 Hi, aspirants. Is Hindi our national language? Absolutely not. There is no national language for India. Instead, we are having official languages and schedule languages. To get elaborate information regarding this, watch this video till the end. First, let's take the 8th schedule. See the 8th schedule is mentioned in article 344, 1 and article 355 of the Constitution. The article 344, 1 provides for the constitution of a commission by the president on expiration of 5 years from the commencement of the constitution and thereafter every 10 years. This commission will have a chairman and such other members representing the different languages specified in the 8th schedule. But here, what are the different languages mentioned in the 8th schedule? See, currently there are 22 languages mentioned in the 8th schedule. I have listed the 22 languages here. You can go through it. See, initially there were only 14 languages mentioned in the 8th schedule. Later, some languages were added to the schedule through subsequent constitutional amendments. The latest being 92nd Amendment Act of 2003 which added Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santali to the list. An additional point that you have to note here is that there is no fixed criteria for any language to be considered for inclusion in the 8th schedule. Now, coming to article 351, article 351 gives the directive for the spread of Hindi language. In article 351, it is mentioned that steps must be taken to assimilate other languages mentioned in 8th schedule into the Hindi language without interfering with the core of the Hindi language. This is about the 8th schedule. Now, before looking at the official language committee that published the report that is mentioned in the editorial, there is an official language commission mentioned in the constitution. First, let's see about the official language commission. See, part 17 of the constitution that includes article 3432, article 351 deals with the official language. As I already mentioned, article 344 deals with the official language commission. So, now let's see the functions of the commission. Firstly, it is the duty of the commission to make recommendations to the president regarding the progressive use of Hindi language for the official purposes of the union. Secondly, the commission also makes recommendations to the president for the restriction of use of English language in the official business of the union. Thirdly, the commission recommends to the president regarding what language shall be used in the Supreme Court, High Court and in acts and bills. Fourthly, the commission also makes recommendations about the form of numerals to be used in the official business of the union. Finally, the commission also deals with other matters referred by the president as regards the official language of the union and the language of communication between the union and the states. These are the functions or duties of the official language commission. One another thing you have to note here is that article 344, 3 mentions that the commission while making recommendations must give due regard to the interest of people belonging to the non-Hindi states, mainly regarding public services. So, this is important point, so note this down. So, this is about the official language commission and article 344. Now, moving on to see official language committee. While the formation of an official language commission is mentioned in the constitution, the official language committee is mentioned in section 4 of the official language act 1963. But why was the official language act passed? Article 343 of the constitution mentions that the official language of the union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script. And article 3432 allows for the use of English along with Hindi as the official language of the union for 15 years from commencement of constitution. Here, article 343 mentions that after the end of 15 year period, the parliament may be law provides for the extension of use of Hindi language. When the 15 year period mentioned in article 3432 was about to end, the non-Hindi speaking states, mainly the southern states were worried. So, to alleviate the fears of non-Hindi speaking states, the parliament using the provisions of article 343, 3 enacted the official language act 1963. Here, the section 3 of the official language act allowed for the continued use of English for the official purpose of the union. The act came into force on 26th January 1965. Now, coming to section 4 of the official language act. See, the section 4 says that 10 years after official language act comes into effect, a committee on official language shall be formed. This committee is formed by the resolution of the parliament. The committee on official language or the official language committee is a 30 member body. 20 members are from Lokshabha and 10 members are from Rajasabha. They are elected by the members of each house. The main duty of this committee is to review the progress made in the use of Hindi for the official purpose of the union. Here, note the difference. The official language commission mentioned in the constitution make recommendation for the progress use of Hindi as the official language. But the official language committee reviews the progress made in the use of Hindi for the official purposes of the union. So, kindly note the difference. Once the official language committee submits the report to the president, the president submits the report in both houses of parliament and then send it to all the states. The president, after going through the report and taking into consideration the views expressed by the states, issues, direction and accordance with the whole or any part of that report. So, basically it is mandatory for the president to act upon the report of the official language committee. So, this is all about official language committee mentioned in section 4 of the official language act 1963. Now, moving on, let's look at the important recommendations mentioned in the 11th volume of the report of official language committee. The report says that Hindi should replace English as the language of examinations for recruitment to the government. This is the first major recommendation. Then it goes on to say that Hindi should be the only medium of instruction in KN3 Vidyalaya's Indian Institute of Technologies, Indian Institute of Management and Central Universities. Finally, the report says that it should be constitutionally binding on state governments to propagate Hindi. Having seen the major recommendations, now let's see the issues with the recommendations. Firstly, if Hindi replaced English as the sole language for the recruitment of all-day services, then candidates from the non-Hindi states. The southern states in particular will face a great disadvantage when compared to those people whose mother tongue is Hindi. This recommendation will give unfair advantage to the people who have Hindi as their mother tongue in all-day services and gradually eliminate the intake of people who do not speak Hindi. So, this is the first issue. The second issue is regarding the legality of recommendation. Nowhere in the official language act 1963, it is mentioned that the official language committee has powers to recommend the medium of instruction in universities and professional institutions. The only power the committee possess is to review the progress made in the use of Hindi for the official purpose of the union and report to the president. So, this is the second issue. Thirdly, language is a complex issue. In the 1960s, there was a huge uproar in the southern states when the center tried to make Hindi as the sole official language. The official language act 1963 was enacted to give confidence to the people of the south for the continued use of English along with Hindi. And we already saw about article 3443 right which mentioned that due regard must be given for the interest of people of non-Hindi speaking states in public service. See, the recommendations made by the official language committee are against both official language act and article 3443. See, if due respect is not given to the people who speak different languages, then complex problems will emerge. See, one of the main reasons for the breakup of Bangladesh from Pakistan was due to the imposition of Urudu and the Bangladeshis who mainly preferred Bengali. So, the recommendations made by the committee might open up old wounds for the people of the south. So, basically giving importance to one language or another language will affect the unity of our country. So, this is the third major issue. Finally, the recommendations ignores the role played by English. See, Hindi is an Aryan language and all the southern languages are Davidian in origin. So, English in our country act as a link between north and the south. In the Constitute Assembly, Maulana Asad said the union of north and south has been made possible only through the medium of English. Note the point here. So, the role played by English must be appreciated. In addition to this, English is also a global language. Through English, we Indians are able to connect with the world. One of the major reasons for the boom in the IT service in India is due to our familiarity with English. So, these are all some of the issues with the recommendation. See, all major changes must come from the grassroots. Our government, instead of imposing Hindi, must allow people to make their own decision. Even without government intervention, people down south will learn Hindi in the next few decades. This is mainly due to the free movement of Labour. When a person from Tamil Nadu moves to Delhi for work, he will eventually pick up Hindi. Likewise, when a person from UP, when he moves to Tamil Nadu, will help his co-worker pick up Hindi. So, if the government just encourages free movement of people, the dispersion of Hindi in India will be a natural process. In the meantime, the government must take steps to translate the knowledge in modern science, medicine and technology into the Indian language. This will help India in the long term. Finally, instead of imposing one nation-owned language, India can take example from Canada which has two official languages which are French and English. I hope now you could be able to understand the official language system in India. This is a very important topic as it may be asked in your means examination. Do watch Hindi News Analysis of Shankar AIS Academy regularly to get strong hold of our current affairs. Thank you.