Formerly called Bharata, India has the oldest continued civilisation. Its some 5 000-year old Indus Valley civilisation is recognised.

Besides Hinduism, existing since time immemorial, Jainism and Buddhism, and later Sikhism, were founded in India. Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Islam came to India almost as soon as they were initiated.

On this land of diversity that is vast India, there are differences, if not extremes, of altitude, climate, flora and fauna. Besides, it has the world?s driest and wettest areas. These and other variations in respect of arid deserts, fertile riverine lands, bare and hilly tracts, as well as open and luxuriant plains, have inevitably made an impact on the population?s socio-economic life.

Mountains, rivers and the seas bordering the country on three sides have each moulded ancient India?s history. Despite its veneer diversity, Indian, or Hindu, culture is different from any other in the world. National unity transcends the large variety of races, languages, customs and manners, besides colour, creed, caste, sect and dress.

On 9 September 1949, the Constituent Assembly in Delhi made Hindi the accepted link language of India. It is thus provided in the Constitution that ?Hindi in the Devanagari script shall be the official language of the Union.? However, English has grown popular due to the ever-increasing industrialisation and business, including computer access, in the country.

English and Hindi are used in official, political and commercial circles. They are the two languages of communication for the Union, or Central, Government. Hindi is spoken by not less than 45% of the national population.

Besides Hindi and English, the 21 constitutionally adopted languages, of the total of 23, are Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri (also Meitei), Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. The script of Urdu, which is a mixture of Persian and, mostly, Hindi, is Arabic.

Mainly used in the South, Kannada (Karnataka), Malayalam (Kerala), Tamil (Tamil Nadu) and Telugu (Andhra Pradesh) are the Dravidian languages. In each one of the 28 States and the seven union territories there is an official language.

In some of them two or even more languages are officially utilised, besides the main authorised one. Hindi is the principal official language in ten states and three union territories, including the national capital of Delhi. Urdu is the main official language in Jammu and Kashmir, and a subsidiary one in Delhi as well as three other states. Of such accredited status in Tamil Nadu, Tamil is also officially used along with French in the union territory of Pondicherry where Telugu and Malayalam are the other two authorised languages. Other important state languages include Garo, Kokborok, Khasi and Mizo, besides French.

The present spoken languages in India number 800, and the dialects around 2 000. As for a national language, there is none at the present, since it can be adopted only if ?all the constituent states of the Union of India accept it.? A mixture of Urdu and Hindi, Hindustani is the most popular lingua franca across the country. It is used by much more than half the population, and by almost everybody throughout the North.

According to the Indian Constitution, ?business in Parliament shall be transacted in Hindi or in English.? However, ?the Chairman of the Council of States or the Speaker of the House of the People, may permit any member who cannot adequately express himself in Hindi or in English to address the House in his mother-tongue.? The Constitution also guarantees that ?any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same.?

Chit DUKHIRA