Question

Which of the following Articles of the Constitution of India adopted Hindi in Devanagari script as the official language of the Union?
1. Article 123
2. Article 343 (1)
3. Article 108
4. Article 231

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 2 : Article 343 (1)

The correct answer is ​Article 343 (1).

• Article 343 in Part XVII of the Indian constitution deals with the language of the Union.
• As per Article 343 (1) The official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script.
• Article 343(2) provided that English shall also be continued to be used in the official work of the Union for 15 years from the date of commencement of the constitution, i.e., up to the 25th of January 1965.
• Article 343(3) made provisions for the continuation of English even after 25th January 1965 by empowering the parliament to make laws to that effect.

• Article 123 of the Constitution grants the President certain law-making powers to promulgate ordinances during the recess of Parliament.
  • These ordinances have the same force and effect as an Act of Parliament but are like temporary laws.
  •  Likewise, the Governor of a state can issue ordinances under Article 213 of the Constitution, when the state legislative assembly (or either of the two Houses in states with bicameral legislatures) is not in session.
• Article 231 provides for the establishment of a common high court for two or more states or two more states or union territories.

 

• The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India lists the official languages of the Republic of India:
  • Initially, there were 14 languages placed under official languages are as follows:
  • Assamese
  • Hindi
  • Malayalam
  • Punjabi
  • Telugu
  • Bengali
  • Kannada
  • Marathi
  • Sanskrit
  • Urdu
  • Gujarati
  • Kashmiri
  • Odia
  • Tamil.
  • In later, Sindi was added as the 15th language through the 21st amendment act of 1967.
  • Konkani, Manipuri, Nepali were added through the 71st amendment act 1992.
  • Bodo, Maithili, Dogri, Santhali were added through the 92nd amendment act 2003.
  • At present, there are 22 languages in total placed in the eighth schedule of the Indian constitution.