] [148]	English, French [149]

In addition to states and union territories, India has autonomous administrative regions which may be permitted to select their own official language – a case in point being the Bodoland Territorial Council in Assam which has declared the Bodo language as official for the region, in addition to Assamese and English already in use. ^[150] and Bengali in the Barak Valley, ^[151] as its official languages.

Prominent languages of India

Hindi

Main article: Hindi

At a tourist site in Bengaluru  – Top to bottom, the languages are Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam. English and many other European languages are also provided here.

In British India, English was the sole language used for administrative purposes as well as for higher education purposes. When India became independent in 1947, the Indian legislators had the challenge of choosing a language for official communication as well as for communication between different linguistic regions across India. The choices available were:

• Making "Hindi", which a plurality of the people (41%) ^[92] identified as their native language, the official language.
• Making English, as preferred by non-Hindi speakers, particularly Kannadigas and Tamils, and those from Mizoram and Nagaland, the official language. See also Anti-Hindi agitations .
• Declare both Hindi and English as official languages and each state is given freedom to choose the official language of the state.

The Indian constitution, in 1950, declared Hindi in Devanagari script to be the official language of the union. ^[86] Unless Parliament decided otherwise, the use of English for official purposes was to cease 15 years after the constitution came into effect, i.e. on 26 January 1965. ^[86] The prospect of the changeover, however, led to much alarm in the non-Hindi-speaking areas of India, especially in South India whose native tongues are not related to Hindi. As a result, Parliament enacted the Official Languages Act in 1963, ^{[152] [153] [154] [155] [156] [157]} which provided for the continued use of English for official purposes along with Hindi, even after 1965.

Bengali

Main article: Bengali language

Native to the Bengal region, comprising the nation of Bangladesh and the states of West Bengal, Tripura and Barak Valley region ^{[158] [159]} of Assam. Bengali (also spelt as Bangla: বাংলা) is the sixth most spoken language in the world. ^{[158] [159]} After the partition of India (1947), refugees from East Pakistan were settled in Tripura, and Jharkhand and the union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. There is also a large number of Bengali-speaking people in Maharashtra and Gujarat where they work as artisans in jewellery industries. Bengali developed from Abahattha, a derivative of Apabhramsha, itself derived from Magadhi Prakrit. The modern Bengali vocabulary contains the vocabulary base from Magadhi Prakrit and Pali, also borrowings from Sanskrit and other major borrowings from Persian, Arabic, Austroasiatic languages and other languages in contact with.

Like most Indian languages, Bengali has a number of dialects. It exhibits diglossia, with the literary and standard form differing greatly from the colloquial speech of the regions that identify with the language. ^[160] Bengali language has developed a rich cultural base spanning art, music, literature, and religion. Bengali has some of the oldest literature of all modern Indo-Aryan languages, dating from about 10th to 12th century ('Chargapada' Buddhist songs). There have been many movements in defence of this language and in 1999 UNESCO declared 21 Feb as the International Mother Language Day in commemoration of the Bengali Language Movement in 1952. ^[161]

Assamese

Main article: Assamese language

A Bhagavata manuscript written in Early Assamese, from Dakhinpat Satra.

Asamiya or Assamese language is most spoken in the state of Assam. ^[162] It is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language with more than 23 million total speakers including more than 15 million native speakers and more than 7 million L2 speakers per the 2011 Census of India. ^[163] Along with other Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, Assamese evolved at least before the 7th century CE ^[164] from the middle Indo-Aryan Magadhi Prakrit. Assamese is unusual among Eastern Indo-Aryan languages for the presence of the /x/ (which, phonetically, varies between velar ([ x ]) and a uvular ([ χ ]) pronunciations). The first characteristics of this language are seen in the Charyapadas composed in between the eighth and twelfth centuries. The first examples emerged in writings of court poets in the fourteenth century, the finest example of which is Madhav Kandali's Saptakanda Ramayana composed during 14th century CE, which was the first translation of the Ramayana into an Indo-Aryan language.

Marathi

Main article: Marathi language

Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language. It is the official language and co-official language in Maharashtra and Goa states of Western India respectively, and is one of the official languages of India. There were 83 million speakers of the language in 2011. ^[165] Marathi has the third-largest number of native speakers in India and ranks 10th in the list of most spoken languages in the world. Marathi has some of the oldest literature of all modern Indo-Aryan languages; Oldest stone inscriptions from 8th century & literature dating from about 1100 AD (Mukundraj's Vivek Sindhu dates to the 12th century). The major dialects of Marathi are Standard Marathi (Pramaan Bhasha) and the Varhadi dialect. There are other related languages such as Ahirani, Dangi, Vadvali, Samavedi. Malvani Konkani has been heavily influenced by Marathi varieties. Marathi is one of several languages that descend from Maharashtri Prakrit. The further change led to the Apabhraṃśa languages like Old Marathi.

Marathi Language Day (मराठी दिन/मराठी दिवस (transl. Marathi Dina/Marathi Diwasa) is celebrated on 27 February every year across the Indian states of Maharashtra and Goa. This day is regulated by the State Government. It is celebrated on the birthday of eminent Marathi Poet Vishnu Vaman Shirwadkar, popularly known as Kusumagraj .

Marathi is the official language of Maharashtra and co-official language in the union territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. In Goa, Konkani is the sole official language; however, Marathi may also be used for all official purposes. ^[166]

Over a period of many centuries the Marathi language and people came into contact with many other languages and dialects. The primary influence of Prakrit, Maharashtri, Apabhraṃśa and Sanskrit is understandable. Marathi has also been influenced by the Austroasiatic, Dravidian and foreign languages such as Persian and Arabic. Marathi contains loanwords from Persian, Arabic, English and a little from French and Portuguese.

Meitei

Main article: Meitei language

Meitei language (officially known as Manipuri language ) is the most widely spoken Indian Sino-Tibetan language of Tibeto-Burman linguistic sub branch. It is the sole official language in Manipur and is one of the official languages of India. It is one of the two Sino-Tibetan languages with official status in India, beside Bodo. It has been recognized as one of the advanced modern languages of India by the National Sahitya Academy for its rich literature. ^[167] It uses both Meitei script as well as Bengali script for writing. ^{[168] [169]}

Meitei language is currently proposed to be included in the elite category of "Classical Languages" of India. ^{[170] [171] [172]} Besides, it is also currently proposed to be an associate official language of Government of Assam. According to Leishemba Sanajaoba, the present titular king of Manipur and a Rajya Sabha member of Manipur state, by recognising Meitei as an associate official language of Assam, the identity, history, culture and tradition of Manipuris residing in Assam could be protected. ^{[173] [174] [175]}

Meitei Language Day (Manipuri Language Day) is celebrated on 20 August every year by the Manipuris across the Indian states of Manipur, Assam and Tripura. This day is regulated by the Government of Manipur. It is the commemoration of the day on which Meitei was included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India on the 20 August 1992. ^{[176] [177] [178] [179] [180]}

Telugu

Main article: Telugu language

Telugu is the most widely spoken Dravidian language in India and around the world. Telugu is an official language in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Yanam, making it one of the few languages (along with Hindi, Bengali, and Urdu) with official status in more than one state. It is also spoken by a significant number of people in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and by the Sri Lankan Gypsy people. It is one of six languages with classical status in India. Telugu ranks fourth by the number of native speakers in India (81 million in the 2011 Census), ^[165] fifteenth in the Ethnologue list of most-spoken languages worldwide and is the most widely spoken Dravidian language.

Tamil

Main article: Tamil language

15th-century anthology of Tamil religious poetry dedicated to Ganesha

Tamil is a Dravidian language predominantly spoken in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and many parts of Sri Lanka. It is also spoken by large minorities in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius and throughout the world. Tamil ranks fifth by the number of native speakers in India (61 million in the 2001 Census) ^[181] and ranks 20th in the list of most spoken languages.^{[ citation needed ]} It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and was the first Indian language to be declared a classical language by the Government of India in 2004. Tamil is one of the longest surviving classical languages in the world. ^{[182] [183]} It has been described as "the only language of contemporary India which is recognisably continuous with a classical past". ^[184] The two earliest manuscripts from India, ^{[185] [186]} acknowledged and registered by UNESCO Memory of the World register in 1997 and 2005, are in Tamil. ^[187] Tamil is an official language of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Sri Lanka and Singapore. It is also recognized as a minority language in Canada, Malaysia, Mauritius and South Africa.

Urdu

Main article: Urdu

After independence, Modern Standard Urdu, the Persianised register of Hindustani became the national language of Pakistan. During British colonial times, knowledge of Hindustani or Urdu was a must for officials. Hindustani was made the second language of British Indian Empire after English and considered as the language of administration.^{[ citation needed ]} The British introduced the use of Roman script for Hindustani as well as other languages. Urdu had 70 million speakers in India (per the Census of 2001), and, along with Hindi, is one of the 22 officially recognised regional languages of India and also an official language in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh ^[100] , Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Telangana that have significant Muslim populations.

