NCERT Important Questions Class 10 Social Science Civics Chapter 2
Important NCERT Extra Questions
Chapter 2 Federalism
NCERT Book Extra Questions for Session 2022-2023
CBSE Board and UP Board Others state Board
Give a brief description of linguistic diversity in India. How the language policy of the government has strengthened the spirit of federalism?
(a) Linguistic diversity of India is as mentioned below:
(l) The Census of India (1991) recorded 1500 distinct languages.
(ii) After grouping there were 114 major languages.
(iii) Only 22 languages have been included in the 8th schedule of the Indian constitution. These are called ‘Scheduled Languages’. Others are called ‘non-scheduled’ languages. A candidate in an examination conducted for the Central Government services may opt to take the examination in any of the Scheduled languages.
(iv) States too have their official languages. The government work generally takes place in the official language of the concerned state.
(v) Hindi, is mother-tongue of only about 40 per cent Indians and English of 0.02 per cent Indians.
(b) Language Policy: The Constitution of India did not give the status of national language to any one language. According to constitution, the use of English for official purposes was to stop in 1965’ However, many non-Hindi speaking states demanded to continue the use of English, particularly in Tamil Nadu. The leaders adopted a cautious approach to avoid a Sri Lanka type situation. It was, therefore, decided that English would continue along with Hindi for official purposes. Official Language Act provides that English would remain the official language of the country so long as non-Hindi speaking States desire. Thus, this approach has helped in avoiding confrontation with non-Hindi speaking southern states particularly Tamil Nadu. It has also strengthened the spirit of federalism.