Enforcement Officer / Accounts Officer (EO/AO) 2020 recruitment test, advertisement 421. Transcribed from the Commission's own booklet (series A, NMJX-U-GTA); answer as per the official UPSC final answer key. This question is in Part B. Answer last reviewed 24 August 2026.

Which one of the following does not figure in the list of languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India ?

(a)Dogri
(b)Bhoti
(c)Maithili
(d)Santhali

Answer

Why

Correct — B, (b) Bhoti. Bhoti is NOT in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. It is a Tibetic language written in the Tibetan script, spoken in Ladakh and taught in schools there and in parts of Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, and it is one of the several dozen languages for which inclusion in the Schedule has long been demanded — the campaign dates back to the 1970s, a large group of Members of Parliament petitioned the Prime Minister for it in 1995, the Central Institute of Indian Languages at Mysore recommended its inclusion in 2008, and a Private Member's Bill for the purpose was moved in the Lok Sabha by the Member from Ladakh in 2022. Demanded is not the same as included, and that gap is what this question tests. The other three options are all in the Schedule, and they entered it together: Dogri, Maithili and Santhali were added — along with Bodo — by the Constitution (Ninety-second Amendment) Act, 2003, which took the list from 18 languages to 22. So the answer sits neatly in the paper's design: three languages added by one amendment, and one still outside.

Why the others are wrong

(a)Dogri — Dogri IS in the Eighth Schedule, so it cannot be the answer to a question asking which does not figure in it. It is the language of the Jammu region, and it was one of the four languages added by the Constitution (Ninety-second Amendment) Act, 2003. It is offered here because it is the least widely spoken of the three correct options and because a candidate may associate it only with a single region, which makes it feel like a candidate for exclusion. Regional confinement has no bearing on Eighth Schedule status: several scheduled languages have far fewer speakers than several unscheduled ones.
(c)Maithili — Maithili is in the Eighth Schedule and so is not the exception. Spoken mainly in northern Bihar and in parts of Jharkhand, and with a substantial literary tradition of its own, it was added by the same Ninety-second Amendment of 2003 that brought in Bodo, Dogri and Santhali. This option can mislead a candidate who has heard Maithili described as a dialect of Hindi and concluded that it therefore has no separate constitutional recognition. It has: since 2003 it is a scheduled language in its own right, listed separately from Hindi.
(d)Santhali — Santhali is in the Eighth Schedule and is therefore not the answer. It is the language of the Santhal people, spoken across Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Assam, and it is written in the Ol Chiki script devised for it in the twentieth century. Like the other two it was added by the Ninety-second Amendment of 2003, and its inclusion was significant as the recognition of a major tribal language. A candidate who assumes that tribal languages are not scheduled will be caught here — Santhali and Bodo are both in the Schedule.

Concept

The Eighth Schedule of the Constitution lists the languages recognised by the Constitution, and its practical consequences are set out in Articles 344 and 351: a Commission and a Committee of Parliament on official language must have representation from these languages, and Article 351 directs that Hindi be developed by drawing on the forms and expressions of Hindustani and of the languages of the Eighth Schedule. Inclusion also carries substantial indirect benefits — a scheduled language may be used in examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission and other bodies, receives institutional support for development, and gains standing in education and administration. The list has grown four times since 1950. It began with 14 languages: Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. SINDHI was added by the Twenty-first Amendment in 1967, taking the count to 15. KONKANI, MANIPURI and NEPALI were added by the Seventy-first Amendment in 1992, taking it to 18. BODO, DOGRI, MAITHILI and SANTHALI were added by the Ninety-second Amendment in 2003, taking it to 22, where it stands. The Ninety-sixth Amendment of 2011 made no addition; it changed the spelling of 'Oriya' to 'Odia'. Against those 22, a long queue of languages seeks entry — Bhoti, Bhojpuri, Rajasthani, Tulu, Mizo, Garo, Khasi and many others — and successive governments have said the demands are under consideration. It is worth keeping the Eighth Schedule separate from two neighbouring ideas it is often confused with: the OFFICIAL LANGUAGES of the Union under Article 343, which are Hindi in Devanagari script and, by continuing provision, English; and the CLASSICAL LANGUAGE status conferred by the Government of India, which is an executive recognition and not a constitutional one.

Eighth Schedule questions are a fixture of general awareness sections because the list is finite, official and easily keyed, and because the boundary between 'recognised' and 'demanded' produces clean odd-one-out items like this one. The design here is careful: three of the four options entered by a single amendment, so a candidate who knows that amendment recognises three at once and is left with the fourth. The habit worth building is to learn the list by AMENDMENT rather than alphabetically — 14 at the start, plus Sindhi in 1967, plus three in 1992, plus four in 2003 — because that structure answers the count questions and the membership questions at the same time.