Gujarati

Main article: Gujarati language

Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the west Indian region of Gujarat. Gujarati is part of the greater Indo-European language family. Gujarati is descended from Old Gujarati (c. 1100 – 1500 CE), the same source as that of Rajasthani. Gujarati is the chief and official language in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is also an official language in the union territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. According to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 4.5% of population of India (1.21 billion according to 2011 census) speaks Gujarati. This amounts to 54.6 million speakers in India. ^[188]

Kannada

Main article: Kannada

Kannada is a Dravidian language which branched off from Kannada-Tamil sub group around 500 B.C.E according to the Dravidian scholar Zvelebil. ^[189] It is the official language of Karnataka. According to the Dravidian scholars Steever and Krishnamurthy, the study of Kannada language is usually divided into three linguistic phases: Old (450–1200 CE), Middle (1200–1700 CE) and Modern (1700–present). ^{[190] [191]} The earliest written records are from the 5th century, ^[192] and the earliest available literature in rich manuscript ( Kavirajamarga ) is from c. 850. ^{[193] [194]} Kannada language has the second oldest written tradition of all languages of India. ^{[195] [196]} Current estimates of the total number of epigraph present in Karnataka range from 25,000 by the scholar Sheldon Pollock to over 30,000 by the Sahitya Akademi, ^[197] making Karnataka state "one of the most densely inscribed pieces of real estate in the world". ^[198] According to Garg and Shipely, more than a thousand notable writers have contributed to the wealth of the language. ^{[199] [200]}

Malayalam

Main article: Malayalam

Malayalam has official language status in the state of Kerala and in the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry. It belongs to the Dravidian family of languages and is spoken by some 38 million people. Malayalam is also spoken in the neighboring states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka; with some speakers in the Nilgiris, Kanyakumari and Coimbatore districts of Tamil Nadu, and the Dakshina Kannada and the Kodagu district of Karnataka. ^{[201] [202] [203]} Malayalam originated from Middle Tamil (Sen-Tamil) in the 7th century. ^[204] As Malayalam began to freely borrow words as well as the rules of grammar from Sanskrit, the Grantha alphabet was adopted for writing and came to be known as Arya Eluttu. ^[205] This developed into the modern Malayalam script. ^[206]

Odia

Main article: Odia language

Odia (formerly spelled Oriya) ^[207] is the only modern language officially recognized as a classical language from the Indo-Aryan group. Odia is primarily spoken and has official language status in the Indian state of Odisha and has over 40 million speakers. It was declared as a classical language of India in 2014. Native speakers comprise 91.85% of the population in Odisha. ^{[208] [209]} Odia originated from Odra Prakrit which developed from Magadhi Prakrit, a language spoken in eastern India over 2,500 years ago. The history of Odia language can be divided to Old Odia (3rd century BC −1200 century AD), ^[210] Early Middle Odia (1200–1400), Middle Odia (1400–1700), Late Middle Odia (1700–1870) and Modern Odia (1870 until present day). The National Manuscripts Mission of India have found around 213,000 unearthed and preserved manuscripts written in Odia. ^[211]

Santali

Main article: Santali language

Santali is a Munda language, a branch of Austroasiatic languages spoken widely in Jharkhand and other states of eastern India by Santhal community of tribal and non-tribal. ^[212] It is written in Ol Chiki script invented by Raghunath Murmu at the end of 19th century. ^[213] Santali is spoken by 0.67% of India's population. ^{[214] [215]} About 7 million people speak this language. ^[216] It is also spoken in Bangladesh and Nepal. ^{[217] [218]} The language is major tribal language of Jharkhand and thus Santhal community is demanding to make it as the official language of Jharkhand. ^[219]

Punjabi

Main article: Punjabi language

Punjabi, written in the Gurmukhi script in India, is one of the prominent languages of India with about 32 million speakers. In Pakistan it is spoken by over 80 million people and is written in the Shahmukhi alphabet. It is mainly spoken in Punjab but also in neighboring areas. It is an official language of Delhi and Punjab.

Maithili

Main article: Maithili language

Maithili is an Indo-Aryan language native to India and Nepal. In India, it is widely spoken in the Bihar and Jharkhand states. ^{[220] [221]} Native speakers are also found in other states and union territories of India, most notably in Uttar Pradesh and the National Capital Territory of Delhi. ^[222] In the 2011 census of India, It was reported by 13,583,464 people as their mother tongue comprising about 1.12% of the total population of India. ^[223] In Nepal, it is spoken in the eastern Terai, and is the second most prevalent language of Nepal. ^[224] Tirhuta was formerly the primary script for written Maithili. Less commonly, it was also written in the local variant of Kaithi. ^[225] Today it is written in the Devanagari script. ^[226]

In 2003, Maithili was included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution as a recognised regional language of India, which allows it to be used in education, government, and other official contexts. ^[227]

Classical languages of India

Main article: Classical Languages of India

Further information: Meitei classical language movement

In 2004, the Government of India declared that languages that met certain requirements could be accorded the status of a "Classical Language" of India. ^[228]

Languages thus far declared to be classical:

• Tamil (in 2004), ^[229]
• Sanskrit (in 2005), ^[230]
• Kannada (in 2008), ^[231]
• Telugu (in 2008), ^[231]
• Malayalam (in 2013), ^[232]
• Odia (in 2014), ^{[233] [234]}
• Assamese (in 2024) ^{[235] [236]}
• Bangla (in 2024), ^{[235] [236]}
• Marathi (in 2024) ^{[235] [236]}
• Pali (in 2024) ^{[235] [236]}
• Prakrit (in 2024) ^{[235] [236]}

Over the next few years, several languages were granted the Classical status, and demands have been made for other languages, including Maithili ^[237] and Meitei (officially called Manipuri). ^{[238] [239] [240]}

Other regional languages and dialects

The 2001 census identified the following native languages having more than one million speakers. Most of them are dialects/variants grouped under Hindi. ^[92]

Languages	No. of native speakers [92]
Bhojpuri	33,099,497
Rajasthani	18,355,613
Magadhi/Magahi	13,978,565
Chhattisgarhi	13,260,186
Haryanvi	7,997,192
Marwari	7,936,183
Malvi	5,565,167
Mewari	5,091,697
Khorth/Khotta	4,725,927
Bundeli	3,072,147
Bagheli	2,865,011
Pahari	2,832,825
Laman/Lambadi	2,707,562
Awadhi	2,529,308
Harauti	2,462,867
Garhwali	2,267,314
Nimadi	2,148,146
Sadan/Sadri	2,044,776
Kumauni	2,003,783
Dhundhari	1,871,130
Tulu	1,722,768
Surgujia	1,458,533
Bagri Rajasthani	1,434,123
Banjari	1,259,821
Nagpuria	1,242,586
Surajpuri	1,217,019
Kangri	1,122,843

Practical problems

"Scheduled" and "non-scheduled" official languages of Northeast Indian states; most of the languages in Northeast are unrecognized by the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India

India has several languages in use; choosing any single language as an official language presents problems to all those whose "mother tongue" is different. However, all the boards of education across India recognise the need for training people to one common language. ^[241] There are complaints that in North India, non-Hindi speakers have language trouble. Similarly, there are complaints that North Indians have to undergo difficulties on account of language when travelling to South India. It is common to hear of incidents that result due to friction between those who strongly believe in the chosen official language, and those who follow the thought that the chosen language(s) do not take into account everyone's preferences. ^[242] Local official language commissions have been established and various steps are being taken in a direction to reduce tensions and friction.^{[ citation needed ]}

Languages by earliest known inscriptions

Further information: Sanskrit epigraphy

Earliest known manuscripts are often subjected to debates and disputes, due to the conflicting opinions and assumptions of different scholars, claiming high antiquity of the languages. So, inscriptions are studied more in depth for understanding the chronology of the oldest known languages of the Indian subcontinent.

Date	Language	Earliest known inscriptions	Images	Notes
early 2nd century BC	Old Tamil	rock inscription ARE 465/1906 at Mangulam caves, Tamil Nadu [243] (Other authors give dates from late 3rd century BC to 1st century AD. [244] [245] )	2nd century BCE Tamil Brahmi inscription Arittapatti, Madurai, India
1st century BC	Sanskrit	Ayodhya Inscription of Dhana, and Hathibada Ghosundi Inscriptions (both near Chittorgarh) [246]	Dhanadeva Ayodhya inscription	The Junagadh rock inscription of Rudradaman (shortly after 150 AD) is the oldest long text. [247]
c. 450	Old Kannada	Halmidi inscription [248]	Halmidi inscription
c. 568 CE	Meitei	Yumbanlol copper plate inscriptions about literature of sexuality, the relationships between husbands and wives, and instructions on how to run a household. [249] [250]	Yumbanlol copper plate inscriptions
c. 575 CE	Telugu	Kalamalla inscription [251]
c. 849/850 CE	Malayalam	Quilon Syrian copper plates [252]	Quilon Syrian copper plates plates
c. 1012 CE	Marathi	A stone inscription from Akshi taluka of Raigad district [253]
c. 1051 CE	Odia	Urajam inscription [254] [255]	Odia - Urajam inscription

Language policy

Further information: Three language formula and National Education Policy 2020

The Union Government of India formulated the Three language formula.

