Question

State whether the following statement is True or False with reasons.

The Indian government recognises linguistic diversity.

Answer 1

This statement is true.

Reason:

1. Multilinguism is a way of life in India. In 1956, Indian States were organised on a linguistic basis. Hence, domiciles of a particular State speak a particular language. India is a land of many languages.
2. The Constitution of India has approved of 22 official languages. Among these, three languages have been recognised as classical languages viz. Sanskrit, Tamil and Kannada. All three have been given a special status and recognition by the Government of India. These classical languages have a written and oral history of over 1000 years.
3. The Language Policy of India guarantees protection to linguistic minorities. A unique feature of India is the concept of protecting the interest of children to get basic education in their mother tongues (i.e. home language).
4. linguistic diversity needs to be preserved. Speakers of diverse languages are becoming rare and the major languages are being adopted after abandoning the ‘mother– tongue’.
5. Community participation is required to conserve language diversity which is a major part of the cultural wealth of India.