Question

Scheduled languages have been included in which schedule of Indian Constitution?
(A) VII th Schedule
(B) VIII th Schedule
(C) V th Schedule
(D) IX th Schedule

Answer 1

Hint: Scheduled languages are any languages other than the official languages of a country that have been assigned a position in the constitution of that country. They are frequently regional languages or minority languages.

Complete answer:
Articles 344(1) and 351 of the Constitution include constitutional guidelines related to this Schedule.
Article 344(1) directs the President to appoint a Commission, consisting of a Chairman and other members representing the various languages included in this Schedule, to make recommendations to the President on the progressive use of Hindi for Union official purposes.
According to Article 351 of the Constitution, it is the Union's responsibility to encourage the spreading of the Hindi language, to improve it so that it can act as a means of speech for all elements of India's composite society, and to ensure its enrichment by integration.

Let us look into the given options one by one:
(A) VII th Schedule: The Constitution of India's Seventh Schedule describes and outlines the division of powers and responsibilities between the Union and the States.
There are three lists in total:
1) the Union List,
2) the State List, and
3) the Concurrent List.
Since there is no mention of scheduled languages , this option is incorrect.

(B) VIII th Schedule : The Constitution's Eighth Schedule includes the following 22 languages:
(1) Assamese, (2) Bengali, (3) Gujarati, (4) Hindi, (5) Kannada, (6) Kashmiri, (7) Konkani, (8) Malayalam, (9) Manipuri, (10) Marathi, (11) Nepali, (12) Oriya, (13) Punjabi, (14) Sanskrit, (15) Sindhi, (16) Tamil, (17) Telugu, (18) Urdu (19) Bodo, (20) Santhali, (21) Maithili and (22) Dogri.

14 of these languages were used in the Constitution at the beginning. Sindhi was added to the list of languages in 1967. Following that, in 1992, three more languages, Konkani, Manipuri, and Nepali, were included. In 2004, the languages of Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, and Santhali were included. Hence, this option is correct as Scheduled languages have been included in the eighth schedule of Indian Constitution.

(C) V th Schedule : The Constitution's Fifth Schedule deals with the administration and management of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes that live in states other than Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram. This option is incorrect as there is no mention of scheduled languages.

(D) IX th Schedule : The Ninth Schedule includes a list of federal and state law that are not subject to legal appeal. There are currently 284 such statutes that are free from judicial scrutiny. When the Constitution was modified for the first time in 1951, the Schedule became a part of it. This option is incorrect as there is no mention of scheduled languages.

Therefore, the correct answer is option (B).

Note: There are no qualifications in the Constitution for a language to be included in the Eighth Schedule. Modernity necessitates the use of languages in specific domains. When the Commission for Linguistic Minorities advises that a language be added to the Schedule, the Union government amends the Constitution to include it.