In the Prime Minister's Office

See also: Prime Minister's Office (India) and Prime Minister of India

The official website of the Prime Minister's Office of India publishes its official information in 11 Indian official languages, namely Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Meitei (Manipuri), Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu, out of the 22 official languages of the Indian Republic, in addition to English and Hindi. ^[256]

In the Press Information Bureau

Main article: Press Information Bureau

The Press Information Bureau (PIB) selects 14 Indian official languages, which are Dogri, Punjabi, Bengali, Oriya, Gujarati, Marathi, Meitei (Manipuri), Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Konkani and Urdu, in addition to Hindi and English, out of the 22 official languages of the Indian Republic to render its information about all the Central Government press releases. ^{[c] [257] [258]}

In the Staff Selection Commission

Main article: Staff Selection Commission

The Staff Selection Commission (SSC) selected 13 Indian official languages, which are Urdu, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Konkani, Meitei (Manipuri), Marathi, Odia and Punjabi, in addition to Hindi and English, out of the 22 official languages of the Indian Republic, to conduct the Multi-Tasking (Non-Technical) Staff examination for the first time in its history. ^{[259] [260]}

In the Central Armed Police Forces

The Union Government of India selected Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Malayalam, Meitei (Manipuri), Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Odia, Urdu, Punjabi, and Konkani, 13 out of the 22 official languages of the Indian Republic, in addition to Hindi & English, to be used in the recruitment examination of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF). The decision was taken by the Home Minister after having an agreement between the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Staff Selection Commission. ^{[261] [262]} The official decision will be converted into action from 1 January 2024;10 months ago (2024-01-01). ^[263]

Language conflicts

Further information: Anti-Hindi agitations of Tamil Nadu, Pure Tamil movement, Meitei linguistic purism movement, and Gokak agitation

There are conflicts over linguistic rights in India. The first major linguistic conflict, known as the Anti-Hindi agitations of Tamil Nadu, took place in Tamil Nadu against the implementation of Hindi as the official language of India. Political analysts consider this as a major factor in bringing DMK to power and leading to the ousting and nearly total elimination of the Congress party in Tamil Nadu. ^[264] Strong cultural pride based on language is also found in other Indian states such as Assam, Odisha, Karnataka, West Bengal, Punjab and Maharashtra. To express disapproval of the imposition of Hindi on its states' people as a result of the central government, the government of Maharashtra made the state language Marathi mandatory in educational institutions of CBSE and ICSE through Class/Grade 10. ^[265]

The Government of India attempts to assuage these conflicts with various campaigns, coordinated by the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, a branch of the Department of Higher Education, Language Bureau, and the Ministry of Human Resource Development.^{[ clarification needed ][ citation needed ]}

Linguistic movements

In the history of India, various linguistic movements were and are undertaken by different literary, political and social associations as well as organisations, advocating for the changes and the developments of several languages, dialects and vernaculars in diverse critical, discriminative and unfavorable circumstances and situations.

Bengali

Further information: Bengali language

• Bengali language movement in India

Bhojpuri

The Bhojpuri language movement, a linguistic movement that has been actively campaigning for greater recognition of the Bhojpuri language since 1947. ^{[266] [267]}

There have been several protests and demands to include the Bhojpuri language in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution for a long time. In 1971, CPI MP Bhogendra Jha introduced a bill on this issue in the Lok Sabha, but it was rejected.

In 2009 and 2016, Yogi Adityanath, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and former MP from Gorakhpur, raised the issue of Bhojpuri's recognition in the Lok Sabha. He emphasized that Bhojpuri, spoken in parts of India and 27 countries, is one of the world's major languages. ^[268]

Meitei (Manipuri)

Further information: Meitei language

• Meitei language movements (aka Manipuri language movements), various linguistic movements for the cause of Meitei language (officially called Manipuri language)
  • Meitei linguistic purism movement, an ongoing linguistic movement, aimed to attain linguistic purism in Meitei language
  • Scheduled language movement, a historical linguistic movement in Northeast India, aimed at the recognition of Meitei language as one of the scheduled languages of Indian Republic
  • Meitei classical language movement, an ongoing linguistic movement in Northeast India, aimed at the recognition of Meitei language as an officially recognized "classical language"
  • Meitei associate official language movement, a semi active linguistic movement in Northeast India, aimed at the recognition of Meitei language as an "associate" official language of Assam

Rajasthani

Further information: Rajasthani language

• Rajasthani language movement, a linguistic movement that has been campaigning for greater recognition for the Rajasthani language since 1947

Tamil

Further information: Tamil language

• Tanittamil Iyakkam (Pure Tamil Movement), a linguistic purism movement for the Tamil language, to ignore the loanwords borrowed from Sanskrit

Developmental works

In the age of technological advancements, the Google Translate supports the following Indian languages: Bengali, Bhojpuri, ^[269] Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Meiteilon (Manipuri) ^[d] (in Meitei script ^[e] ), Odia, Punjabi (in Gurmukhi script ^[f] ), Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu.

Meitei (Manipuri)

Further information: Meitei language, Meitei script, and Directorate of Language Planning and Implementation

On the 4 September 2013, the Directorate of Language Planning and Implementation (DLPI) was established for the development and the promotion of Meitei language (officially called Manipuri language) and the Meitei script (Manipuri script) in Manipur. ^{[270] [271]}

The Manipuri Sahitya Parishad is given annual financial support of ₹500,000 (equivalent to ₹750,000orUS$9,000 in 2023) by the Government of Manipur. ^{[272] [273] [274]}

Since 2020, the Government of Assam is giving annual financial support of ₹500,000 (equivalent to ₹590,000orUS$7,100 in 2023) to the Assam Manipuri Sahitya Parishad. Besides, the Assam government financed ₹6 crore (equivalent to ₹7.1 croreorUS$850,000 in 2023) for the creation of a corpus for the development of the Meitei language (officially called Manipuri language). ^[275]

In September 2021, the Central Government of India released ₹180 million (US$2.2 million) as the first instalment for the development and the promotion of the Meitei language (officially called Manipuri language) and the Meitei script (Manipuri script) in Manipur. ^{[276] [277] [278]}

The Department of Language Planning and Implementation of the Government of Manipur offers a sum of ₹5,000 (equivalent to ₹8,500orUS$100 in 2023), to every individual who learns Meitei language (officially called Manipuri language), having certain terms and conditions. ^{[279] [280]}

Sanskrit

Further information: Sanskrit

The Central Government of India allocated ₹6438.4 million in the last three years for the development and the promotion of Sanskrit, ₹2311.5 million in 2019–20, around ₹2143.8 million in 2018–19, and ₹1983.1 million in 2017–18. ^{[281] [282]}

Tamil

Further information: Tamil language

The Central Government of India gave an allocation of Rs 105.9 million in 2017–18, Rs 46.5 million in 2018–19 and Rs 77 million in 2019–20 to the "Central Institute of Classical Tamil" for the development and the promotion of Tamil language. ^{[281] [283]}

Telugu and Kannada

Further information: Telugu language and Kannada language

The Central Government of India gave an allocation of Rs 10 million in 2017–18, Rs 9.9 million in 2018–19 and Rs 10.7 million in 2019–20, each for the development and the promotion of Telugu language and Kannada language. ^{[281] [283]}

Computerisation

Multi-pair translations

Language	Language code	Google Translate [284]	Bhashini [285]	Microsoft Translator [286]	Yandex Translate [287]	IBM Watson [288]
Bengali	bn	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Bhojpuri	bho	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
Gujarati	gu	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Hindi	hi	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Kannada	kn	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Maithili	mai	Yes	Beta	Yes	No	No
Malayalam	ml	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Marathi	mr	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Meitei (Manipuri)	mni (in script specific case, mni-Mtei)	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Odia (Oriya)	or	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Punjabi	pa	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Tamil	ta	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Telugu	te	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Writing systems

Main articles: Official scripts of the Indian Republic, Brahmic scripts, and Nastaliq

Most languages in India are written in scripts derived from Brahmi. ^[289] These include Devanagari, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Meitei Mayek, Odia, Eastern Nagari – Assamese/Bengali, Gurumukhi and other. Urdu is written in a script derived from Arabic. A few minor languages such as Santali use independent scripts (see Ol Chiki script).

