What is the National Language of India ?

[Pat]

I had a very interesting discussion with one of my friends today who is from south. He started his point by saying that every Indian is racist which I strongly opposed. To prove his point he said the following. This is how our discussion went:

Friend: "Why is it that every north indian expects us south-indians to know and speak Hindi"

Pat: "Every Indian, irrespective of whether he is from south or north, should know it.

Friend: "But why?"

Pat: "Because Hindi is our National language"

Friend: "My dear friend, you are clearly mistaken. Hindi is NOT the national language of India."

Pat: "Thats not possible. I am very sure its our national language"

Friend: "When you reach home today, go and check what our constituion says"

Pat: " Then which, according to you, is our national language"

Friend: "India does not have a national language"

Pat: "wtf ? "


To cut the story short, I came home and did some googling. And he was right. FOR THE PAST 23 years, I have been under the impression that Hindi is the national language of India. And its only today that I realised that India does not have a national language. I felt ashamed How come I did not know this?

So what do you guys think about this ? Did you know that Hindi is not our national language ? I am 95% sure that most of my friends are also under the impression that Hindi is our Rashtra Bhasha.

What do the people on this forum think ? Or am I the only odd man out ?

[angermanagement]

I hate enforcement of Hindi as national language.
@Pat: you'd like to see old fight club thread reg the same.
what should be india's national language?
South Indians ,simply cant digest Hindi as national language.Better ENGLISH ,the UNIVERSAL Language.

seems another flamewar gonna start?

[Charan]

Yes there is no national language in India .. Hindi is one of the official language of india. Many dont know abt this, its not your fault. There has been discussion here in this forum about the same topic before.
One thing I want to tell is that .. Just because majority of the population speak the language doesnt make it a national language.. India in very diverse and one language cannot be made as the National Language.

[Chirag]

Yea its not. Even I thought it was till last year. First day hindi class, was asked to say something abt Hindi and I said its our Rashtra Bhasha and everyone shouted, no its not and ended with sir saying some things..

[j1n M@tt]

ya all guys from north thinks hindi is the national language..........India hav 18 languages stated in the constitution, if I'm correct from wat I recall from my primary education books.

all northern people on our streets think v should speak hindi. They refuse to speak English even if they know it

[Pat]

Originally Posted by angermanagement

I hate enforcement of Hindi as national language.
@Pat: you'd like to see old fight club thread reg the same.
what should be india's national language?
South Indians ,simply cant digest Hindi as national language.Better ENGLISH ,the UNIVERSAL Language.

seems another flamewar gonna start?

Lol! No flame war yaar. I just cant believe I dint know this. However, that friend of mine says why should anyone expect us to speak in anything other than what we know. So according to him, neither Hindi nor English.

[angermanagement]

^100% agreed. the problem with hindi speaking north indian people are ,they tend to believe that whole of India speaks Hindi .I can vouch that nobody even cares for hindi ,if you ever try in Kerala.rather ,you will learn Malayalam.time to change stubborn attitudes .

also ,why still many hindi speaking people expect that others also should do the same?definitely not worth the point.all people have the freedom to choose their language.south indians ,bengalis/NE and many others by choice ,select their mother tongue and ENGLISH as the languages they should use.English being universal language ,simply fit the bill.

Enforcement of Hindi is One pathetic move I have seen. .we have a problem accepting Hindi as national language. .may be try making Malayalam or tamil as national language and let you feedback your "problems" here. I hope the brains is there to think from southindian/non-hindi speaker perspective

[Pat]

Originally Posted by Charan

Yes there is no national language in India .. Hindi is one of the official language of india. Many dont know abt this, its not your fault. There has been discussion here in this forum about the same topic before.
One thing I want to tell is that .. Just because majority of the population speak the language doesnt make it a national language.. India in very diverse and one language cannot be made as the National Language.

But there has to be one common language that all Indians speak ? Otherwise all states are as good or as bad as different countries. Either Hindi or English should be accepted by everyone.

[angermanagement]

^English as linking Language for between Indians and also to other parts of the world.as simple as it is

[Charan]

Originally Posted by Pat

But there has to be one common language that all Indians speak ? Otherwise all states are as good or as bad as different countries. Either Hindi or English should be accepted by everyone.

Check the links in reference section right at the bottom of Wiki . you will get links to all the correct goverment sources and language acts.

[Pat]

Originally Posted by Charan

Check the links in reference section right at the bottom of Wiki . you will get links to all the correct goverment sources and language acts.

