, with the
national emblem and inscriptions in the two official languages of Hindi and English.
Parliamentary proceedings and laws The Indian constitution distinguishes the language to be used in Parliamentary proceedings, and the language in which laws are to be made. Parliamentary business, according to the Constitution, may be conducted in either Hindi or English. The use of English in parliamentary proceedings was to be phased out at the end of fifteen years unless Parliament chose to extend its use, which Parliament did through the Official Languages Act, 1963. Also, the constitution permits a person who is unable to express themself in either Hindi or English to, with the permission of the
Speaker of the relevant House, address the House in their mother tongue. In contrast, the constitution requires the authoritative text of all laws, including Parliamentary
enactments and
statutory instruments, to be in English, until Parliament decides otherwise. Parliament has not exercised its power to so decide, instead merely requiring that all such laws and instruments, and all bills brought before it, also be translated into Hindi, though the English text remains authoritative. The Official Languages Act, 1963 provides that the authoritative English text of passed acts, rules, regulations, etc., are published in Hindi as well in the official gazette by President of India.
Judiciary The constitution provides, and the
Supreme Court of India has reiterated, that all proceedings in the Supreme Court and the High Courts shall be in English. Parliament has the power to alter this by law but has not done so. However, in many high courts, there is, with consent from the president, allowance of the optional use of Hindi. Such proposals have been successful in the states of
Rajasthan,
Madhya Pradesh,
Uttar Pradesh, and
Bihar.
Administration The Official Language Act provides that the Union government shall use both Hindi and English in most administrative documents that are intended for the public, though the Union government is required by law to promote the use of Hindi names, among others, resolutions, general orders, rules, notifications, administrative or other reports or
press communiques issued by a
government department,
agency or
corporation; administrative and other reports and official papers laid before a House or the
Houses of Parliament; and contracts and agreements executed, and licences, permits, notices and forms of tender issued by or on behalf of the government (including government companies). The Official Languages Rules, in contrast, provide for a higher degree of use of Hindi in communications between offices of the central government (other than offices in
Tamil Nadu, to which the rules do not apply). Communications between different departments within the central government may be in English and Hindi (though the English text remains authoritative), although a translation into the other language must be provided if required. Communications within offices of the same department, however, must be in Hindi if the offices are in Hindi-speaking states, and in either Hindi or English otherwise with Hindi being used in proportion to the percentage of staff in the receiving office who have a working knowledge of Hindi. Notes and memos in files may be in English and Hindi (though the English text remains authoritative), with the Government having a duty to provide a translation into the other language if required. Besides, every person submitting a petition for the redress of a grievance to a government officer or authority has a constitutional right to submit it in any language used in India. • 12 out of the 22 scheduled languages are made available in the official website of the
Indian Prime Minister's Office, namely Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Meitei (Manipuri), Odia, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu, in addition to English. • 15 out of the 22 scheduled languages are made available in the
Press Information Bureau (PIB) by the
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the
Government of India (GOI), namely Assamese, Bengali, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Meitei (Manipuri), Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu, in addition to English. • 14 out of the 22 scheduled languages are selected by the
Staff Selection Commission (SSC) of the
Government of India, to be made available in the conduction of the Multi-Tasking (Non-Technical) Staff examination across the country, namely Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Meitei (Manipuri), Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu, in addition to English.
Implementation Various steps have been taken by the Indian government to implement the use and familiarisation of Hindi extensively.
Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha headquartered at
Chennai was formed to spread Hindi in
South Indian states. Regional Hindi implementation offices at
Bangalore,
Thiruvananthapuram,
Mumbai,
Kolkata,
Guwahati,
Bhopal,
Delhi and
Ghaziabad have been established to monitor the implementation of Hindi in Central government offices and PSUs. Annual targets are set by the
Department of Official Language regarding the amount of correspondence being carried out in Hindi. A Parliament Committee on Official Language constituted in 1976 periodically reviews the progress in the use of Hindi and submits a report to the President. The governmental body which makes policy decisions and established guidelines for the promotion of Hindi is the
Kendriya Hindi Samiti (est. 1967). In every city that has more than ten central Government offices, a Town Official Language Implementation Committee is established and cash awards are given to government employees who write books in Hindi. All Central government offices and PSUs are to establish Hindi Cells for implementation of Hindi in their offices. In 2016, the government announced plans to promote Hindi in government offices in Southern and
Northeast India. The Indian constitution does not specify the official languages to be used by the states for the conduct of their official functions and leaves each state free to, through its legislature, adopt Hindi or any language used in its territory as its official language or languages. The language need not be one of those listed in the
Eighth Schedule, and several states have adopted official languages which are not so listed. Examples include
Kokborok in
Tripura and
Mizo in
Mizoram.
Legislature and administration The constitutional provisions in relation to use of the official language in legislation at the State level largely mirror those relating to the official language at the central level, with minor variations. State legislatures may conduct their business in their official language, Hindi or (for a transitional period, which the legislature can extend if it so chooses) English, and members who cannot use any of these have the same rights to their mother tongue with the Speaker's permission. The authoritative text of all laws must be in English unless Parliament passes a law permitting a state to use another language, and if the original text of a law is in a different language, an authoritative English translation of all laws must be prepared. The state has the right to regulate the use of its official language in public administration, and in general, neither the constitution nor any central enactment imposes any restriction on this right. However, every person submitting a petition for the redress of a grievance to any officer or authority of the state government has a constitutional right to submit it in any language used in that state, regardless of its official status. Besides, the constitution grants the central government, acting through the
President, the power to issue certain directives to the government of a state in relation to the use of minority languages for official purposes. The President may direct a State to officially recognise a language spoken in its territory for specified purposes and in specified regions if its speakers demand it and satisfy him that a substantial proportion of the State's population desires its use. Similarly, States and local authorities are required to endeavour to provide
primary education in the mother tongue for all linguistic minorities, regardless of whether their language is official in that State, and the President has the power to issue directions he deems necessary to ensure that they are provided these facilities.
State judiciary States have significantly less freedom in relation to determining the language in which judicial proceedings in their respective
High Courts will be conducted. The constitution gives the power to authorise the use of Hindi, or the state's official language in proceedings of the High Court to the
Governor, rather than the state legislature and requires the Governor to obtain the consent of the
President of India, who in these matters acts on the advice of the Government of India. The Official Languages Act gives the Governor a similar power, subject to similar conditions, in relation to the language in which the High Court's judgements will be delivered. Four states—
Bihar,
Uttar Pradesh,
Madhya Pradesh and
Rajasthan— have been granted the right to conduct proceedings in their High Courts in their official language, which, for all of them, was Hindi. However, the only non-Hindi state to seek a similar power—
Tamil Nadu, which sought the right to conduct proceedings in
Tamil in the
Madras High Court—had its application rejected by the central government earlier, which said it was advised to do so by the Supreme Court. In 2006, the law ministry said that it would not object to Tamil Nadu state's desire to conduct Madras High Court proceedings in Tamil. In 2010, the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court allowed lawyers to argue cases in Tamil.
Demands for additional official languages At present, as per the
Ministry of Home Affairs, there are demands for inclusion of 38 more languages in the
Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. These are: == Official status in states and territories ==