Official Languages

Two languages are the languages used by the central administration:

1. Hindi is the language used by the Central Government when communicating with the states of Hindi Belt. It is also the official language of Arunachal Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, HimachalPradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal.

2. English is the Associate official language and the language to be used while communicating with the states.

Recognized languages of India

Apart from Hindi and English, a total of 21 other languages are recognized by the Constitution of India:

1.    Assamese — official language of Assam
2.    Bengali — official language of Tripura and West Bengal
3.    Bodo — official language of Assam
4.    Dogri — official language of Jammu and Kashmir
5.    Gujarati — official language of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Gujarat
6.    Kannada — official language of Karnataka
7.    Kashmiri — official language of Jammu and Kashmir
8.    Konkani — official language of Goa
9.    Malayalam — official language of Kerala, L a k s h a d w e e p , Puducherry
10.  Maithili - official language of Bihar
11.  Manipuri or Meithei — official language of Manipur
12.  Marathi — official language of Maharashtra
13.  Nepali — official language of Sikkim
14.  Oriya — official language of Orissa
15.  Punjabi — official language of Punjab and Chandigarh, second official language of Delhi and Haryana
16.  Sanskrit — language of Hindus, required teaching in many schools
17.  Santhali - language of the Santhal tribals of the Chota Nagpur Plateau (comprising the states of Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and Chattisgarh)
18.  Sindhi - language of the Sindhi community
19.  Tamil — official language of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry
20.  Telugu — official languageof Andhra Pradesh
21.  Urdu — official language of Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.