Various Indian languages have their own scripts. Hindi, Marathi, Maithili ^[290] and Angika are languages written using the Devanagari script. Most major languages are written using a script specific to them, such as Assamese (Asamiya) ^{[291] [292]} with Asamiya, ^[293] Bengali with Bengali, Punjabi with Gurmukhi, Meitei with Meitei Mayek, Odia with Odia script, Gujarati with Gujarati, etc. Urdu and Kashmiri, Saraiki and Sindhi are written in modified versions of the Perso-Arabic script. With this one exception, the scripts of Indian languages are native to India. Some languages like Kodava that didn't have a script, as well as some languages such as Tulu which already had a script, adopted the Kannada script due to its readily available printing settings. ^[294]

Seal, signature and handwriting of Maratha Senadhurandar Mudhoji Bhonsle I of Chandrapur and Nagpur. This text is written in Modi script which was used as an alternative script for Marathi.

• 
  A Meitei language stone inscription in Meitei script about a royal decree of a Meitei king found in the sacred site of God Panam Ningthou in Andro, Imphal East, Manipur
• 
  Development of Odia script
• 
  Tamil-Brahmi inscription in Jambaimalai
• 
  Silver coin issued during the reign of Rudra Singha with Assamese inscriptions
• 
  North Indian Brahmi found in Ashok pillar
• 
  The Halmidi inscription, the oldest known inscription in the Kannada script and language. The inscription is dated to the 450 CE - 500 CE period.
• 
  An early Telugu inscription found in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh

See also

• Caribbean Hindustani
• Fiji Hindi
• Indo-Portuguese creoles
• Languages of Bangladesh
• Languages of Bhutan
• Languages of China
• Languages of Fiji
• Languages of Guyana
• Languages of Malaysia
• Languages of Maldives
• Languages of Mauritius
• Languages of Myanmar
• Languages of Nepal
• Languages of Pakistan
• Languages of Réunion
• Languages of Singapore
• Languages of Sri Lanka
• Languages of Trinidad and Tobago
• List of endangered languages in India
• List of languages by number of native speakers in India
• National Translation Mission
• Romanisation of Sindhi
• Tamil diaspora
• Telugu diaspora

Notes

1. In modern and colloquial context, the term "Indic" also refers more generally to the languages of the Indian subcontinent, thus also including non-Indo-Aryan languages. See e.g. Reynolds, Mike; Verma, Mahendra (2007). "Indic languages". In Britain, David (ed.). Language in the British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 293–307. ISBN   978-0-521-79488-6 . Retrieved 4 October 2021.
2. See Official languages of Puducherry
3. The Meitei language (officially called Manipuri) versions of the press releases are presently available in Bengali script, but there is plan of changing the script into Meitei script (Manipuri script) in due course of time.
4. Google Translate mentions both "Meiteilon" as well as "Manipuri" (within the parentheses) at the same time for the Meitei language (officially known as Manipuri language).
5. Meitei language uses both Meitei script as well as Bengali script officially but Google Translate uses Meitei script only.
6. Punjabi language uses both Gurmukhi script as well as Shahmukhi script officially but Google Translate uses Gurmukhi script only.

1. Although linguistically Hindi and Urdu are the same language called Hindustani, the government classifies them as separate languages instead of different standard registers of same language.

