Constitutional Provision Related to the Eighth Schedule
The Constitutional provisions related to the Eighth Schedule are:
- Part XVII of the Indian Constitution deals with the official languages in Articles 343 to 351.
- The Constitutional provisions related to the Eighth Schedule are present in Articles 344(1) and 351 of the Constitution.
Article 344(1): The provision provides for the constitution of a Commission by the President on the expiration of five years from the commencement of the Constitution and thereafter at the expiration of ten years from such commencement, which shall consist of a Chairman and such other members representing the different languages specified in the Eighth Schedule to make recommendations to the President for the progressive use of Hindi for official purposes of the Union.
Article 351: The Constitution provides that it shall be the duty of the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language to develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India and to secure its enrichment by assimilating without interfering with its genius, the forms, style and expressions used in Hindustani and in the other languages of India specified in the Eighth Schedule, and by drawing, wherever necessary or desirable, for its vocabulary, primarily, on Sanskrit and secondarily on other languages.
- Section 3 of the Official Language Act, 1963 deals with the continuance of the English language for official purposes of the Union and Parliament.
Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution
Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution deals with the 22 official languages of India. The languages are Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Bodo, Santhali, Maithili and Dogri. These languages were included in the schedule to preserve linguistic diversity and grant special status and protection under the Constitution. The provision can be amended by the parliament to adapt to evolving linguistic considerations. The schedule strengthens the constitutional commitment to unity in diversity.
8th Schedule of Indian Constitution
Table of Content
- List of Language in the Eighth Schedule
- Chronology of Addition of Languages to the Eighth Schedule
- Constitutional Provision Related to the 8th Schedule
- Criteria to Include Language under Eighth Schedule
- Classical Languages
- Benefits of inclusion of Language under the Eighth Schedule
- Steps that Should be Taken to protect the Linguistic Diversity of India
- Demands of languages for inclusion in the Eighth Schedule
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