Is ‘Hindi’ a National or an Official Language?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 5, 2019
The debate over the ‘three languages’ formula in schools and the alleged imposition of Hindi created a furore again, thanks to the draft National Education Policy.
The draft National
Education Policy (NEP) 2019 submitted by the Kasturirangan Committee, managed tocreate a furore especially with its recommendation to ‘continue three
language formula in schools’. This has re-kindled apprehensions of Hindibeing imposed in Non-Hindi speakingstates. The draft mentions that ‘the study of languages by students in
non-Hindi speaking states would include the regional language, Hindi and
English’.
However, amidst the backlash, the government has released a revised draft, on June 3rd 2019, removing this clause and also clarified that the policy will be finalised only after consultations with state governments and all the relevant stakeholders.
But, what does the constitution say about the role andstatus of Hindi language. Contrary to the major misconception, Hindi is not“National” language of India but is an “Official” language. No language inIndia is conferred with the status of being a national language. Article 343, of theconstitution allows Hindi (written in Devanagari script) along with English tobe the official languages of the union i.e. Government of India.
It needs to be noted that the constitution
recognises 22 languages as scheduled languages in the eighthschedule. One or more of these languages are designated as official language byvarious state governments across India.
What is the
status of Hindi?
Hindi as an official language of the centralgovernment for communication and administrative purpose, along with English.
As per the constitution of India;
Is, Hindi the only way Central Government communicates
with others?
It is not true in all the cases.  The Official Languages Rules, 1976 lays down theprocess to be followed for central government to communicate with othergovernments or organizations.  In view ofthe diversity of languages in India, and the various official languages used bythe states, a need was identified to differentiate the nature of communication.Accordingly, all the states have been categorised into 3 different regions.
Few important guidelines for communication of central government with the states in these three regions is as follows.
With Region A: All theofficial communication between the Central departments and the Statedepartments of the respective states needs to be in Hindi. In case there is anyofficial communication made in English, it ought to be accompanied by atranslation in Hindi.
( Sample Communication betweenCentral Govt and State in Hindi ( U.P – Region A state ) )
With Region B: The communication between the Centre and any department of the state would be in Hindi. If there is any communication in English, a translation in Hindi needs to be accompanied. In case, the communication needs to be sent in a local language, there is also a provision to send a translation in that local language along with the communication in Hindi or English.  Any communication which is sent to a person can be in Hindi or English.
With Region C: All the communication which between the Centre and the state is carried out in English. Even communication with a person in this region will also be done in English.  Tamil Nadu, is unique case and does not fall under any of the three regions. All the communication with Tamil Nadu is carried only in English
The video of a Bengali passenger refusing to speak in Hindi with an immigration officer at an airport went viral on Facebook recently. In the video, the person can be heard speaking about the region C and the rules. He was referring to the rules mentioned above.
( Sample of communication of Centrewith Region C State (Andhra Pradesh) in English)
Below is the illustration of the language ofcommunication between various entities.
What about the communication between central government offices?
The Official Languages Rules 1976 does lay tothe guidelines for communication between the various offices of CentralGovernment.
Important aspect to be noted that the communicationwill happen between these offices in Hindi only if at least 80% of the staff inthat particular office have a working knowledge of Hindi. The central HomeMinistry takes up the responsibility of updating the information of suchoffices.  Furthermore, any communicationsent in Hindi to the central government, entails a response only in Hindi.
Hindi as the uniform official language – a debatable
topic
The initial provisions of the constitution specified Hindi along with English as the official languages of communication at centre for 15 years, with the scope of recommending to restrict English after that period. However , the Official Languages Act 1963, recommended to continue English along with Hindi as the official language. This was done due to the resistance by non-hindi speaking states.
The Three language formula, 1968 was aimed at addressing the diversity of languages in India with an eye on having Hindi as a third language option in Non-Hindi states, and any of the non-hindi languages in Hindi speaking states during the schooling. However, states like Tamil Nadu did not implement it. The official language act has also recommended a gradual promotion of Hindi, in a way which is more acceptable for non-hindi speakers.
Any efforts of successive governments to push Hindi have met with differentiating opinions from various sections. While the arguments are being made for the need of a single official language which would help smoother transactional process, examples of countries like Netherlands and Switzerland are cited which have multiple official languages and effective government mechanisms.