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Begin with the single fact that decides more questions here than any other: the Constitution of India names no national language at all. What it names, in Article 343, is an official language of the Union — Hindi in the Devanagari script.
An official language is the language a government uses to do its work. A national language would be a symbol of the nation as a whole, like the flag or the emblem. India has an official language and several state official languages; it has no national language, and no court or Parliament has ever declared one.
These provisions live in Part XVII of the Constitution, Articles 343 to 351, and they are arranged by whose language is being settled: first the Union's, then the states', then the courts', then the protections for people whose language is neither.
The Eighth Schedule is a separate list attached to the Constitution, and it is not a list of official languages. It is a list of languages the Union is directed to develop and draw on, and it began with 14 entries and now holds 22.
SSC CGL and CHSL, RRB NTPC, BPSC TRE-4 general studies, UPSC Prelims and CTET all ask from this, and the Eighth Schedule count is the most asked single number.
1. How many languages are currently included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution?
2. Which article of the Constitution declares Hindi in the Devanagari script to be the official language of the Union?
3. Which amendment added Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali to the Eighth Schedule?
4. The appointment of a Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities is provided for by which article?
5. Sindhi was added to the Eighth Schedule by which amendment?
6. Which statement about the status of Hindi under the Constitution is correct?
7. Which law allowed English to continue as an official language after the fifteen-year period ended in 1965?
8. Which language was the first to be granted classical language status, in 2004?