Which ones ? There are too many

[Faun]

who told you north indian enforce hindi.
Probably u should be aware that they have their vernacular lingo too just like everyone else.

[Charan]

Originally Posted by Pat

Which ones ? There are too many

I gave you the correct source . its up to you to decide if you want to understand our constitution or just read the comments posted in the forum ..

[j1n M@tt]

come and stay with us in kerala for just one day, and I will show you who enforces hindi on us.........our state is well known as "God's own country" and tourists from many countries come here, but they try to learn small small words in our language and don't blame anyone even if nobody knows English......but northern people just curse everyone in hindi if v don't understand ur language.....

[pimpom]

Some people get confused about the difference between an official language and a national language. Hindi is certainly the most widely spoken native language in India and one of the official languages. English is the most widely spoken imported language. It is also the most widely understood language in the world.

Personally, I know only a few words in Hindi, but I don't mind trying to use what little I know when I travel and have to deal with people who don't speak English. However, it is when some people try to force Hindi down our throats that it stirs up resentment.

When I visited Mumbai a few months ago, I went to the Parel police headquarters looking for someone. Every single signboard there was written in Hindi or Marathi (I couldn't tell the difference). That really pissed me off.

What if a foreigner came looking for help ? Of course, it would be impossible to have signboards written in every major language in the world, but including an English version would make a big difference to most foreigners, and more importantly, to the millions and millions of Indians who don't speak Hindi.

[Pat]

Guys, Guys! Relax! Please dont turn this into a flame-war! This thread wasnt intended to be one!

[angermanagement]

^you hit the point @ Jinsu! disgusting behaviour from these ppl many times.
they simply shout and uses gaali and all it is because of us ,south indians calm and peace loving attitude that they are taken lightly(see bangalore for now!)>

PS : my point is not against entire hindi speakers.but most of them!.

@pimpom : India wants to be china!English and other local languages die!

do you know ,that other languages except Taamil may be ,are not all growing ? reason?

I am ready to speak in Hindi ,if I were in any north indian states.but down south these ppl came and ask us to speak in hindi.....it is DISGUSTING MAN!

[Pat]

Originally Posted by Charan

I gave you the correct source . its up to you to decide if you want to understand our constitution or just read the comments posted in the forum ..

Dude, I was genuinely asking which links you were talking about! There are about 20-40 links in the reference section on that page.

Also, P.S: I am not saying Hindi is our national language!

[Faun]

^^you are generalizing it.

should i tell u same things happening in North.

[Charan]

Originally Posted by Pat

Dude, I was genuinely asking which links you were talking about! There are about 20-40 links in the reference section on that page.

Also, P.S: I am not saying Hindi is our national language!

101 to be precice
link1
link2

[angermanagement]

the tone the law is wrote seems like all indians are hindians

3. Continuation of english Language for official purposes of the Union and for use in Parliament-

(1) Nothwithstanding the expiration of the period of fifteen years from the commencement of the Constitution, the English language may, as from the appointed day, continue to be used in addition to Hindi,

[Pat]

Originally Posted by Charan

101 to be precice
link1
link2

So I can confirm that India does not have a national langague. However I find this part of constitution interesting

351. Directive for development of the Hindi language.

It shall be the duty of the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language, to develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India and to secure its enrichment by assimilating without interfering with its genius, the forms, style and expressions used in Hindustani and in the other languages of India specified in the Eighth Schedule, and by drawing, wherever necessary or desirable, for its vocabulary, primarily on Sanskrit and secondarily on other languages.

[Faun]

^^blame the politicians then, why the people

[Pat]

Originally Posted by angermanagement

the tone the law is wrote seems like all indians are hindians

That law is only for union or administration for all government related jobs/tasks! So take it easy buddy

[j1n M@tt]

I'm not against North Indians.....I hav many north indian frnds who r understandable and not bossy

[angermanagement]

even I am not! I dont even differentiate until they does that!.

[Faun]

so u are against the attitude snobs
that sounds reasonable, cuz human is homo sapiens after all

[goobimama]

Oh my. We have this same debate in Goa as to which is the official language (Marathi or Konkani). Speak what you speak and be done with it I say!

[Pathik]

I am a center Indian (Mumbai) and I ve never seen anyone enforcing any language. Dunno why you guys are always at loggerheads - North vs South and such sh!t. This is one India.

[Pat]

Originally Posted by Pathik

I am a center Indian

Lol!