Talk:Languages with legal status in India/Archive 1

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59.162.132.54 17:46, 26 August 2007 (UTC)The redirection of this page to official languages page is not justified. There are 22 national languages recognised by the govt of india. http://india.gov.in/knowindia/india_at_a_glance.php

could anyone bring any citations, when Santali becomes official language? --Rrjanbiah 08:28, 24 Apr 2004 (UTC)

i found this source, outlining the addition of Bodo, Dogri, Santali and Maithili as official languages in India. http://www.mid-day.com/news/nation/2003/december/72086.htm

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Is there any list telling which family (Indo-european, Dravidian, etc.) these languages belong to?

Number of official languages: The first paragraph says 23, but then later on the article lists 22 languages apart from Hindi and English (bringing the total to 24). Which one is right? - Shiva

Examinations conducted for national government service?

The article says examinations conducted for national government service. I have difficulties in understanding what this means. This article is the translation of the week so I really don't think I am the only one who wonders. / Habj 02:13, 26 July 2005 (UTC)

The exams that are referred to so include the following:

• UPSC exam - Union Public Service Comission exams for entry to various positions under the federal government
• RRB - Railway Recruitment Board
• Some recruitment board for nationalised banks
• Armed forces recruitment board
• ...

-- Sundar ^{\talk \contribs} 03:52, July 26, 2005 (UTC)

Ah, exams/tests done/required to get certain employments/positions. Thanks. / Habj 09:51, 26 July 2005 (UTC)

Scheduled languages

The article doesn't really accurately represent the correct legal status of languages listed in Eighth Schedule. According to the article, languages in the Eighth Schedule:

• can be officially adopted by different states for administrative purposes: this isn't correct - under Article 345 of the Constitution of India, any language used in a State may be used as its official language. There's nothing in the Constitution that says it has to be listed in the Eighth Schedule, so states (in theory) aren't limited to the 22 which are in choosing their national language.
• as a medium of communication between the national and the state governments: as far as I know, under Section 3 of the Official Languages Act, Hindi will be used if the State in question has adopted Hindi as its language or requests the use of Hindi, and English will be used otherwise. I do not think the other languages in the 8th Schedule can be used for this purpose. This seems to be borne out by the Official Language Rules.

What being listed in the Eighth Schedule does give is:

• representation on the Official Languages Commission (under Art. 344(1) of the Constitution).
• as the Article already notes, the right to use the language in UPSC exams (under Paragraph 4 of the Official Languages Resolution).

I've reworded the first paragraph of the article accordingly. Also, isn't Bodo formally an "associate official language" of Assam? -- Arvind 19:07, 3 August 2005 (UTC)

Punjabi

Is Punjabi not also an official language of Chandigarh? Sukh | ਸੁਖ | Talk 13:23, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

Help add input for Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Indic)

Help add input for Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Indic)--Dangerous-Boy 04:49, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Article name

The current article name is "List of national languages of India". As such, the article does not talk about "national languages"; instead it talks about the "official languages" of India, through out the article. Also, the constitution and other official websites, always refer to Indian languages as "official languages" and not as "national languages".

• http://www.constitution.org/cons/india/p17.html
• http://rajbhasha.nic.in/dolruleseng.htm

On this basis, I propose redirecting this page to Official languages of India OR List of official languages of India. Any suggestions / thoughts? - KNM ^{Talk - Contribs} 03:28, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

No responses? If there is no opposition by tomorrow, then I will be bold and move it to List of official languages of India and provide redirect from Official languages of India. Thanks. - KNM ^Talk 16:50, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

You have my support (for what it is worth :-) ).

I suggest that it be simply titled "Official languages of India" since the article is not only a list, but also discusses the concept of official (as opposed to national) languages. Abecedare 09:38, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Thats a good alternative, and logical too considering the paragraphs (and not really lists) in the beginning of the article.

We could have the article titled as "Official languages of India" and provide redirects to it from other titles mentioned above. - KNM ^Talk 15:56, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

But the article also talks about other languages with no official status. And what is the "national" supposed to mean ? Someone needs to rethink how this and Languages of India work together ? -- Beardo 12:08, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

I think the articles are distinct since Languages of India is primarily concerned with linguistic aspects, while this one is mainly on the official status (or lack thereof) and demographics of languages. I think an encyclopedia needs to have both kinds of information, however I welcome suggestions for naming the two articles aptly ? Abecedare 13:03, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

I agree! - KNM ^Talk 15:56, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Great ! KNM, can you take the lead on making the move happen ? Of course, I'll be happy to be of any help if you let me know what to do. Abecedare 18:30, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

I completed the page move that I saw at WP:RM, but only after I'd moved the page to Official languages of India did I notice Beardo's comment that "this needs more discussion". If I need to move it again, please feel free to let me know, and I'll be happy to help out. Sorry if I was too hasty there. -GTBacchus^(talk) 19:47, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

"Minority" languages

There are hundreds of languages with less than a million speakers. What does this subsection intend to include? deeptrivia (talk) 05:26, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

English as "official" language

I thought English was no longer an official language of India, according to the CIA, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html it's an 'associate language' - i got the impression when i was over there that they were really trying to phase out the use of English, for example in Mumbai (they changed the name for starters) they've changed loads of street names and renamed lots of places. It is a bit odd as there is no other language that allows states in the north to talk to states in the south but i guess it's about throwing off the shackles of colonialism. Can anyone clarify this? the constitution itself only says that English shall be used for 15 years before being re-examined (i assume the constitution is the one from 1948? so 15 years expired a long time ago) Am i being a bit dipsy here? Thanks Gazzelle 15:15, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

The correct (official) way to define the status of English as per the Constitution is as you have said : "associate language". It is not an official language nor is it a National language (as defined in the 8th Schedule of Constitution of India). The ground situation is entirely different. English is in many ways the de-facto official language, and although many hardcore Hindi loyalists rant against this de-facto dominance , the fact is that Hindi and English together enjoy a dual status. Eg: someone who is fluent in both will easily switch from one to another depending on the other person he/she is conversing with. Businesses mainly use English and higher education is not possible without English.

Here's the constitutional lingo: Part XVII(CHAPTER I.—LANGUAGE OF THE UNION) :The official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script .

Surprisingly the very next part :CHAPTER III.—LANGUAGE OF THE SUPREME COURT, HIGH COURTS, ETC. says that: (rephrased) all proceedings in Supreme courts and High courts and all bills introduced in parliament shall be in English --Deepak D'Souza 05:56, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

Contradiction

The first table suggests that Portuguese is an official language of Goa, whereas the section "Goa, Daman and Diu" states that it isn't. Which one is right? Marcoscramer 00:50, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

Nope, Portuguese is no longer used for any official purpose. Its use if any is unofficial. --Deepak D'Souza 05:59, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

Bihari languages

The section on Bihari languages states that none of them have any official status (which was my understanding). The section on official languages of states says that they are official languages of Bihar. The section on official languages of India includes only Maithili as an official language of Bihar. Which is it? The article is full of messy shit like that. john k 19:59, 8 March 2007 (UTC)