Language Commission (1955) of India- Overview, Duties, Structure

Hindi was the most spoken language by the vast majority of Indians at the time of drafting the Constitution. Our Constitution’s drafters could designate Hindi as the only language as the national language for business, religion, and political communication. They discussed this official language issue extensively and decided to adopt Hindi in the Devanagari script as the Union’s official language. 

Article 343 of the Constitution declared Hindi the Union’s official language. They also adopted English for executive, judicial, and legal purposes for 15 years, or until 1965, at the time of the Constitution drafting. The Constitution also stated that the President has the authority to allow the use of Hindi for certain purposes. Later, President Dr. Rajendra Prasad, under the provisions of Article-344, established the Official Language Commission of India on June 7, 1955.

Language Commission (1955) of India: Overview

Language Commission of India is a body set up by the President of India in accordance with Article-344 of the Indian Constitution. The Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India issued a notification on June 7, 1955, establishing this Commission.

The Union Government anticipated a gradual shift from English to Hindi during the 15 years since the inception of the Constitution. The Department of Law issued a Presidential order as a notification on May 27, 1952. The Ministry of Home Affairs issued a “Constitutional Order 1955” on December 3, 1955, under the authority granted by Article 343 clause 3. These notifications specified the use of Hindi besides English to appoint Governors, Supreme Court judges, and High Court judges and correspondence with all the people.

The President invoked his authority granted by Article 344 (I) of the Constitution on June 7, 1955, for making recommendations and appointed a Commission (known as the Kher Commission) headed by Shri Bal Gangadhar Kher. On July 31, 1956, the Kher Commission delivered its final report to President Dr. Rajendra Prasad.

Recommendations of the Language Commission (1955) of India

The following are the Commission’s primary recommendations:

1. It is not reasonable to consider English as a universal medium at the all-India level, given the democratic system in India. It’s time to look into the possibility of teaching elementary school students in Indian languages. Using a foreign language in the administration’s public activities or day-to-day operations is not a good idea.
2. The majority of the country’s population speaks and understands Hindi, making it a useful linguistic tool.
3. Schools should teach Hindi to all students until the age of fourteen.
4. Hindi must be taught in all schools till the middle school level throughout the country. The Commission does not agree that students from Hindi-speaking areas should know any other South Indian language.
5. All universities should ensure that students who prefer to take exams in the Hindi language can do so.
6. If all the students are from the same linguistic group, the university should instruct in that group’s language. If they are from different linguistic groups, Hindi should be used as a common language of instruction.
7. Administrative staff should learn Hindi within a specific time frame, and those who don’t will face penalties.
8. As for departments and organizations that deal directly with the public, they should use Hindi for internal communications and regional languages for public interactions.
9. The State and Union governments officers should know a certain amount of Hindi, and to encourage them to do so, there should be some rewards.
10. Official government laws should be in Hindi, but translations into regional languages should be made available for the general public’s benefit.
11. Justice in the country should be delivered in the native tongue. All Supreme Court and High Court proceedings, decisions, records, and orders must be accompanied by a translation into the appropriate regional language.
12. Hindi should be made mandatory for all Indian and Central government employees. A Hindi paper should be included in these exams as a requirement, but they should keep the difficulty level of the paper to a minimum for non-Hindi speakers.

Duties of the Language Commission (1955) of India

In accordance with Article-344 of the Constitution, the Commission shall make recommendations to the President regarding: 

• The use of the Hindi language for official Union purposes
• Restriction of English usage for Union official purposes, including but not limited to:
• The language to be used for all or any of Article 348’s purposes mentioned
• Numbering systems to be used by the Union for different purposes
• Matters involving Union-to-State or state-to-state communication and any other issues that the President may refer to the Commission on this topic.

Structure of the Language Commission (1955) of India

Following the Constitution’s provisions, the Commission comprises thirty members, twenty of whom are the elected members of both houses. Ten are from the Council of States chosen using a proportional representation system by a single transferable vote. 

Conclusion

We have covered all relevant information regarding the Language Commission (1955) of India, including its inception, recommendations, duties, and structure. Since this is one of the important topics that come in the general awareness section of most of the government, banking, and many other competitive exams. We encourage our readers to go through this guide to brush up on their knowledge of the topic.

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