Language is most important for communication. It is used to inform others, to ask them to do certain things and to express feelings, moods, ideas, information, experiences etc. Language undoubtedly has a very important social purpose because it is mainly used for linguistic communication.

It’s worth noting that Chinese is the single most spoken language in the world today with around 1.2 billion people who consider it their first language. The written origins of the language have been traced back to 1250 BC in the late Shang dynasty. Along with Tamil, Chinese is one of the oldest surviving languages in the world.

The languages of India are divided into various language families, of which the Indo-Aryan and the Dravidian languages are the most widely spoken. Indo-Aryan language is a combination with Persian, Arabic, and Turkic elements in its vocabulary, with the grammar of the local dialects. They are Assamese, Sindhi, Gujarati, Odia, Marathi and Punjabi. The two largest languages that formed from Apabhraṃśa which in Sanskrit literally mean “corrupt” or “non-grammatical language”, that which deviates from the norm of Sanskrit grammar. Apabhraṃśa literature is a valuable source for the history of North India for the period spanning the 12th to 16th centuries. They are Bengali and Hindustani. On the other hand Dravidian languages are the four most commonly spoken languages Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. All four are official state languages of India, and Telugu, the most commonly spoken of all the Dravidian languages, is the third most common language spoken in India.

While most countries in the world have one national language, India has a different language for each of its 28 states. Each State has its Own Language

Hindi is recognised as an official language and all Union Government Records are written in Hindi and English. Other State Governments have records written in the State’s official language and English.

However, all Indian languages are phonetic. That means you can pronounce any word just by seeing it written. In every major Indian language, each syllable has a unique representation in script. It is truly “What-you-see-is-what-you-get” for the Indian language.

What’s more, many Indian languages share the same script (the written alphabet). For example, Sanskrit and Hindi are written in the same script – Devanagiri – but are still very different. Most of the Indian languages have their own script and are spoken in the respective states along with English.

Most Languages in India Follow the WYSIWYG Premise WYSIWYG implies a user interface that allows the user to view something very similar to the end result; while the document is being created. In general, WYSIWYG implies the ability to directly manipulate the layout of a document, without having to type or remember names of layout commands. The actual meaning depends on the user’s perspective, WYSIWYG is an acronym for What You See Is What You Get. WYSIWYG is a way of designing electronic documents so that content such as text and graphics is displayed on screen during editing in a way that corresponds exactly to its appearance when printed or displayed as a finished product.

Hindi is spoken as a mother tongue by about 40.22 percent of the population, mainly in the area known as the Hindi belt comprising Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.  It is the official language of the Indian Union, of the four states mentioned above, and of two other states namely, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

Tamil (5000 years old) – Oldest Living Language in India. Part of the Dravidian family, which comprises of some native southern and eastern Indian languages, Tamil is the most widely spoken language in the state of Tamil Nadu and is also one of the recognized national languages of India. Its spoken by at least 65 million people.

Assamese is the state language of Assam and is spoken by nearly 60 percent of the State’s population.  The origin of this language dates back to the 13th century.

Bengali is spoken by nearly 200 million people in the world – in Bangladesh and in West Bengal. It developed as a language in the 13th century and is the official state language of the eastern state of West Bengal.

Gujarati is the state language of Gujarat and is spoken by 70 percent of the State’s population.  It is Indic in origin and branched out from the Indo-European group of languages.

Kannada is the State language of Karnataka and is spoken by 65 percent of the State’s population.

Kashmiri is a language written in both Persio-Arabic and Devanagari scrip and is spoken by 55 percent of the population of Jammu and Kashmir.

Konkani, principally based on classical Sanskrit, belongs to the south-western branch of Indo-Aryan languages.  It is spoken in the Konkan region covering Goa and parts of the coastal regions of Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra. It is the official language of Goa, the smallest state in India.

Malayalam is a Dravidian language, spoken by the people of Kerala and Lashadweep.  It is an ancient language and is thousands of years old.

Marathi is an Indic language dating back to the 13th century.  It is the official language of the western state of Maharashtra.

Oriya, the state language of Orissa is spoken by nearly 87 percent of its population.

Punjabi is an Indic language and is spoken in the state of Punjab.  Although based on the Devanagari script, it is written in a 16th century script called Gurumukhi, created by the Sikh Guru Angad in the Indian state of Punjab and in Shahmukhi, a Persio-Arabic script in the Punjab province of Pakistan.

On top of that, there are dialects that change in every region. So, if you are in, let’s say Karnataka, a state in the southern part of India where the primary language is Kannada, you will see a variation of this language in North and South Karnataka.

What’s more, in regions close to the borders of particular states, there are completely unique languages or dialects, influenced by neighbouring states. That means, you will hear people speak a totally different language called Konkani on the border of Karnataka and Maharashtra. Note that the primary language of Karnataka is Kannada and that of Maharashtra is Marathi.

Rajasthani refers to a group of Indo-Aryan languages and dialects spoken primarily in the state of Rajasthan and adjacent areas of Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh in India. 

Bhojpuri is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in northern-eastern India and the Terai region of Nepal. It is chiefly spoken in western Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh. Sociolinguistically, Bhojpuri is considered one of several Hindi dialects. 

Sindhi is spoken by a great number of people in the North-west frontier of the Indian sub-continent comprising parts of India and Pakistan.  In Pakistan, the language is written in the Persio-Arabic script, while in India it uses the Devanagari script.

Telugu is also a Dravidian language and is the spoken by the people of Andhra Pradesh.