References

1. "Constitution of India". Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
2. "Official Language Act | Government of India, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology". meity.gov.in. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
3. Salzmann, Zdenek; Stanlaw, James; Adachi, Nobuko (8 July 2014). Language, Culture, and Society: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology. Westview Press. ISBN   9780813349558 – via Google Books.
4. "Official Language – The Union -Profile – Know India: National Portal of India". Archive.india.gov.in. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
5. "Indo-Aryan languages". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
6. "Hindi languages". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
7. Kak, Subhash (January 1996). "Indic Language Families and Indo-European". Yavanika. The Indic family has the sub-families of North Indian and Dravidian
8. Reynolds, Mike; Verma, Mahendra (2007), Britain, David (ed.), "Indic languages", Language in the British Isles, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 293–307, ISBN   978-0-521-79488-6 , retrieved 4 October 2021
9. Kak, Subhash. "On The Classification Of Indic Languages" (PDF). Louisiana State University.
10. Moseley, Christopher (10 March 2008). Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-135-79640-2.
11. Seetharaman, G. (13 August 2017). "Seven decades after Independence, many small languages in India face extinction threat". The Economic Times.
12. "What countries have the most languages?". Ethnologue. 22 May 2019.
13. Aadithiyan, Kavin (10 November 2016). "Notes and Numbers: How the New Currency May Resurrect an Old Language Debate" . Retrieved 5 March 2020.
14. "Article 343 in The Constitution Of India 1949" . Retrieved 5 March 2020.
15. Khan, Saeed (25 January 2010). "There's no national language in India: Gujarat High Court". The Times of India. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
16. "Hindi, not a national language: Court". The Hindu. Ahmedabad. Press Trust of India. 25 January 2010. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
17. Languages Included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constution[sic]. Archived 4 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine .
18. "Census Data 2001 : General Note". Census of India. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
19. Eaton, Richard M. (14 October 2020). "The Two Languages That Shaped the History of India". Literary Hub. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
20. Abidi, S.A.H.; Gargesh, Ravinder (2008). "4. Persian in South Asia". In Kachru, Braj B. (ed.). Language in South Asia. Kachru, Yamuna & Sridhar, S.N. Cambridge University Press. pp. 103–120. ISBN   978-0-521-78141-1.
21. Bhatia, Tej K and William C. Ritchie. (2006) Bilingualism in South Asia. In: Handbook of Bilingualism, pp. 780–807. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing
22. "Decline of Farsi language – The Times of India". The Times of India. 7 January 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
23. "Hindi mother tongue of 44% in India, Bangla second most spoken – The Times of India". The Times of India. 28 June 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
24. Nehru, Jawaharlal; Gandhi, Mohandas (1937). The question of language: Issue 6 of Congress political and economic studies. K. M. Ashraf.
25. Hardgrave, Robert L. (August 1965). The Riots in Tamilnad: Problems and Prospects of India's Language Crisis. Asian Survey. University of California Press.
26. "Maharashtra to join 'anti – Hindi' stir at Bengaluru". nagpurtoday.in.
27. "The World Factbook". Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
28. "Telugu language | Origin, History, & Facts | Britannica". Encyclopædia Britannica. 20 October 2023. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
29. — "What census data reveals about use of Indian languages". Deccan Herald . Retrieved 16 November 2023.
    — "Hindi Added 100Mn Speakers In A Decade; Kashmiri 2nd Fast Growing Language". 28 June 2018. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
    — "Hindi fastest growing language in India, finds 100 million new speakers".
    — "Hindi grew rapidly in non-Hindi states even without official mandate". India Today . 11 April 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
30. "India". Ethnologue (Free All). Retrieved 26 November 2023.
31. Avari, Burjor (11 June 2007). India: The Ancient Past: A History of the Indian Sub-Continent from C. 7000 BC to AD 1200. Routledge. ISBN   9781134251629.
32. Andronov, Mikhail Sergeevich (1 January 2003). A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Languages. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 299. ISBN   9783447044554.
33. Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju (2003). The Dravidian Languages. Cambridge University Press. pp. 19–20. ISBN   0521771110.
34. Kachru, Yamuna (1 January 2006). Hindi. London Oriental and African language library. John Benjamins Publishing. p. 1. ISBN   90-272-3812-X.
35. Sanajaoba, Naorem (1988). Manipur, Past and Present: The Heritage and Ordeals of a Civilization. Mittal Publications. p. 290. ISBN   978-81-7099-853-2.
36. Mohanty, P. K. (2006). Encyclopaedia of Scheduled Tribes in India: In Five Volume. Gyan Publishing House. p. 149. ISBN   978-81-8205-052-5.
37. Sanajaoba, Naorem (1993). Manipur: Treatise & Documents. Mittal Publications. p. 369. ISBN   978-81-7099-399-5.
38. Sanajaoba, Naorem (1993). Manipur: Treatise & Documents. Mittal Publications. p. 255. ISBN   978-81-7099-399-5.
39. Brass, Paul R. (2005). Language, Religion and Politics in North India. iUniverse. p. 129. ISBN   978-0-595-34394-2.
40. Kulshreshtha, Manisha; Mathur, Ramkumar (24 March 2012). Dialect Accent Features for Establishing Speaker Identity: A Case Study. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 16. ISBN   978-1-4614-1137-6.
41. Robert E. Nunley; Severin M. Roberts; George W. Wubrick; Daniel L. Roy (1999), The Cultural Landscape an Introduction to Human Geography, Prentice Hall, ISBN   0-13-080180-1, ... Hindustani is the basis for both languages ...
42. Aijazuddin Ahmad (2009). Geography of the South Asian Subcontinent: A Critical Approach. Concept Publishing Company. pp. 123–124. ISBN   978-81-8069-568-1 . Retrieved 17 December 2014.
43. Naheed Saba (18 September 2013). "2. Multilingualism". Linguistic heterogeneity and multilinguality in India: a linguistic assessment of Indian language policies (PDF). Aligarh: Aligarh Muslim University. pp. 61–68. Retrieved 17 December 2014.^{[ permanent dead link ‍]}
44. Lewis, M. Paul; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2014). "Ethnologue: Languages of the World (Seventeenth edition) : India". Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
45. Ethnologue : Languages of the World (Seventeenth edition) : Statistical Summaries Archived 17 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved 17 December 2014.
46. Singh, Shiv Sahay (22 July 2013). "Language survey reveals diversity". The Hindu. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
47. Banerjee, Paula; Chaudhury, Sabyasachi Basu Ray; Das, Samir Kumar; Bishnu Adhikari (2005). Internal Displacement in South Asia: The Relevance of the UN's Guiding Principles. SAGE Publications. p. 145. ISBN   978-0-7619-3329-8 . Retrieved 17 December 2014.
48. Dasgupta, Jyotirindra (1970). Language Conflict and National Development: Group Politics and National Language Policy in India. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley. Center for South and Southeast Asia Studies. p. 47. ISBN   9780520015906.
49. Mallikarjun, B. (5 August 2002). "Mother Tongues of India According to the 1961 Census". Languages in India. 2. M. S. Thirumalai. ISSN   1930-2940 . Retrieved 11 December 2014.
50. Vijayanunni, M. (26–29 August 1998). "Planning for the 2001 Census of India based on the 1991 Census" (PDF). 18th Population Census Conference. Honolulu, Hawaii, USA: Association of National Census and Statistics Directors of America, Asia, and the Pacific. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 November 2008. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
51. Mallikarjun, B. (7 November 2001). "Languages of India according to 2001 Census". Languages in India. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
52. Wischenbart, Ruediger (11 February 2013). The Global EBook Market: Current Conditions & Future Projections. "O'Reilly Media, Inc.". p. 62. ISBN   978-1-4493-1999-1 . Retrieved 18 December 2014.
53. Schiffrin, Deborah; Fina, Anna De; Nylund, Anastasia (2010). Telling Stories: Language, Narrative, and Social Life. Georgetown University Press. p. 95. ISBN   978-1-58901-674-3 . Retrieved 18 December 2014.
54. "Census of India 2011, Paper 1 of 2018, Language – India, States and Union Territories" (PDF). Census of India Website. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
55. Census Data 2001 General Notes|access-date = 29 August 2019
56. Census of India: Comparative speaker's strength of Scheduled Languages-1951, 1961, 1971, 1981, 1991, 2001 and 2011 (PDF) (Report). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 June 2018.
57. "How many Indians can you talk to?". Hindustan Times.
58. "How languages intersect in India". Hindustan Times. 22 November 2018.
59. "India : Languages". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
60. INDIA STATISTICS REPORT
61. Table C-16: LANGUAGE INDIA, STATES AND UNION TERRITORIES (PDF). Census of India, 2011 (Report). PAPER 1 OF 2018. OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR GENERAL, INDIA. p. 21. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 February 2019.
62. "Indo-Aryan languages". Encyclopædia Britannica. October 2023.
63. Mandryk, Jason (15 October 2010). Operation World: The Definitive Prayer Guide to Every Nation. InterVarsity Press. ISBN   978-0-8308-9599-1.
64. West, Barbara A. (1 January 2009). Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. Infobase Publishing. p. 713. ISBN   978-1-4381-1913-7.
65. Levinson, David; Christensen, Karen (2002). Encyclopedia of Modern Asia: China-India relations to Hyogo. Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 299. ISBN   978-0-684-31243-9.
66. Ishtiaq, M. (1999). Language Shifts Among the Scheduled Tribes in India: A Geographical Study. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. pp. 26–27. ISBN   9788120816176 . Retrieved 7 September 2012.
67. Devi, Nunglekpam Premi (14 April 2018). A Glimpse of Manipuri Literary Works. p. 5.
68. Singh, Ch Manihar (1996). A History of Manipuri Literature. Sahitya Akademi. p. 8. ISBN   978-81-260-0086-9.
69. Anthology of articles, Indian and Soviet scholars (1975). Problems of Modern Indian Literature. the University of Michigan: Statistical Pub. Society : distributor, K. P. Bagchi. p. 23.
70. "Memorandum of Settlement on Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC)". satp.org.
71. Kachru, Braj B.; Kachru, Yamuna; Sridhar, S. N. (27 March 2008). Language in South Asia. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   9780521781411 . Retrieved 28 December 2017.
72. Robbins Burling. "On "Kamarupan"" (PDF). Sealang.net. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
73. Niclas Burenhult. "Deep linguistic prehistory with particular reference to Andamanese" (PDF). Working Papers (45). Lund University, Dept. of Linguistics: 5–24. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