Key facts

Bhoti is NOT in the Eighth Schedule; it is among the languages for which inclusion has been demanded.
Bhoti, also called Bodhi or Ladakhi, is written in the Tibetan script and is spoken in Ladakh and taught in parts of Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
Dogri, Maithili and Santhali are all in the Eighth Schedule.
The Eighth Schedule presently contains 22 languages.
It began with 14 languages in 1950: Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.
Sindhi was added by the Twenty-first Amendment, 1967, making 15.
Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali were added by the Seventy-first Amendment, 1992, making 18.
Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali were added by the Ninety-second Amendment, 2003, making 22.
The Ninety-sixth Amendment, 2011, changed the spelling 'Oriya' to 'Odia' without adding a language.
Articles 344(1) and 351 are the constitutional provisions that give the Eighth Schedule its effect.
Santhali is written in the Ol Chiki script; Bodo and Santhali are the two major tribal languages in the Schedule.
Bhojpuri, Rajasthani, Tulu, Mizo and Bhoti are among the languages whose inclusion is demanded.

How the Schedule grew — and what is still outside it

1950 — the Schedule begins with 14 languages: Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.
1967, Twenty-first Amendment — SINDHI is added, taking the count to 15.
1992, Seventy-first Amendment — KONKANI, MANIPURI and NEPALI are added, taking the count to 18.
2003, Ninety-second Amendment — BODO, DOGRI, MAITHILI and SANTHALI are added, taking the count to 22, where the list still stands. Three of this question’s four options entered together in this one amendment, which is the paper’s design.
2011, Ninety-sixth Amendment — no language added; it changed the spelling ‘Oriya’ to ‘Odia’.
Still outside — BHOTI, a Tibetic language written in the Tibetan script, spoken in Ladakh and taught in parts of Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Inclusion has been sought since the 1970s, was recommended by the Central Institute of Indian Languages in 2008, and was pressed by a Private Member’s Bill in 2022. Demanded is not the same as included — Bhojpuri, Rajasthani, Tulu, Mizo, Garo and Khasi wait in the same queue.
What inclusion actually secures — Articles 344 and 351: representation on the Commission and the Committee of Parliament on official language, and a direction that Hindi be developed by drawing on the forms and expressions of the Eighth Schedule languages. Indirectly, a scheduled language may be used in examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission and other bodies, and receives institutional support for its development.

Study next

The Eighth Schedule: the full list of 22 languages and the amendment that added eachOfficial language provisions — Articles 343 to 351, and the Official Languages Act, 1963Classical language status: which languages hold it, and how it differs from Eighth Schedule inclusionThe Schedules of the Constitution, and what each of the twelve containsImportant constitutional amendments and what they changedLanguage and the states: the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 and linguistic reorganisation

Common traps

Missing the emphasised 'not' and answering with a language that IS in the Schedule.
Assuming a language with a long-standing demand for inclusion has already been included. Bhoti, Bhojpuri and Tulu have not.
Believing tribal languages are excluded. Bodo and Santhali are both scheduled.
Confusing Eighth Schedule status with official language status under Article 343 or with classical language status, which is an executive recognition.
Thinking a language spoken in only one region cannot be scheduled. Dogri and Konkani both are.
Attributing the addition of Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali to the wrong amendment. It was the Ninety-second, in 2003.

Eighth Schedule items recur across EPFO, State PCS and other general awareness papers in four standard shapes: which language is or is not included, how many languages are in the Schedule, which amendment added a named set, and matching a language to its script or state. All four are answered by one table learnt amendment by amendment. Questions built on the Constitution's Schedules more generally follow the same principle: learn what each Schedule contains rather than isolated entries.

Related PYQs

EPFO_EOAO_2020_Q56Open & attempt →

Which one of the following pairs of Zonal Railways and their Headquarters is not correctly matched ?

(a) Central — Nagpur
(b) Eastern — Kolkata
(c) Western — Mumbai
(d) Northern — New Delhi

Answer(a) Central — Nagpur

The other item in this block that turns on membership of a fixed official list, there the zonal railways and their headquarters. Both are answered by learning the whole list at once, and both use a genuine near-member as the trap.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali were added to the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution by which amendment ?
- (a)The Twenty-first Amendment, 1967
- (b)The Seventy-first Amendment, 1992
- (c)The Ninety-second Amendment, 2003
- (d)The Ninety-sixth Amendment, 2011
Answer(c) The Ninety-second Amendment, 2003
practice — not a real PYQ
How many languages are presently listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India ?
- (a)14
- (b)18
- (c)22
- (d)24
Answer(c) 22

Why