List of Official Languages of Indian States and Union Territories

At the state/territory level, India has many official languages. States in India have the freedom and authority to define their respective official language(s) through law. In addition towards the main languages, the constitution recognises 22 regional languages as scheduled languages, which also include Hindi and not English.

Through law, states can establish their own official language(s). The section of the Indian Constitution dealing with main languages, consequently, contains detailed provisions dealing not only with the languages used in the union’s official purposes, but with the languages used in the legal purposes of each state / union territory inside the country, as well as the languages in use for communication between both the union & the states.

                                                        Official languages (STATES) 

                                                    Official Language (UNION TERRITORY)

The main language in British India was English, Urdu, & subsequently Hindi, with English serving as the primary language.  Official Hindi usage dates back to 1900, after MacDonnell signed the order allowing the “permissive — but not the only one — use” of Devanagari as Hindustani in North-Western Provinces courts.  Its Indian constitution, established in 1950, provided for the phase-out of English in favour of Hindi over a 15-year period, but allowed Parliament the authority to arrange for the continuing use of English even after that.  In many sections of the country, plans for making Hindi the only official language of  Republic were greeted with opposition. 

The National Languages Act of 1963, and National Language Regulations of 1976, and other state laws, and also rules and regulations enacted by the centralized government as well as the states, now control use of language for official purposes.