People may use the term Rashtra Bhasha  without realising but legally it is not our National language . Of course it is the most spoken language in India and is used as an official language  for the purpose of official use in government offices not spoken language , if that was the case Hindi will have to be learnt by all across India which is not so now..It is learnt as a 3rd language in all southern states and im TN , not even that !

True. Another aspect is that a National Language should unite the country. Hindi doesn't have that quality. Because this side of Vindhya doesn't use Hindi and the mostly used languages are Dravidian languages.

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

When has Hindi been declared an official language of India? I am not aware of the fact, if anyone has more information, do share the link here. Except that it is spoken in more than one states which is not the case with other languages, it is believed to be official but as far as I know, it is not.

As far as Usha's topic is concerned, I think the safest bet would be English language and not Hindi as English is far more widely spoken and understood in the southern and I think, Northeastern states.

 

Kalyani both English and Hindi have been accepted as Official language...I give the paragraph which throws some light on the subject !

t the Constituent Assembly while discussing the Language Formula noticed the recommendation of the Sub-Committee on Fundamental Rights, which recommended the formula as per which, “Hindustani, written either in Devanagari or the Persian script at the option of the citizen, shall, as the national language, be the first official language of the Union. English shall be the second official language for such period as the Union may, by law, determine.”

However, in the constitution, Hindi was declared as an official language and not a national language.

The court in its order said Part XVII of the Constitution deals with Official Language. Under Article 343, official language of the Union has been prescribed, which includes Hindi in Devanagari script and English.

The link I have already given in my post earlier ..

All languages printed on currency notes and given in our constitution are national languages. There is no need to decklare any one language as national language. However if it is considered necessary, Hindi and Tamil both be accoded status of national language. 

You mean the languages in eighth schedule ?

States within India have the liberty and powers to specify their own official language(s) through legislation and therefore there are more than 20 officially recognized languages in India,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_with_official_status_in_India

Nothing against Tamil, but why declare it a national language?

I did not say Tamil should be declared as official language. The post asks you to come up with your suggestions with reasons..

There are other members also participating in the forum and one of them suggested Tamil, so I want to know if he can say more about his suggestion. I will wait for his response when he chooses to do so.

Hindi cannot be and will never be, the National language of India.  When a language is declared a National language in India, it has to be appreciated that the language will have equal, but not more than, equal importance, than any other language of India.  

However, the Hindi politicians, who were always self-centered like the late Charan Singh and the now incorrigible Mulayam Singh Yadav, want Hindi to totally replace English, everywhere.  Though this a stupid suggestion, they have always been advocating just this, even while sending their own children to study in the best of schools and colleges, abroad, in English. 

For example, can Hindi be the first language of all communication and instruction, in West Bengal or Orissa?  So, does this mean that the Bengali or Oriyan languages are inferior?  Will this lead to unity among people? Obviously not.  

The Hindiwallahs want Hindi, because it is their mother tongue.  Nothing more, nothing less. At the moment, Hindi is only one of the National languages, alongside other National languages.  

So, the only solution is that there should be a three language formula, where everyone will study English, Hindi and their own mother tongue.  The mother tongue should be the medium of instruction where Hindi is not the State language.  In the Hindi States, they should learn English and another Indian language compulsorily.

But this is easier said than done, as the Hindiwallahs, with all their narrow mindedness, want to study only in Hindi, and ensure that English is driven out of the country, conveniently forgetting the fact that the entire IT industry, and some of the world's best doctors and scientists and lwayers were from India, only because they knew English very well. 

Hindi is of course, more widely spoken than any other language, but it can, and will never substitute other Indian languages and English.  Even if some Hindi poltician now tries to remove English, he will face his waterloo in no time.

Hindi is basically India's official language, it's because the number of Hindi speaking people is higher than any other language speaking people in our country. The central government has opted Hindi for its official purpose. Somehow, it has been interpreted that Hindi is our national language but constitutionally that's absolutely wrong.