Publisher's Synopsis
Hindi became the official language of India on January 26, 1965. Prior to that, in 1950, the Indian constitution declared Hindi in Devanagari script as the official language of the union, alongside English. The use of English for official purposes was to cease 15 years after the constitution came into effect, which aligned with the adoption of Hindi as the national language of the country.
The Constitution of India recognizes Hindi as the official language of the country. However, it is not the only language spoken in the country. India has over 22 official languages, and each language has its own cultural and historical significance. While Hindi is spoken by a majority of people in the country, it is not the mother tongue of all Indians. "It shall be the duty of the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language, to develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India and to secure its enrichment by assimilating without interfering with its genius, the forms, style and expressions used in Hindustani and in the other languages of India specified in the Eighth Schedule, and by drawing, wherever necessary or desirable, for its vocabulary, primarily on Sanskrit and secondarily on other languages."
