Question

The Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution deals with
______________________.
a. Union List
b. Union Territories
c. Language
d. Panchayat Raj

Answer 1

Hint:
There are twelve schedules in the Indian Constitution. The Eighth Schedule out of the twelve comprises an element of diversity in the country of India. It is about the varied cultural roots and external influences on the mode of communication.

Complete step by step solution:
The official languages of the Republic of India are mentioned in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India. At the time of the Constitution's ratification, the inclusion of the language in that list meant that it had the right to be represented by the Commission on Official Languages and that the language was one of the foundations of the enrichment of the official language of the Union, Hindi.

In Articles 343 to 351, Part XVII of the Indian constitution deals with the official languages.
In relation to the Eighth Schedule, the Statutory provisions are:

- Article 344: Article 344(1) provides for the President to appoint the Commission at the expiry of a term of five years from the beginning of the Constitution.

- Article 351: Provides for the propagation of the Hindi language to be established in such a way that it can serve as a means of speech for all elements of India's composite culture.

The Government of India is now obligated to take steps to improve these languages, so that "they rise rapidly in wealth and become successful means of communicating modern information." Furthermore, a candidate participating in a public service examination is entitled to use any of these languages as the medium in which he or she responds to the document.

The eighth schedule requires the recognition of the following 22 languages, in accordance with Articles 344(1) and 351 of the Indian Constitution:
(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.


Hence, the correct answer is option C.

Note:
(1) Of these languages, 14 were included in the Constitution originally.
(2) The 21st Constitutional Amendment Act was subsequently added to Sindhi in 1967.
(3) In the 71st Amendment Act of 1992, Konkani, Manipuri, and Nepali were included.
(4) Nepali in 1992 and the 92nd Constitutional Amendment Act was added to Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, and Santali in 2003.
(5) Currently, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs, 38 more languages are expected to be included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.