List of Language in the Eighth Schedule

The Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India lists the 22 official languages of India. These languages are:

1. Assamese

• Assamese is an Indo-Aryan language mostly spoken in the northeastern state of Assam.
• It is the official language of Assam.
• It is spoken by more than 23 million people.

2. Bengali

• Bengali is an Indo-Aryan language and is also known as ‘Bangla’.
• The language is spoken by almost 300 million people.
• It is the second most spoken language in India.
• It is the official and national language of Bangladesh.

3. Gujarati

• Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language and is the official language in Gujarat, as well in the Union Territories of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
• The language is spoken by around 55.5 million people.

4. Hindi

• Hindi is an Indo-Aryan language and is spoken across northern, central, eastern and western India.
• It is written in the Devanagari script
• It is the official languages of the Government of India.
• It is spoken by around 322 million people.

5. Kannada

• Kannada is a Dravidian language and is spoken mostly in Karnataka.
• It is the official anguage of Karnataka.
• It is spoken by approximately 43 million people.

6. Kashmiri

• It became an official language of the UT of Jammu & Kashmir in 2020.
• Kashmiri is an Indo-Aryan language and is mostly spoken by the people of the region.
• It is written in the Perso-Arabic script.
• It is spoken by approximately 7 million people.

7. Konkani

• It is mostly spoken in the Konkan region, which includes Goa and coastal areas of Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Kerala.
• It is spoken by almost 2.3 million people.
• It is written in multiple scripts, including Roman, Devanagari, and Kannada.

8. Malayalam

• Malayalam is a Dravidian language and the language is spoken in Kerala, Lakshadweep, Puducherry.
• It is spoken by around 34 million people.
• It is official languauge of Kerala.

9. Manipuri

• Manipuri, also known as Meitei, or Meetei, is a Sino-Tibetan language.
• The language is spoken in the northeastern state of Manipur.
• It is spoken by almost 1.8 million people and is currently classified as a “vulnerable language” by UNESCO.

10. Marathi

• Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language and is spoken in the state of Maharashtra.
• It has 83 million speakers, making it the third largest spoken language after Hindi and Bengali.
• It is written in the Devanagari script.

11. Nepali

• Nepali, an Indo-Aryan language and is official language of Nepal.
• It is spoken in the state of Sikkim and Darjeeling.
• It is written in the Devanagari script.

12. Oriya

• Odia, also known as Oriya, is an Indo-Aryan language and It is spoken in Odisha, in parts of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh by about 35 million people worldwide.
• It is written in the Odia script, which is derived from the Brahmi script.

13. Punjabi

• Punjabi, an Indo-Aryan language and is spoken by people of Punjab in both India and Pakistan.
• Punjabi is the third most-spoken native language in the Indian subcontinent.
• It is written in the Gurmukhi script.

14. Sanskrit

• Sanskrit, a classical Indo-Aryan language and is written in the Devanagari script.
• This ancient language served as the sacred language of Hinduism and Hindu philosophy.

15. Sindhi

• Sindhi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Sindhi people in the ancient Sindh area on the western Indian subcontinent.
• It uses the Arabic script.
• It is spoken by almost 1.68 million people.

16. Tamil

• Tamil is a Classical Dravidian language spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia as their first language.
• It is the official language of Tamil Nadu.
• Tamil is spoken by almost 75 million speakers and is among the longest-surviving classical languages in the world.

17. Telugu

• Telugu is a Dravidian language spoken mostly by Telugu people in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
• It is the official language of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
• It is spoken by approximately 82 million people.

18. Urdu

• Urdu, an Indo-Aryan language and uses the Perso-Arabic script.
• Spoken throughout South Asia, Urdu has approximately 230 million speakers.

19. Bodo

• Bodo (also known as Boro) is a Sino-Tibetan language.
• It is spoken by the Boro people of Northeast India, Nepal, and Bengal.
• It is spoken by approximately 1.4 million people.

20. Santhali

• Santhali is an Austroasiatic language spoken by the Santhal people.
• Mainly spoken in Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Odisha, Tripura, and West Bengal.
• It has its own script,A known as Ol Chiki.
• It is spoken by approximately 2.6 million people.

21. Maithili

• Maithili is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in Nepal and portions of India as it is spoken in Bihar and northeastern Jharkhand in India.
• It uses the Mithilakshar script for writing.
• It is spoken by33.9 million people.

22. Dogri

• Spoken mostly in Jammu of Jammu and Kashmir, western Himachal Pradesh, and the northern Punjab region.
• It uses the Devanagari script for writing.
• It is spoken by approximately 2.6 million people.

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.