About the Topic: Official Languages is an important topic of Indian Polity covering constitutional provisions relating to Hindi, English, regional languages and the Official Languages Act. Practice MCQ Questions with answers and explanations.
Which Article of the Constitution provides that every state shall endeavour to provide an adequate facility for instruction in mother-tongue at primary stage of education?
Correct Answer:
(C) Article 350-A
According to Article 350-A it shall be the endeavour of every State and every local authority within the State to provide adequate facilities for instruction in the mother-tongue at the primary stage of education to children belonging to linguistic minority groups; and the President may issue such directions to any State as he considers necessary or proper for securing the provision of such facilities (7th Amendment Act, 1956).
Ques: 2
Which one of the following is correct about the languages mentioned in the Constitution of India?
Correct Answer:
(D)
Bodo is a recognized language in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution.
Bodo is a recognized language mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. Bodo was included by 92nd Amendment Act, 2003 while other options are not correctly related to the languages mentioned in the Constitution of India. According to Article 343, Hindi is the official language of the Union not the National Language of India.
Ques: 3
Under Article 344 of Indian Constitution, the first ‘Official Language Commission’ was established-
Correct Answer:
(B) In 1955 Under the Chairmanship of B.G. Kher
According to Article 344 of the Indian Constitution, Dr. Rajendra Prasad appointed the First Official Language Commission under the chairmanship of B. G. Kher on 7 June, 1955. The Commission submitted its report in 1956. It recommended a number of steps to replace English with Hindi eventually. The Parliamentary Committee on Official Language, chaired by Govind Ballabh Pant was constituted in 1957 to review the Kher Commissions report.
Ques: 4
Which of the following languages was added in the eighth schedule of the Constitution in 2003?
Correct Answer:
(D)
Santhali
Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution recognizes 22 regional languages as the official language of the Union. Originally, there were only fourteen languages in this Schedule, the fifteenth language, Sindhi, was added by the 21st Constitution Amendment in 1967, and three languages, Konkani, Manipuri, and Nepali, were added by the 71st Amendment in August 1992.
Four more languages Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali were added by the 92nd Amendment Act, 2003.
Thus, there are total 22 languages included in the eighth schedule: 1. Assamese 2. Bengali 3. Bodo 4. Dogri 5. Gujarati 6. Hindi 7. Kannada 8. Kashmiri 9. Malayalam 10. Maithili 11. Marathi 12. Oriya 13. Panjabi 14. Sanskrit 15. Sindhi 16. Tamil 17. Telugu 18. Santali 19. Urdu 20. Konkani 21. Manipuri and 22. Nepali.
Ques: 5
Which Article of Indian Constitution provides the procedure for adoption of official Language or Languages of the State?
Correct Answer:
(C) 345
Article 345 of Indian Constitution provides the procedure for adoption of official language or languages of the State. According to this Article, subject to the provisions of Article 346 and 347, the Legislature of a State may, by law adopt any one or more of the languages in use in the State or Hindi as the language or languages to be used for all or any of the official purposes of that State: Provided that, until the Legislature of the State otherwise provides by law, the English language shall continue to be used for those official purposes within the State for which it was being used immediately before the commencement of this Constitution. Article 343 provides for the official language of the Union. Article 344 deals with commission and committee of parliament on official language. Article 346 provides for official language for communication between one State and another or between a State and the Union.
Ques: 6
Which of the following states has given the Sanskrit language the status of second official language?
Correct Answer:
(D)
Uttarakhand
The State of Uttarakhand on January 1, 2010 gave the Sanskrit language the status of the second official language. After some time, former Chief Minister, Ramesh Pokhariyal ‘Nishank’ declared ‘Rishikesh’ as Sanskrit city.
Ques: 7
Which one of the following languages included in the VIII Schedule of the Constitution is spoken by the largest number of people?
Correct Answer:
(A) Bengali
According to the Census-2001 data and Census-1991 data, Bengali is the language spoken by the largest number of persons (in India) among the given options. Telugu is at the second rank. According to the census, 2011 data, Hindi is the Language spoken by the largest number of persons (in India). Bengali is at the second and Marathi is at the third rank.