Railway
What are the first and second official languages of Telangana respectively?
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Answer: Option D — Telugu and Urdu
Detailed Solution
Telugu is the official language of Telangana, and Urdu is its second official language. Urdu has this status because of the long history of the Hyderabad region under the Qutb Shahi dynasty (1518-1687) and the Asaf Jahi Nizams (1724-1948), whose court language was Persian and later Urdu. A large Urdu-speaking population lives in Hyderabad and other towns of Telangana. The Telangana government passed the Telangana Official Language (Amendment) Act, 2017, to make Urdu the second official language across the whole state.
Facts about Telangana:
- It was formed on 2 June 2014 as the 29th state of India (now the 28th, after Jammu and Kashmir became a Union Territory in 2019), by dividing Andhra Pradesh under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.
- Its capital is Hyderabad, which was also the shared capital with Andhra Pradesh for 10 years until 2 June 2024.
- 2 June is celebrated as Telangana Formation Day.
About Telugu:
- It is a Dravidian language and the most widely spoken Dravidian language.
- It is the official language of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
- It was declared a classical language in 2008.
- It is called the "Italian of the East" because most of its words end in vowels.
- Telugu literature has a long history; Nannaya (11th century) began translating the Mahabharata into Telugu and is called "Adi Kavi".
About Urdu:
It is an Indo-Aryan language, written in the Perso-Arabic (Nastaliq) script.
It is in the Eighth Schedule and is an official language in several states, such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal (in some areas), Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir. It is the national language of Pakistan.
Why not the other options?
- ✗"Urdu and Telugu" reverses the order.
- ✗Hindi is not an official language of Telangana.
- ✗English is used for official purposes but is not called the second official language.
Quick tip
Remember: Telangana = Telugu (first) and Urdu (second official language, 2017 Act); formed 2 June 2014; Telugu = "Italian of the East", classical in 2008.
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Languages & Scripts — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Languages & Scripts, 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 languages of India, the 22 languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, classical languages, official languages of states, scripts such as Brahmi, Kharosthi and Devanagari, and the most widely spoken languages of the world. Questions often ask which languages have classical status, which language is official in a particular state, or how many languages the Eighth Schedule contains. Remember the amendments that added languages to the Eighth Schedule (for example, the 92nd Amendment added Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali). Because the list of classical languages has grown over time, check the latest official count before your exam. Practise the languages and scripts 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.