Which of the following languages is/are NOT included in the Eighth Schedule of Indian Constitution ?
1. Nepali
2. Dogri
3. Bodo
4. Bhojpuri
Select the correct answer from the code given below :
Code :

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — C, Only 4. Of the four languages listed, only Bhojpuri sits outside the Eighth Schedule. Nepali went in with the Constitution (Seventy-first Amendment) Act, 1992, alongside Konkani and Manipuri. Dogri and Bodo both went in with the Constitution (Ninety-second Amendment) Act, 2003, together with Maithili and Santali — the amendment that took the Schedule from 18 languages to the 22 it lists today. Bhojpuri, despite an enormous speaker base across eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand, has never been included; the Ministry of Home Affairs counts it among the 38 further languages for which inclusion has been demanded. So statement 4 alone names a non-scheduled language.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) Both Nepali and Dogri are scheduled languages — Nepali since the 71st Amendment of 1992, Dogri since the 92nd Amendment of 2003. Neither is outside the Schedule.  (b) Half right, and the most tempting wrong answer. Bhojpuri is indeed outside, but Bodo is inside, added by the very same 92nd Amendment (2003) that brought in Dogri. Candidates who assume tribal or north-eastern languages are excluded get caught here — Santali, also a tribal language, entered at the same time.  (d) Nepali is a scheduled language of India and has been since 1992; it is widely spoken in Sikkim and the Darjeeling hills. That it is also the national language of a neighbouring country has nothing to do with its Indian constitutional status — which is precisely the false intuition this option is fishing for.

Concept: The Eighth Schedule is the Constitution's list of formally recognised languages. It does two constitutional jobs: under Article 344(1) it fixes the composition of the Official Language Commission, and under Article 351 it directs the Union to draw on these languages to enrich Hindi. Scheduled status also carries practical weight — candidates may write UPSC and many other public examinations in these languages, and government language-development schemes and Sahitya Akademi recognition are organised around them. The list began with 14 languages in 1950 and stands at 22 today.

State PCS 2025 Q93 — Polity & Governance PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2025 Q93 — Polity & Governance PYQ with Answer