There are more than thousand languages and dialects are spoken in India. However, Indian Constitution recognizes 22 languages as the official languages of India. Schedule 8 of Indian Constitution contains the list of 22 languages that are recognized by the Indian Constitution as the official languages of India.
The list of languages under schedule 8 is as follows:
Language | Predominantly spoken in | Recognised |
1. Assamese | Assam | 1950 |
2. Bengali | West Bengal | 1950 |
3. Bodo | Assam, West Bengal | 2003 |
4. Dogri | Jammu, Himachal Pradesh | 2003 |
5. Gujarati | Gujarat | 1950 |
6. Hindi | Most parts of Northern States | 1950 |
7. Kashmiri | Jammu and Kashmir | 1950 |
8. Kannada | Karnataka | 1950 |
9. Konkani | Goa and parts of Karnataka | 1992 |
10. Malayalam | Kerala | 1950 |
11. Manipuri | Manipur | 1992 |
12. Marathi | Maharashtra | 1950 |
13. Maithili | Parts of Bihar | 2003 |
14. Nepali | Sikkim and parts of West Bengal | 1992 |
15. Odia | Odisha | 1950 |
16. Punjabi | Punjab, Chandigarh | 1950 |
17. Sanskrit | – | 1950 |
18. Sindhi | Scattered in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra | 1967 |
19. Santhali | Spoken by Santhal tribe in Jharkhand, Bihar, W.B. | 2003 |
20. Tamil | Tamilnadu, Puducherry | 1950 |
21. Telugu | Andhra Pradesh, Telangana | 1950 |
22. Urdu | Northern India | 1950 |