Constitution Section 351 — Directive for development of the Hindi language

Part XVII — OFFICIAL LANGUAGE — CHAPTER IV.—SPECIAL DIRECTIVES

Constitutional

Summary

The central government is responsible for encouraging the use of the Hindi language and helping it grow so it can express the diverse culture of India. This includes making Hindi richer by taking in words and styles from Hindustani and other Indian languages listed in the Eighth Schedule, without changing its basic character. When needed, Hindi should mainly borrow words from Sanskrit, and secondarily from other languages, to build its vocabulary.

Official Text

It shall be the duty of the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language, to develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India and to secure its enrichment by assimilating without interfering with its genius, the forms, style and expressions used in Hindustani and in the other languages of India specified in the Eighth Schedule, and by drawing, wherever necessary or desirable, for its vocabulary, primarily on Sanskrit and secondarily on other languages.