Constitutional provisions relating to Eighth Schedule

• The Constitutional provisions relating to the Eighth Schedule occur in Article 344(1) and 351 of the Constitution. 
  • Article 344(1) provides for the constitution of a Commission by the President on expiration of five years from the commencement of the Constitution and thereafter at the expiration of ten years from such commencement, which shall consist of a Chairman and such other members representing the different languages specified in the Eighth Schedule to make recommendations to the President for the progressive use of Hindi for official purposes of the Union. 
  • Article 351 of the Constitution provides that it shall be the duty of the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language to develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India and to secure its enrichment by assimilating without interfering with its genius, the forms, style and expressions used in Hindustani and in the other languages of India specified in the Eighth Schedule, and by drawing, wherever necessary or desirable, for its vocabulary, primarily, on Sanskrit and secondarily on other languages. 

List of languages in the Eighth Schedule

• The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution consists of the following 22 languages:-
  • (1) Assamese, (2) Bengali, (3) Gujarati, (4) Hindi, (5) Kannada, (6) Kashmiri, (7) Konkani, (8) Malayalam, (9) Manipuri, (10) Marathi, (11) Nepali, (12) Oriya, (13) Punjabi, (14) Sanskrit, (15) Sindhi, (16) Tamil, (17) Telugu, (18) Urdu (19) Bodo, (20) Santhali, (21) Maithili and (22) Dogri.
• Of these languages, 14 were initially included in the Constitution. Sindhi language was added in 1967. Thereafter three more languages viz., Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali were included in 1992. Subsequently Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali were added in 2004.

Demands of languages for inclusion in the Eighth Schedule

• At present, there are demands for inclusion of 38 more languages in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. 

Advantages

• If included in the Eighth Schedule, Tulu would get recognition from the Sahitya Akademi. 
• Tulu books would be translated into other recognised Indian languages. 
• Members of Parliament and MLAs could speak in Tulu in Parliament and State Assemblies, respectively. 
• Candidates could write all-India competitive examinations like the Civil Services exam in Tulu.