The Mizoram Legislative Assembly, on 9 March 2026, had unanimously passed a resolution to seek the inclusion of the Mizo language in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. At present, as per the data by the Ministry of Home Affairs, there are demands for the inclusion of 38 languages in the Eighth Schedule.
Effective from 26 January 1965, the Official Languages Act, 1063, provides for the languages which may be used for the official purposes of the Union, for the transaction of business in Parliament, for Central and State Acts and for certain purposes in High Courts. The Act allows the continuance of the English language for official purposes alongside Hindi. The Act also provides that the English language shall be used for purposes of communication between the Union and a State which has not adopted Hindi as its official language.
In this article, we will look into how many and which languages are listed in the Eighth Schedule as official languages, along with the names of the 38 languages which are being demanded to be included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
Which languages are listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India?
The Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution lists 22 officially recognised 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
22. Dogri
Of these languages, 14 were initially included in the Constitution. Sindhi language was added by the 21st Amendment Act of 1967.
Thereafter, three more languages, i.e., Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali, were included by the 71st Amendement Act of 1992.
Subsequently, Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali were added by the 92nd Amendment Act of 2004.
Which languages are in demanded for inclusion in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution?
At present, there are demands for inclusion of 38 more languages in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. These are:
| Angika | Banjara | Bazika | Bhojpuri | Bhoti | Bhotia |
| Bundelkhandi | Chhattisgarhi | Dhatki | English | Garhwali (Pahari) | Gondi |
| Gujjar/Gujjari | Ho | Kachachhi | Kamtapuri | Karbi | Khasi |
| Kodava (Coorg) | Kok Barak | Kumaoni (Pahari) | Kurak | Kurmali | Lepcha |
| Limbu | Mizo (Lushai) | Magahi | Mundari | Nagpuri | Nicobarese |
| Pahari (Himachali) | Pali | Rajasthani | Sambalpuri/Kosali | Shaurseni (Prakrit) | Siraiki |
| Tenyidi | Tulu |
Part XVII of the Constitution
Part XVII of the Constitution (Article 343 to 351) contains provisions for the official languages for the Union, the States, and the Judiciary.
Under Article 343(1), the official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script. Meanwhile, Article 351 states it shall be the duty of the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language
While Section 3 of the Official Language Act, 1963, talks about the continuance of the English language for official purposes of the Union and for use in Parliament.
