SSC
Under which Article may the President, on a demand, direct that a language spoken by a substantial section of the population of a State be officially recognised in that State?
Answer (Detailed Solution Below)View answer ▾Hide ▴
Answer: Option A — Article 347
Detailed Solution
Article 347 provides that, on a demand being made in that behalf, the President may, if satisfied that a substantial proportion of the population of a State desires the use of any language spoken by them to be recognised by that State, direct that such language shall also be officially recognised throughout that State or any part of it, for such purposes as he or she may specify.
Purpose of Article 347:
- It protects the linguistic rights of minorities within a state.
- In a multilingual state, the official language of the state may not be the language of a large group of people living in some areas.
- This Article allows such groups to have their language officially recognised for certain purposes, such as in government offices, schools or courts in their areas.
Examples of official recognition of minority languages:
Urdu has been given the status of a second official language in several states, such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Delhi, for certain purposes.
Other provisions on language:
Article 344: The President shall constitute a Commission on official language at the end of five years and again at the end of ten years from the commencement of the Constitution, and a Committee of Parliament shall examine its recommendations.
Article 345: A state legislature may adopt one or more of the languages in use in the state, or Hindi, as the official language of the state.
Article 349: Special procedure for enacting certain laws relating to language.
Linguistic states:
After the States Reorganisation Act of 1956, most states were organised on the basis of language, but every state still has linguistic minorities.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Article 345 deals with the official languages of the states; Article 344 with the Official Language Commission; Article 349 with the special procedure for language laws.
Quick tip
Remember: Article 347 = special provision relating to a language spoken by a section of the population of a State (recognition by the President on demand).
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Important Articles & Schedules — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Important Articles & Schedules, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers the important articles of the Constitution that exams test most often, the parts of the Constitution, and the twelve schedules, such as the Seventh Schedule (Union, State and Concurrent Lists), the Eighth Schedule (languages) and the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law). Questions directly ask which article or schedule deals with a subject, so make a table and revise it often. High-frequency examples include Article 112 (annual financial statement), Article 280 (Finance Commission), Article 324 (Election Commission) and Article 368 (amendment procedure). Remember that the Ninth Schedule was added by the 1st Amendment in 1951. Practise the important articles and schedules questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.