The Official Languages Act, 1963 is an act of the Parliament of India which designates which of the official languages of India are the language of government.

History

The act was passed to pre-empt protests in certain southern states, such as Tamil Nadu, where there was significant opposition to the "imposition" of Hindi. In late 1964, an attempt was made to expressly provide for an end to the use of English, but it was met with protests from states and territories, including

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Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

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West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

Puducherry Puducherry or Pondicherry may refer to: Places in India * Puducherry (union territory), formerly known as Pondicherry ** Puducherry (city), capital of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry district The Puducherry District, also know ...

Nagaland Nagaland () is a States and union territories of India, state in the northeast India, north-eastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south, and the Naga Sel ...

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and

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

. Some of these protests also turned violent. As a result, the proposal was dropped, and the Act itself was amended in 1967 under the Indira Gandhi administration to provide that the use of English would not be ended until a resolution to that effect was passed by the legislature of every state that had not adopted Hindi as its official language, and by each house of the Indian Parliament. On 18 January 1968, the Official Language Resolution was passed by the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of India, Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok ...

which further mandated the development and promotion of all the languages listed in the Eighth Schedule. As per the resolution, the Government of India was obligated to take measures for the development of the languages defined in the eighth schedule.

Provision

The act provide for the languages which might be used for the official purposes of the union. The act effectively made English a permanent official language of India, notwithstanding the constitution limiting this to the 15 years after 1950. The act effectively made the government of India bilingual. The act establishes the

Parliamentary Committee on Official Language In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. T ...

and section 4 of the act states that its remit is to review the progress made in using Hindi for the official purposes of Union and submit a report.

References

{{Reflist Indian language legislation Acts of the Parliament of India 1963 Hindi

History

Provision

See also

References