74. Anderson, Gregory D. S. (2007). The Munda Verb: Typological Perspectives. Walter de Gruyter. p. 6. ISBN   978-3-11-018965-0.
75. Anderson, G. D. S. (6 April 2010). "Austro-asiatic languages". In Brown, Keith; Ogilvie, Sarah (eds.). Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World. Elsevier. p. 94. ISBN   978-0-08-087775-4.
76. Greenberg, Joseph (1971). "The Indo-Pacific hypothesis." Current trends in linguistics vol. 8, ed. by Thomas A. Sebeok, 807.71. The Hague: Mouton.
77. Abbi, Anvita (2006). Endangered Languages of the Andaman Islands. Germany: Lincom GmbH.
78. Blench, Roger; Post, Mark (2011), (De)classifying Arunachal languages: Reconstructing the evidence (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 26 May 2013
79. Hammarström, Harald; Forke, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2020). "Hruso". Glottolog 4.3.
80. Blench, Roger (2007). "5. The classification of the Shom Pen language". The language of the Shom Pen: a language isolate in the Nicobar islands (PDF). pp. 20–21.
81. Blench, Roger. 2011. (De)classifying Arunachal languages: Reconsidering the evidence Archived 2013-05-26 at the Wayback Machine
82. "50th Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in India (July 2012 to June 2013)" (PDF). Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 December 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
83. "C-17 : Population by Bilingualism and Trilingualism". Census of India Website.
84. "Census of India Website : Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India". censusindia.gov.in.
85. Guha, Ramachandra (10 February 2011). "6. Ideas of India (section IX)". India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy. Pan Macmillan. pp. 117–120. ISBN   978-0-330-54020-9 . Retrieved 3 January 2015.
86. "Constitution of India as of 29 July 2008" (PDF). The Constitution Of India. Ministry of Law & Justice. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 June 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2011.
87. Thomas Benedikter (2009). Language Policy and Linguistic Minorities in India: An Appraisal of the Linguistic Rights of Minorities in India. LIT Verlag Münster. pp. 32–35. ISBN   978-3-643-10231-7 . Retrieved 19 December 2014.
88. "Official Languages Act, 1963 (with amendments)" (PDF). Indian Railways. 10 May 1963. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
89. "Chapter 7 – Compliance of Section 3(3) of the Official Languages Act, 1963" (PDF). Committee of Parliament on Official Language report. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 February 2012.
90. "The force of words". Time. 19 February 1965. Archived from the original on 14 October 2007. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
91. Forrester, Duncan B. (Spring–Summer 1966), "The Madras Anti-Hindi Agitation, 1965: Political Protest and its Effects on Language Policy in India", Pacific Affairs, 39 (1/2): 19–36, doi:10.2307/2755179, JSTOR   2755179
92. "Statement 1 – Abstract of Speakers' Strength of Languages and Mother Tongues – 2001". Government of India. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
93. Hindi (2005). Keith Brown (ed.). Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (2 ed.). Elsevier. ISBN   0-08-044299-4.
94. "Rajya Sabha MPs can now speak in any of 22 scheduled languages in the house" . Retrieved 24 July 2018.
95. Ács, Judit; Pajkossy, Katalin; Kornai, András (2017). "Digital vitality of Uralic languages" (PDF). Acta Linguistica Academica. 64 (3): 327–345. doi:10.1556/2062.2017.64.3.1. S2CID   57699700.
96. Joseph, Manu (17 February 2011). "India Faces a Linguistic Truth: English Spoken Here". The New York Times .
97. S, Rukmini (14 May 2019). "In India, who speaks in English, and where?". mint. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
98. Pratim Gohain, Manash (22 January 2018). "58% of rural teens can read basic English: Survey". The Times of India. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
99. Snoj, Jure. "20 maps of India that explain the country". Call Of Travel. Archived from the original on 17 August 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
100. "Urdu second official language in Andhra Pradesh". Deccan Chronicle. 24 March 2022. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
101. Pandharipande, Rajeshwari (2002), "Minority Matters: Issues in Minority Languages in India" (PDF), International Journal on Multicultural Societies, 4 (2): 3–4
102. "Languages". APOnline. 2002. Archived from the original on 8 February 2012. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
103. "Andhra Pradesh Official Language Act, 1966". Courtkutchehry.com. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
104. 52nd report of Commissioner of Linguistic Minorities (PDF) (Report). Ministry of Minority Affairs. p. 18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
105. "The Assam Official Language Act, 1960". India Code. Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
106. ANI (10 September 2014). "Assam government withdraws Assamese as official language in Barak Valley, restores Bengali". DNA India. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
107. "The Bihar Official Language Act, 1950" (PDF). National Commission for Linguistic Minorities. 29 November 1950. p. 31. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 July 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
108. "The Chhattisgarh Official Language (Amendment) Act, 2007" (PDF). Indiacode. 2008. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
109. The National Commission for Linguistic Minorities, 1950 (ibid) makes no mention of Chhattisgarhi as an additional state language, despite the 2007 notification of the State Govt, presumably because Chhattisgarhi is considered as a dialect of Hindi.
110. "The Goa, Daman and Diu Official Language Act, 1987" (PDF). U.T. Administration of Daman & Diu. 19 December 1987. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
111. "Report of the Commissioner for linguistic minorities: 50th report (July 2012 to June 2013)" (PDF). Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 July 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
112. Kurzon, Dennis (2004). "3. The Konkani-Marathi Controversy : 2000-01 version". Where East Looks West: Success in English in Goa and on the Konkan Coast. Multilingual Matters. pp. 42–58. ISBN   978-1-85359-673-5 . Retrieved 26 December 2014. Dated, but gives a good overview of the controversy to give Marathi full "official status".
113. Benedikter, Thomas (2009). Language Policy and Linguistic Minorities in India: An Appraisal of the Linguistic Rights of Minorities in India. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 89. ISBN   978-3-643-10231-7.
114. "The Haryana Official Language Act, 1969". India Code. Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
115. "Haryana grants second language status to Punjabi". Hindustan Times. 28 January 2010. Archived from the original on 3 September 2015.
116. "The Himachal Pradesh Official Language Act, 1975". India Code. Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India.
117. Pratibha Chauhan (17 February 2019). "Bill to make Sanskrit second official language of HP passed". The Tribune . Shimla. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
118. "Jharkhand gives second language status to Magahi, Angika, Bhojpuri and Maithili". The Avenue Mail. 21 March 2018. Archived from the original on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
119. "Jharkhand notifies Bhumij as second state language". The Avenue Mail. 5 January 2019. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
120. "Language and Literature", Official website of Government of Madhya Pradesh, Government of Madhya Pradesh, archived from the original on 29 September 2007, retrieved 16 July 2007
121. "The Maharashtra Local Authorities Official Language Act, 2022". India Code. Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
122. "Manipur Official Language (Amendment )Act 2021". Directorate of Printing & Stationery, Government of Manipur. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
123. Commissioner Linguistic Minorities, 42nd report: July 2003 – June 2004, p. para 25.5, archived from the original on 8 October 2007, retrieved 16 July 2007
124. Commissioner Linguistic Minorities, 43rd report: July 2004 – June 2005, p. para 25.1, archived from the original on 10 April 2009, retrieved 16 July 2007 On 21 March 2006, the Chief Minister of Meghalaya stated in the State Assembly that a notification to this effect had been issued. Meghalaya Legislative Assembly, Budget session: Starred Questions and Answers – Tuesday, the 21st March 2006. , retrieved 16 July 2007.
125. "Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, North East India". mdoner.gov.in. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
126. "Oriya to be official language in Orissa – Indian Express". The Indian Express . 2 January 2016. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
127. "1977 Sikkim government gazette" (PDF). sikkim.gov.in. Governor of Sikkim. p. 188. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 July 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
128. "Urdu is Telangana's second official language". The Indian Express . 16 November 2017. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
129. "Urdu is second official language in Telangana as state passes Bill". The News Minute. 17 November 2017. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
130. "Bengali and Kokborok are the state/official language, English, Hindi, Manipuri and Chakma are other languages". Tripura Official government website. Archived from the original on 12 February 2015. Retrieved 29 June 2013.
131. Tripura Official Language Act, 1964 www.lawsofindia.org
132. "Laws of India : The Tripura Official Language Act, 1964". lawsofindia.blinkvisa.com. 18 May 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
133. Commissioner Linguistic Minorities, 43rd report: July 2004 – June 2005, pp. paras 6.1–6.2, archived from the original on 10 April 2009, retrieved 16 July 2007
134. "Fact and Figures". www.wb.gov.in. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
135. "Multi-lingual Bengal". The Telegraph . 11 December 2012. Archived from the original on 25 March 2018.
136. Roy, Anirban (28 February 2018). "Kamtapuri, Rajbanshi make it to list of official languages in". India Today .
137. Shiv Sahay Singh (2 March 2017). "Revitalising a language". The Hindu . Retrieved 31 March 2018.
138. "West Bengal shows 'Mamata' to Telugus". Hans India. 24 December 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
139. "Most Spoken Language In Andaman And Nicobar Islands : Here's All You Need To Know". IndiaTimes. 7 October 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
140. "Administration of Dedra and Nagar Haveli, U.T. (Official Language Department) Secretariat Citizens charter-2011" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
141. "Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu – Culture and Tradition". RitiRiwaz. 7 April 2020.
142. Urdu and Punjabi are the two secondary official languages of Delhi under the Delhi Official Language Bill, 2000 "Punjabi, Urdu made official languages in Delhi". The Times of India . 25 June 2003. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2007.
143. "Languages in Chandigarh". Chandigarh City.
144. "50th Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in India" (PDF). 16 July 2014. p. 153. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 July 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
