Which article of the Constitution declares Hindi in the Devanagari script to be the official language of the Union?
- A.Article 343
- B.Article 345
- C.Article 348
- D.Article 351
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is A, Article 343. It states that the official language of the Union shall be Hindi in the Devanagari script and that the form of numerals to be used shall be the international form of Indian numerals; it also allowed English to continue for fifteen years from the commencement of the Constitution, a period Parliament extended through the Official Languages Act of 1963. Option B is wrong because Article 345 deals with the official language of a State, not of the Union. Option C is wrong because Article 348 fixes English as the language of the Supreme Court, the High Courts and of Bills, Acts and ordinances. Option D is wrong because Article 351 only lays a duty on the Union to promote the spread of Hindi and to enrich it by drawing on Sanskrit. Note that the Constitution nowhere uses the phrase national language.
Read the full article: Languages and Scripts of India: Eighth Schedule and PYQs
Practice Questions
View allWhich of the following is not a language family existing in India?
- A.Tibeto-Burman
- B.African-Asian
- C.Dravidian
- D.Austro-Asian
Show answer
There is no language family by that name in India. The Afro-Asiatic family, which the name echoes, covers Arabic, Hebrew and the Berber and Cushitic languages of West Asia and North Africa, and no Indian language belongs to it.
Read the full explanation →Which of these languages belong to the Dravidian language family?
- A.Kannada
- B.Hindi
- C.Oriya
- D.Manipuri
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Kannada is one of the four major Dravidian languages, the others being Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam, and it is the official language of Karnataka.
Read the full explanation →The languages spoken in Jharkhand and parts of central India mainly belong to which of the following language family?
- A.Indo-European family
- B.Austro-Asiatic family
- C.Tibeto-Burman family
- D.Dravidian family
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The tribal languages of Jharkhand and the neighbouring belt of central and eastern India, namely Santali, Mundari, Ho and Kurukh's neighbours in the Munda group, belong to the Austro-Asiatic family, whose Indian branch is called Munda.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following languages is one of the two official languages of Uttar Pradesh?
- A.Urdu
- B.Awadhi
- C.Bundeli
- D.Bagheli
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Under Article 345 a State may adopt any language in use within it as its official language, and Uttar Pradesh has adopted Hindi as its official language and Urdu as its second official language.
Read the full explanation →In which amendment to the Constitution were Bodo, Dogri, Santhali and Maithili added to the list of recognised languages?
- A.73rd Constitution Amendment Act of 1992
- B.92nd Constitution Amendment Act of 2003
- C.103rd Constitution Amendment Act, 2018
- D.101st Constitution Amendment Act, 2016
Show answer
That amendment added four languages, Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali, to the Eighth Schedule and took the count from 18 to 22, where it stands.
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