SAQ : What were the languages in the Constitution until 1964?

Question

What were the languages in the Constitution until 1964?

Answer

Until 1964, there were 14 languages recognized in the Constitution of India. These were mentioned in Articles 344(i) and 351 of the 8th Schedule of the Constitution. The languages were:

1. Assamese
2. Bengali
3. Gujarati
4. Hindi
5. Kannada
6. Kashmiri
7. Malayalam
8. Marathi
9. Oriya
10. Punjabi
11. Sanskrit
12. Tamil
13. Telugu
14. Urdu

Hindi and English were recognized as official languages in the Constitution, but the term “National Language” was not used. In 1964, the number of recognized languages in the Constitution was increased to 22 with the addition of Sindhi, Konkani, Manipuri, and Nepali.