145. Thomas Benedikter (2009). Language Policy and Linguistic Minorities in India: An Appraisal of the Linguistic Rights of Minorities in India. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 134. ISBN   978-3-643-10231-7.
146. "The Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Act, 2020" (PDF). The Gazette of India. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 October 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
147. There are three primary languages used for official purposes – Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam. The official language policy of the union territory states that the Tamil language should be the primary language used for all or any of the official purposes of the union territory. In the case of Mahe and Yanam, Malayalam and Telugu, respectively, may be used instead of or in conjunction with Tamil. The English language may also be used for official purposes. (ACT 28, Gazetteer, Pondicherry Vol. 1, P. II)Multilingualism and second language acquisition and learning in Pondicherry
148. Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Puducherry, General Information on Pondicherry, archived from the original on 28 September 2007, retrieved 6 June 2007
149. Steinberg, S.; Paxton, J. (28 December 2016). The Statesman's Year-Book 1969-70: The one-volume Encyclopaedia of all nations. McMillan St Martin Press. p. 386. ISBN   978-0-230-27098-5 . Retrieved 2 August 2022.
150. "Memorandum of Settlement on Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC)". South Asia Terrorism Portal. 10 February 2003. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
151. ANI (10 September 2014). "Assam government withdraws Assamese as official language in Barak Valley, restores Bengali". DNA India. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
152. "DOL". Archived from the original on 20 June 2010. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
153. "Commissioner Linguistic Minorities". Archived from the original on 8 October 2007. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
154. "Language in India". languageinindia.com.
155. "THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGES ACT, 1963". Archived from the original on 1 June 2009. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
156. "National Portal of India : Know India : Profile". Archived from the original on 17 April 2007. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
157. "Committee of Parliament on Official Language report" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 February 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
158. "The World Factbook". Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
159. "Summary by language size". Ethnologue. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
160. "The Bengali Language at Cornell – Department of Asian Studies". Lrc.cornell.edu. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
161. Chu, Emily. "UNESCO Dhaka Newsletter" (PDF). UNESCO . Retrieved 24 January 2015.
162. "Common Languages of India – Popular Indian Language – Languages Spoken in India – Major Indian Languages". India-travel-agents.com. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
163. Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs. "C-17 POPULATION BY BILINGUALISM AND TRILINGUALISM" . Retrieved 22 August 2021.
164. Sen, Sukumar (1975), Grammatical sketches of Indian languages with comparative vocabulary and texts, Volume 1, P 31
165. "Language and Mother Tongue". MHA, Gov. of India.
166. The Goa, Daman, and Diu Official Language Act, 1987 makes Konkani the official language, but provides that Marathi may also be used "for all or any of the official purposes". The Government also has a policy of replying in Marathi to correspondence received in Marathi. Commissioner Linguistic Minorities, , pp. para 11.3 Archived 19 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine
167. Bareh, Hamlet (2001). Encyclopaedia of North-East India. Mittal Publications. p. 80. ISBN   978-81-7099-790-0.
168. "Manipuri language and alphabets". omniglot.com. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
169. "Manipuri language | Britannica". Encyclopædia Britannica.
170. "Government must take concrete step for recognition of Manipuri as classical language". Imphal Free Press. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
171. IANS (20 August 2016). "Classic language status for Manipuri demanded". Business Standard India. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
172. "Manipur Govt Begins Efforts for Inclusion of Manipuri Among 'Classical' Languages". India Today NE (in Hindi). 21 August 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
173. "Manipuri as associate official language in Assam Sanajaoba approaches Sonowal". thesangaiexpress.com. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
174. "Manipuri language should be one of Assam's associate official languages: AAMSU". Imphal Free Press. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
175. Laithangbam, Iboyaima (27 September 2020). "Assam to look into demand to include Manipuri in list of associate languages". The Hindu. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 29 July 2022.
176. Singh, Dr Th Suresh (2 June 2014). The Endless Kabaw Valley: British Created Visious Cycle of Manipur, Burma and India. Quills Ink Publishing. p. 24. ISBN   978-93-84318-00-0.
177. Singh, Dr Th Suresh (2 June 2014). The Endless Kabaw Valley: British Created Visious Cycle of Manipur, Burma and India. Quills Ink Publishing. p. 25. ISBN   978-93-84318-00-0.
178. Coleman, Daniel; Glanville, Erin Goheen; Hasan, Wafaa; Kramer-Hamstra, Agnes (26 April 2012). Countering Displacements: The Creativity and Resilience of Indigenous and Refugee-ed Peoples. University of Alberta. p. 131. ISBN   978-0-88864-592-0.
179. "30th Manipuri Language Day observed : 21st aug21 ~ E-Pao! Headlines". e-pao.net.
180. "Manipuri Language Day observed in Manipur – Eastern Mirror". easternmirrornagaland.com. 20 August 2017.
181. "Scheduled Languages in descending order of speaker's strength – 2001". censusindia.gov.in.
182. Stein, Burton (November 1977), "Circulation and the Historical Geography of Tamil Country", The Journal of Asian Studies, 37 (1): 7–26, doi:10.2307/2053325, JSTOR   2053325, S2CID   144599197
183. Steever, Sanford B. "The Dravidian languages", First Published (1998), pp. 6–9. ISBN   0-415-10023-2
184. Kamil Zvelebil, The Smile of Murugan Leiden 1973, p11-12
185. The I.A.S. Tamil Medical Manuscript Collection, UNESCO, archived from the original on 27 October 2008, retrieved 13 September 2012
186. Saiva Manuscript in Pondicherry, UNESCO, archived from the original on 4 August 2009, retrieved 13 September 2012
187. Memory of the World Register: India, UNESCO, archived from the original on 12 October 2009, retrieved 13 September 2012
188. Sandra Küng (6 June 2013). "Translation from Gujarati to English and from English to Gujarati – Translation Services". Archived from the original on 17 October 2014.
189. Zvelebil in H. Kloss & G.D. McConnell; Constitutional languages, p.240, Presses Université Laval, 1 Jan 1989, ISBN   2-7637-7186-6
190. Steever, S. B., The Dravidian Languages (Routledge Language Family Descriptions), 1998, p.129, London, Routledge, ISBN   0-415-10023-2
191. Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju, The Dravidian Languages (Cambridge Language Surveys), 2003, p.23, Cambridge and London: Cambridge University Press, ISBN   0-521-77111-0
192. H. Kloss & G.D. McConnell, Constitutional languages, p.239, Presses Université Laval, 1 Jan 1989, ISBN   2-7637-7186-6
193. Narasimhacharya R; History of Kannada Literature, p.2, 1988, Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, ISBN   81-206-0303-6
194. Sastri, Nilakanta K.A.; A history of South India from prehistoric times to the fall of Vijayanagar, 1955, 2002, India Branch of Oxford University Press, New Delhi, ISBN   0-19-560686-8
195. Das, Sisir Kumar; A History of Indian Literature, 500–1399: From Courtly to the Popular, pp.140–141, Sahitya Akademi, 2005, New Delhi, ISBN   81-260-2171-3
196. R Zydenbos in Cushman S, Cavanagh C, Ramazani J, Rouzer P, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics: Fourth Edition, p.767, Princeton University Press, 2012, ISBN   978-0-691-15491-6
197. Datta, Amaresh; Encyclopaedia of Indian literature – vol 2, p.1717, 1988, Sahitya Akademi, ISBN   81-260-1194-7
198. Sheldon Pollock in Dehejia, Vidya; The Body Adorned: Sacred and Profane in Indian Art, p.5, chapter:The body as Leitmotif, 2013, Columbia University Press, ISBN   978-0-231-14028-7
199. Garg, Gaṅgā Rām; Encyclopaedia of the Hindu World, Volume 1, p.68, Concept Publishing Company, 1992, New Delhi, ISBN   978-81-7022-374-0
200. Shipley, Joseph T.; Encyclopedia of Literature – Vol I, p.528, 2007, READ BOOKS, ISBN   1-4067-0135-1
201. "Dakshina Kannada District: Dakshin Kannada also called South Canara – coastal district of Karnataka state". Karnatakavision.com. Archived from the original on 20 February 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
202. "Kodagu-Kerala association is ancient". The Hindu . Chennai, India. 26 November 2008. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012.
203. "Virajpet Kannada Sahitya Sammelan on January 19". The Hindu . Chennai, India. 9 December 2008. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012.
204. Asher, R; Kumari, T. C. (11 October 2013). Malayalam. Taylor & Francis. p. xxiv. ISBN   978-1-136-10084-0 . Retrieved 19 December 2016.
205. Epigraphy – Grantha Script Archived 11 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology
206. Andronov, Mikhail Sergeevich. A Grammar of the Malayalam Language in Historical Treatment. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1996.
207. "Mixed views emerge as Orissa becomes Odisha". India Today. Retrieved 10 November 2011.
208. "Scheduled Languages in descending order of speaker's strength – 2011" (PDF). Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
209. CENSUS OF INDIA 2011. "LANGUAGE" (PDF). Government of India. p. 12.
210. Pattanayak, Debi Prasanna; Prusty, Subrat Kumar. Classical Odia (PDF). Bhubaneswar: KIS Foundation. p. 54. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
211. Kumarl, Chethan (19 July 2016). "Manuscript mission: Tibetan beats all but three Indian languages – Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
212. "Santhals: A Look At The Tribal Community Of India's New President Droupadi Murmu". outlookindia.com. 22 July 2022. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
213. "Ol Chiki Script". wesanthals.tripod.com. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
214. "Summary by language size". Ethnologue. Retrieved 12 March 2019. For items below No. 26, see individual Ethnologue entry for each language.
215. "How languages intersect in India". Hindustan Times. 22 November 2018.
216. "Santali language and alphabets". omniglot.com. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
217. Project, Joshua. "Santal (Sawntal) in Nepal". joshuaproject.net. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
218. "Santals, The – Banglapedia". en.banglapedia.org. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
219. "ASA demands Santali as first official language in Jharkhand". The Indian Express. 21 February 2017. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
