Languages: Scripts of India

Brahmi, seen in Ashoka's inscriptions across most of India in the 3rd century BCE, is the parent of nearly all later Indian scripts. Over centuries it branched into northern forms (Gupta, Siddhamatrika, Nagari, leading to Devanagari, Bengali and Gurmukhi) and southern forms (leading to Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam). Through Pallava-period scripts it also reached South-East Asia. James Prinsep deciphered Brahmi in 1837. Kharosthi was a separate script of the north-west that died out without descendants in India.

'Classical language' is not a constitutional category. The status is conferred by an executive decision of the Union Government — announced through a Cabinet decision or government notification — on the advice of the expert committee. This is different from the Eighth Schedule, which lists languages in the Constitution and can be changed only by a constitutional amendment, as with the 71st (1992) and 92nd (2003) Amendments.

Article 350 guarantees that a person may submit a representation for redress of grievance to any Union or State authority in any language used in the Union or the State. Article 350A asks States to provide instruction in the mother tongue at the primary stage, Article 350B provides for the Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities, and Article 351 directs the development of Hindi. Together, Articles 350–350B form the main language safeguards for individuals and minorities.

Statement 1 is correct: Article 345 lets a State legislature adopt, by law, any one or more of the languages in use in the State, or Hindi. Statement 2 is correct: under Article 346, the Union's official language is used for communication between States and between a State and the Union, but two or more States may agree to use Hindi between themselves. Statement 3 is incorrect: Article 345 has no Eighth Schedule condition — Mizoram uses Mizo and English, Meghalaya uses English, and Sikkim recognises several languages not in the Schedule. Hence 1 and 2 only.

Article 351 asks the Union to promote the spread of Hindi and to enrich it by assimilating the forms, style and expressions of Hindustani and of the other languages in the Eighth Schedule, and by drawing, wherever necessary or desirable, for its vocabulary primarily on Sanskrit and secondarily on other languages. The article is a directive for the Union, not an enforceable right.

Statement 1 is correct: under Article 350B, the President appoints a Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities, known as the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities. Statement 2 is correct: Article 350B was inserted by the Seventh Amendment, 1956, following the States Reorganisation Commission's recommendations, since the new linguistic States would contain linguistic minorities. Statement 3 is incorrect: the officer reports to the President, who lays the reports before each House of Parliament and sends them to the State governments concerned. Hence 1 and 2 only.

Pair 1 is correct: Article 120 says business in Parliament is transacted in Hindi or English, and the presiding officer may permit a member to speak in the mother tongue. Pair 2 is correct: Article 210 is the parallel provision for State Legislatures, allowing the State's official language(s), Hindi or English. Pair 3 is correct: Article 349 required the President's previous sanction, during the first fifteen years, for any Bill changing the language of courts and laws under Article 348(1). Pair 4 is incorrect: Article 344 concerns the Official Language Commission and the Committee of Parliament; the Special Officer is under Article 350B. Hence 1, 2 and 3 only.

The first Official Language Commission (1955) was chaired by B. G. Kher, former Chief Minister of Bombay. It recommended steps for the progressive use of Hindi. Its report was examined by the Committee of Parliament under Article 344(4), chaired by Govind Ballabh Pant (1957). K. M. Munshi, with N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar, framed the compromise on language (the Munshi–Ayyangar formula) in the Constituent Assembly.

Only statement 2 is correct (b). Statement 1 is wrong: UNESCO, not UNICEF, declared 21 February as International Mother Language Day in 1999. The date marks the students killed by police in Dhaka on 21 February 1952 during the Bhasha Andolan (Language Movement). Statement 2 is right: in February 1948, Dhirendranath Datta asked the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan to accept Bangla as a state language beside Urdu and English.

Notice that the language movement fed Bengali nationalism, which led to the creation of Bangladesh in 1971. Bangla became a state language of Pakistan in 1956. The Shaheed Minar in Dhaka honours the martyrs.

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Halbi, Ho and Kui are tribal languages (d). Halbi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in Bastar (Chhattisgarh) and nearby areas. Ho is a Munda (Austroasiatic) language of Jharkhand and Odisha, with its own Warang Chiti script. Kui is a Dravidian language of the Kandha (Khond) people in Odisha. They are not dance forms (a), musical instruments (b) or cave paintings (c).

Notice the Eighth Schedule, which lists 22 languages; tribal languages in it are Santali (with its Ol Chiki script) and Bodo, added by the 92nd Amendment (2003). Demands remain to add Ho, Mundari and Kurukh. Notice the four language families of India: Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Austroasiatic and Tibeto-Burman.

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Odia became India's sixth classical language in 2014 (a), after Tamil (2004), Sanskrit (2005), Telugu and Kannada (2008) and Malayalam (2013). In 2015, Konkani (b), Bhojpuri (c) and Assamese (d) did not have the status.

Since then the list has grown: in October 2024, Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali were added, making eleven in all. So today Assamese is also classical, though Konkani and Bhojpuri are not. Notice how such questions can change over time; always read them in their year and know the latest position too.

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Telugu and Kannada were declared classical languages in 2008, after Tamil (2004) and Sanskrit (2005). So 2 and 3 are correct. Gujarati has never received the status, which rules out options (a) and (d); option (b) misses Kannada.

Malayalam followed in 2013 and Odia in 2014. In October 2024 Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali were added, taking the total to eleven. The criteria include high antiquity of early texts (1,500–2,000 years), a body of ancient literature valued as heritage, and an original literary tradition. Notice how this links language policy to the Eighth Schedule and to cultural history.

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Three styles of temple architecture is correct (c). Nagara is the north Indian style, with a curved shikhara over the sanctum, as at Khajuraho. Dravida is the south Indian style, with a pyramid-shaped vimana and tall gopurams, as at Thanjavur's Brihadeeswara. Vesara is the mixed Deccan style of the later Chalukyas and Hoysalas, as at Belur and Halebidu. (a), (b) and (d) are wrong: these are not racial, linguistic or musical terms.

Notice the texts and sub-styles: the Shilpa Shastras name these styles; Nagara has Odisha (rekha deul) and Rajasthan sub-styles. The Hoysala temples became a World Heritage Site in 2023. Trap: 'Dravida' also names a language family, but here it is architecture.

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