Urdu is the state Language of Jammu and Kashmir and it evolved with Hindi in the capital of India, Delhi.  Urdu is the language adopted by the majority of the Muslims in India.  Urdu is written in the Persio-Arabic script and contains many words from the Persian language.

Sanskrit is older than Prakrit languages. However, both are Indo-Aryan languages that co-existed for several centuries. Sanskrit is not the refinement of Prakrit languages as mistakenly believed by some. It is the refined and codified version of archaic Vedic language. It’s worth noting that when groups evolved at a habitat certainly there was some kind of communication perhaps Sanskrit and Tamil dominated from the History of India since 3000 BC.

A glaring fact in our nation is that the southern states have never been comfortable with Hindi. In the south, more people are comfortable in English than Hindi. The claims that Hindi is our national language have also involved huge criticism. According to the Indian Constitution, all 22 major languages in the country are considered national languages and Hindi and English are the two main official languages. However, according to Wikipedia about 100 crore people in India do not speak Hindi. They do not understand a word of Hindi. This works out to a whopping 75% of Indian population. It does not make sense to use a language that many do not understand.

Why English is given more preference than Hindi? We are fascinated with English so much in our country. If an educated man/woman cannot converse in English we look down upon them. We take pride in educating ourselves and our children in English medium.  If someone can’t speak English he/she is considered inferior. English speaking people have higher chances of employability. India is the only country in the world, where above 55% of citizen don’t know the national language. Look at countries such as Italy, Germany, Belgium, Spain, France etc. The citizens speak in their National language and very few of them know English. But still these countries are counted among the Cultured and Advanced Countries in the world.

Hindi versus English debate has now become a Hindi versus rest of the Indian languages. People argue that the Centre can promote Hindi in Hindi speaking states and may even replace English with Hindi in these states. But, it must not do the same in non-Hindi speaking states, which really makes sense. It is sheer common sense that instead of replacing English with Hindi on the milestones, the NHAI should have added Hindi as third option on the milestones. India is the most diverse nation in the world. The beauty of our country lies in the diversity. In Southern states, people know English better. At school, children study 6 subjects in English and one additional language is Hindi. That means most of our idea formation happens in English. Hindi takes backseat just as third language. India is a cacophony of languages.  But again a contrasting fact is Indians enjoy Bollywood movies which are made in Hindi language.

English is understood by all educated Indians. For many in the Southern states, Hindi is far more accented than English is. Even though the supporters of Hindi are claiming that over 70 per cent of India speaks Hindi, the reality speaks of a different situation. According to 2001 Census figures, just 45 per cent people speak or know Hindi. But, just 25 per cent people in India have declared Hindi as their mother tongue. A little over 25 crore actually speak Hindi, says Census 2001. The remaining people speak variants of Hindi like Bhojpuri, Magadhi, Maithili, Garhwali, Dogri, Rajasthani, Marwari, Haryanvi etc. All put together, the speakers of Hindi and its dialects are about 45 per cent. It proves that remaining 55 per cent speak non-Hindi languages and the majority people in India don’t even know Hindi.

Harsh Truth: Apart from naming National Schemes in Hindi the Ministers use many Hindi words in their English speeches. Isn’t this absurd? In most other countries in world, political leaders and prominent people use their local language while giving speeches, and they take pride in it even if they are literate in English.

In 2010, Gujarat High Court observed that though majority of people in India have accepted Hindi as a national language, there was nothing on record to suggest that any provision has been made or order issued declaring Hindi as a national language of the country. The observation was made by division bench of Chief Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya and justice A.S. Dave while rejecting a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by one Suresh Kachhadia. Mr. Kachhadia had filed the PIL seeking direction to Central and State government to make it mandatory for manufacturers to print details of goods like price, ingredients and date of manufacture in Hindi.

According to the 2001 Census, 42 crore people speak or understand Hindi all over India. But, only 25 crore declared Hindi as their mother tongue. 8.5 crore people speak Bengali, 7.5 crore people speak Telugu, 7 crore speak Marathi and 6 crore speak Tamil.

5 crore speak Urdu, 4.6 crore speak Gujarati, 4 crore speak Kannada, 3.5 crore speak Malayalam, 3.3 crore speak Oriya, 3 crore speak Punjabi, 1.5 crore speak Assamese, 64 lakh speak Santhali and 55 lakh speak Kashmiri languages. People in the north eastern states speak more than 50 different dialects. Tribals in non-Hindi speaking and non-north eastern states also speak different dialects. These dialects have nothing to do with Hindi or its variants. The languages like Konkani, Tulu, Kodava, Beary, which are spoken in Karnataka also have nothing to do with Hindi.

It is high time that the Centre must carefully look into the Census data before claiming that over 70 per cent speaks or understands Hindi. Eminent modern historian and writer Ramachandra Guha in a tweet said, “One should remember that Pakistan split, and Sri Lanka plunged into civil war, because of the mistaken belief in a single national language.”

Conclusion: India is already divided into so many religions, 3000 plus castes and sub-castes, 36 States/UTs, North India, South India, 780 languages etc. Can we afford one more discordant factor based on Hindi and non-Hindi? I think it sounds wired to split the nation into more and more divisive parameters. Let us save our energies and play on the uniting factors more, to strengthen national unity. It makes sense to make all the 22 ‘regional languages’ of the Nation as official languages of India. This makes us more unique, and we can boast that we have maximum number of official languages!!