220. "मैथिली लिपि को बढ़ावा देने के लिए विशेषज्ञों की जल्द ही बैठक बुला सकते हैं प्रकाश जावड़ेकर". NDTVIndia.
221. "मैथिली को भी मिलेगा दूसरी राजभाषा का दर्जा". Hindustan.
222. "BJP trying to influence Maithil voters in delhi | मैथिल मतदाताओं को मोहने की कोशिश में है बीजेपी, दिल्ली में हैं कुल 40 लाख वोटर्स| Hindi News, बिहार एवं झारखंड". zeenews.india.com.
223. Rise in Hindi language speakers, Statement-4 Retrieved on 22 February 2020 ^{[ permanent dead link ‍]}
224. Sah, K. K. (2013). "Some perspectives on Maithili". Nepalese Linguistics (28): 179–188.
225. Brass, P. R. (2005). Language, Religion and Politics in North India. Lincoln: iUniverse. ISBN   0-595-34394-5 . Retrieved 1 April 2017.
226. Yadava, Y. P. (2013). Linguistic context and language endangerment in Nepal. Nepalese Linguistics 28: 262–274.
227. Singh, P., & Singh, A. N. (2011). Finding Mithila between India's Centre and Periphery. Journal of Indian Law & Society 2: 147–181.
228. "India sets up classical languages". BBC. 17 September 2004. Retrieved 1 May 2007.
229. "Front Page : Tamil to be a classical language". The Hindu . Chennai, India. 18 September 2004. Archived from the original on 3 March 2018. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
230. "National : Sanskrit to be declared classical language". The Hindu . Chennai, India. 28 October 2005. Archived from the original on 4 September 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
231. "Declaration of Telugu and Kannada as classical languages". Press Information Bureau. Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Government of India. Retrieved 31 October 2008.
232. "'Classical' status for Malayalam". The Hindu . Thiruvananthapuram, India. 24 May 2013. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
233. "Odia gets classical language status". The Hindu. 20 February 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
234. "Milestone for state as Odia gets classical language status". The Times of India. 21 February 2014.
235. "Cabinet approves conferring status of Classical Language to Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali" . Retrieved 4 October 2024.
236. "Cabinet approves classical language status to five languages, including Marathi and Bengali". The Indian Express. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
237. Jagran Team (9 July 2021). "बिहार की एक भी भाषा अब तक नहीं बनी शास्त्रीय भाषा, मैथिली हो सकता शामिल". Jagran.
238. "Manipur steps up to renew push for inclusion of Manipuri among India's classical languages (time duration of the movement)". Imphal Free Press . The movement for recognizing Manipuri as a classical language began in 2013, yet there has been a gap in the follow up actions.
239. "MP for classical language status : 23rd sep20 ~ E-Pao! Headlines". e-pao.net.
240. "Process for recognising Manipuri as classical language of India underway: MP Sanajaoba". Imphal Free Press .
241. "Language and Globalization: Center for Global Studies at the University of Illinois". Archived from the original on 10 May 2013.
242. Prakash, A Surya (27 September 2007). "Indians are no less racial". The Pioneer. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.
243. Mahadevan, Iravatham (2003). Early Tamil Epigraphy. Harvard University Press. pp. 7, 97. ISBN   978-0-674-01227-1.
244. Zvelebil, Kamil Veith (1992). Companion Studies to the History of Tamil Literature. BRILL. p. 42. ISBN   978-90-04-09365-2.
245. Salomon, Richard (1998). Indian Epigraphy. Oxford University Press. p. 35. ISBN   0-19-509984-2.
246. Salomon, Richard (1998). Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the other Indo-Aryan Languages. Oxford University Press. pp. 86–87. ISBN   978-0-19-535666-3.
247. Salomon (1998), p. 89.
248. Krishnamurti (2003), p. 23.
249. "National Mission of Manuscripts : 88 Vijñānanidhi: m a n". National Mission of Manuscripts. Manuscript Treasures of India, Ministry of Culture, Government of India. p. 88, 89. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
250. "Vijnananidhi". namami.gov.in. Ministry of Culture, Government of India. p. 88, 89.
251. Service, Express News (9 January 2022). "First Telugu inscription dating back to 575 AD found in Kadapa village". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
252. Narayanan, M. G. S. (2013) [1972]. Perumals of Kerala: Brahmin Oligarchy and Ritual Monarchy. Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks. ISBN   9788188765072. Archived from the original on 7 June 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
253. Novetzke, Christian Lee (18 October 2016). The Quotidian Revolution: Vernacularization, Religion, and the Premodern Public Sphere in India. Columbia University Press. pp. 53, 54. ISBN   978-0-231-54241-8.
254. Tripāṭhī, Kuñjabihārī (1963). The Evolution of Oriya Language and Script. Utkal University. pp. 29, 222.
255. Mahapatra, B. P. (1989). Constitutional languages. Presses Université Laval. p. 389. ISBN   978-2-7637-7186-1.
256. "PMINDIA Multilingual Website now available in 13 languages Assamese and Manipuri versions of Prime Minister's Official Website launched". pib.gov.in. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
257. "PIB press releases in Manipuri : 25th nov15 ~ E-Pao! Headlines". e-pao.net. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
258. Press, Imphal Free (24 November 2015). "PIB website has news in regional languages now – KanglaOnline" . Retrieved 28 January 2023.
259. "Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh lauds SSC for deciding to conduct the Multi-Tasking (Non-Technical) Staff examination 2022 in 13 regional languages in addition to Hindi and English for the first time". pib.gov.in. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
260. "হিন্দি অমসুং ইংলিসকী মথক্তা অহানবা ওইনা লম-লমগী লোন ১৩দা মল্তি-তাস্কিং(নন-তেক্নিকেল) স্তাফ এজামিনেসন ২০২২ পাংথোক্নবা ৱারেপ লৌখিবগীদমক য়ুনিয়ন মিনিস্তর দোক্তর জিতেন্দ্র সিংহনা এস.এস.সি থাগৎখ্রে". pib.gov.in (in Manipuri). Retrieved 28 January 2023.
261. "Manipuri among 13 regional languages approved for CAPF exam". Imphal Free Press . Retrieved 19 April 2023.
262. "CAPF Recruitment Examination In Assamese, Manipuri, Bengali, Odia & Other Regional Languages – NE India Broadcast". 15 April 2023. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
263. NEWS, NE NOW (16 April 2023). "Manipur CM lauds Centre for introducing Manipuri in CAPF exams". NORTHEAST NOW. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
264. Guha, Ramachandra (16 January 2005). "Hindi against India". The Hindu . Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
265. "Marathi a must in Maharashtra schools". CNN-IBN. 3 February 2010. Archived from the original on 12 August 2011. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
266. "भोजपुरी को आधिकारिक भाषा का दर्जा देने के सवाल पर सरकार से क्या मिला जवाब, जानिए". आज तक (in Hindi). 12 January 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
267. Śrī Nāgendra Prasāda Siṃha ke "Soca-vicāra" para bāta-vicāra (in Bihari). Loga Prakāśana. 1999.
268. "क्या हिंदी-संस्कृत की तरह भोजपुरी भी बनेगी आधिकारिक भाषा? रवि किशन का बिल कानून बना तो क्या होगा फायदा". आज तक (in Hindi). 29 July 2024. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
269. "Google Translate now supports Sanskrit and Bhojpuri". India Today. 11 May 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
270. "Department of language planning and implementation trying to resolve all language issues in the state". 14 March 2018. Archived from the original on 13 March 2023.
271. "Separate directorate for M'puri language | Nagaland Post". 21 August 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
272. "Govt to give Rs 5 lakh to Manipur Sahitya Parishad: CM : 11th may15 ~ E-Pao! Headlines". e-pao.net.
273. "Titles, cash awards presented on 85th foundation day of Manipuri Sahitya Parishad : 25th jun19 ~ E-Pao! Headlines". e-pao.net.
274. "Annual meet of Manipur Sahitya Parishad held : 10th may15 ~ E-Pao! Headlines". e-pao.net.
275. Laithangbam, Iboyaima (27 September 2020). "Assam to look into demand to include Manipuri in list of associate languages". The Hindu. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 24 November 2023.
276. Laithangbam, Iboyaima (15 September 2021). "Centre has released ₹18 crore for promotion of Manipuri language, says State Education Minister". The Hindu. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 21 August 2022.
277. "Centre to release Rs 18 crore to promote Manipuri language | Pothashang News". Pothashang. 14 September 2021. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
278. "State Education Minister says Center has released ₹18 crore to promote Manipuri language – Bharat Times". 15 September 2021. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
279. "মণিপুরি ভাষা শিখলেই মিলবে কড়কড়ে ৫০০০ টাকা" [Manipuri Language : If you learn Manipuri language, you will get 5000 rupees, new strategy to prevent English?]. Eisamay (in Bengali). Retrieved 24 November 2023.
280. "Applications invited for local language training programme". Imphal Free Press . Retrieved 24 November 2023.
281. "₹643.84 crore spent on promotion of Sanskrit in 3 years: Government data". Hindustan Times. 16 February 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
282. "Why ₹643 crores spent on Sanskrit, ₹ 3 crore on flowers to greet Trumps, but ₹29 crore on five other languages". National Herald. 18 February 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
283. "Centre Spent 22 Times More on Promoting Sanskrit Than Other 5 Classical Languages Combined". The Wire. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
284. "Language support | Cloud Translation". Google Cloud. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
285. "Bhashini". bhashini.gov.in. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
286. "Language support – Translator – Azure AI services". learn.microsoft.com. 7 November 2023. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
287. "Supported languages". yandex.com. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
288. "IBM Cloud Docs". cloud.ibm.com. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
289. Peter T. Daniels; William Bright (1996). The World's Writing Systems. Oxford University Press. pp. 384–. ISBN   978-0-19-507993-7.
290. "Maithili: A language of India". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
291. Jain, Danesh; Cardona, George (26 July 2007). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Routledge. ISBN   9781135797119 . Retrieved 28 December 2017.
292. Mohanty, P. K. (2006). Encyclopaedia of Scheduled Tribes in India. Gyan Publishing House. ISBN   9788182050525 . Retrieved 28 December 2017.
293. Singh, Vijay; Sharma, Nayan; Ojha, C. Shekhar P. (29 February 2004). The Brahmaputra Basin Water Resources. Springer. ISBN   9781402017377 . Retrieved 28 December 2017.
294. "Kodava". Ethnologue . Retrieved 14 October 2016.

External links

• Linguistic map of India with a detailed map of the Seven Sister States (India) at Muturzikin.com
• Languages and Scripts of India
• Kulkarni-Joshi, Sonal. "Linguistic history and language diversity in India: Views and counterviews." Journal of Biosciences 44 (2019): 1–10.
• Diversity of Languages in India
• A comprehensive federal government site that offers complete info on Indian Languages
• Technology Development for Indian Languages, Government of India Archived 15 November 2019 at the Wayback Machine
• Languages Spoken in Himachal Pradesh – Himachal Pariksha Archived 6 April 2023 at the Wayback Machine