Article 351 of the Constitution of India is headed “Directive for development of the Hindi language”. It places a duty on the Union, not on the States, to promote the spread of Hindi and to develop it so that it can serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of India’s composite culture, enriching it from Hindustani and from the other languages of India specified in the Eighth Schedule and drawing new vocabulary primarily from Sanskrit and secondarily from other languages. It is the last Article of Part XVII, the Part on the official language. This guide gives the text in English, from the Legislative Department’s official edition, and in Hindi, explains it phrase by phrase, and sets it beside the related Articles, the Eighth Schedule, the Official Languages Act, 1963 and the decisions of the Supreme Court, with a section in Hindi and answers to common questions.
Article 351 at a glance
- Heading: “Directive for development of the Hindi language” (in Hindi, “हिंदी भाषा के विकास के लिए निदेश”).
- Place in the Constitution: Part XVII (Official Language), Chapter IV, “Special Directives”, together with Articles 350, 350A and 350B. It is not a Fundamental Right (Part III) and not one of the Directive Principles of State Policy (Part IV).
- Who must act: “the Union”. Article 351 gives no direction to the States, whose Legislatures choose their own official languages under Article 345.
- The duty: to promote the spread of Hindi, to develop it as a medium of expression for “all the elements of the composite culture of India”, and to enrich it from Hindustani and the Eighth Schedule languages, drawing vocabulary “primarily on Sanskrit and secondarily on other languages”.
- Official language of the Union: Hindi in Devanagari script (Article 343(1)). English may continue to be used in addition to Hindi under Section 3 of the Official Languages Act, 1963. The English text of the Constitution does not use the words “national language”.
- Supreme Court: in U.P. Hindi Sahitya Sammelan v. State of U.P. (2014), five judges agreed that “Hindi language has a special status and particularly in Part XVII”, but upheld Uttar Pradesh’s law and notification making Urdu the second official language for seven purposes.
- Not to be confused with: Section 351 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, which deals with criminal intimidation. The Constitution has no Article 351A or 351B.
Reviewed and updated by Century Law Firm, Delhi – October 2026. The English text of the Constitution is quoted from the Legislative Department’s edition as on 10 September 2026, the Hindi text of Article 351 as published on the websites of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, the Official Languages Act, 1963 from official reproductions of the Act as amended in 1967, and the Official Languages Rules, 1976 as amended up to 2011.
The text of Article 351 in English and Hindi
The official English text, in the Legislative Department’s edition of the Constitution as on 10 September 2026, reads: “351. Directive for development of the Hindi language.—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.”
Article 351 has no clauses or provisos. The official edition carries no amendment footnote against it, while its footnotes record the Constitution Amendment Acts by which other provisions have been changed, so the wording has stayed the same since the Constitution came into force.
The Hindi text reads: अनुच्छेद 351. हिंदी भाषा के विकास के लिए निदेश – “संघ का यह कर्तव्य होगा कि वह हिंदी भाषा का प्रसार बढ़ाए, उसका विकास करे जिससे वह भारत की सामासिक संस्कृति के सभी तत्वों की अभिव्यक्ति का माध्यम बन सके और उसकी प्रकृति में हस्तक्षेप किए बिना हिंदुस्थानी में और आठवीं अनुसूची में विनिर्दिष्ट भारत की अन्य भाषाओं में प्रयुक्त रूप, शैली और पदों को आत्मसात करते हुए और जहां आवश्यक या वांछनीय हो वहां उसके शब्द-भंडार के लिए मुख्यतः संस्कृत से और गौणतः अन्य भाषाओं से शब्द ग्रहण करते हुए उसकी समृद्धि सुनिश्चित करे।”
This Hindi wording is taken from two Government websites that give it identically: the page of the Office of the Director General of Audit, North Eastern Railway, Gorakhpur, on the website of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, and the page of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan’s Regional Office, Agra. The Legislative Department’s own Hindi edition could not be opened for this review. Note that the Hindi heading uses the word “निदेश” (directive).
What Article 351 says, phrase by phrase
“It shall be the duty of the Union”. The Article speaks of a duty, and it places that duty on the Union. It does not mention the States at all. This matters because the official languages of the States are dealt with separately, in Article 345, which leaves the choice to each State Legislature.
“to promote the spread of the Hindi language, to develop it”. There are two tasks here: spreading the use of Hindi, and developing the language itself. The same sentence states the purpose of the development: that Hindi “may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India”. The Constitution describes India’s culture as composite, made up of many elements, and asks that Hindi be developed to express all of them.
“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”. Hindi is to be enriched by absorbing forms, style and expressions from other Indian languages, but “without interfering with its genius”, that is, while keeping its own character. Hindustani is named separately: it is not one of the languages listed in the Eighth Schedule, and the word does not appear anywhere else in the English text of the Constitution. The “other languages of India” are those listed in the Eighth Schedule, which is why the heading of that Schedule refers to Article 351.
“by drawing, wherever necessary or desirable, for its vocabulary, primarily on Sanskrit and secondarily on other languages”. This sets an order of preference for building Hindi’s vocabulary: Sanskrit first and other languages second, and only “wherever necessary or desirable”.
Article 351 does not mention English, and it does not decide which language is to be used in Government offices, in Parliament or in the courts. Those questions are answered elsewhere. Article 120, in the Part on the Union, says that “Notwithstanding anything in Part XVII, but subject to the provisions of article 348, business in Parliament shall be transacted in Hindi or in English”, and Article 210 makes a similar rule for State Legislatures. The official purposes of the Union and the language of the courts are dealt with by Articles 343 to 348 and by the Official Languages Act, 1963, described below. In particular, the power to authorise Hindi “in addition to the English language” during the first fifteen years was given to the President by the proviso to Article 343(2), not by Article 351.
Where Article 351 sits: Part XVII of the Constitution
Part XVII, titled “Official Language”, has four chapters. Chapter I, “Language of the Union”, contains Articles 343 and 344. Chapter II, “Regional Languages”, contains Articles 345 to 347. Chapter III, “Language of the Supreme Court, High Courts, etc.”, contains Articles 348 and 349. Chapter IV, “Special Directives”, contains Articles 350, 350A, 350B and 351. Articles 350A and 350B were inserted by the Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956 with effect from 1 November 1956.
Because it is in Part XVII, Article 351 is neither a Fundamental Right, the Fundamental Rights being in Part III, nor one of the Directive Principles of State Policy, which are in Part IV. It is one of the special directives of Chapter IV. In the 2014 case discussed below, the Supreme Court agreed with the submission that Part XVII “is a self-contained part of the Constitution akin to a complete Code”.
Prepared by Century Law Firm from the Legislative Department’s official text of the Constitution of India.
The Union’s duty and the States’ freedom
Article 351 binds the Union. The official language of a State is a separate matter, governed by Article 345: “the Legislature of a State may by law adopt any one or more of the languages in use in the State or Hindi as the language or languages to be used for all or any of the official purposes of that State”. Until a State Legislature does so, English continues to be used for the official purposes within the State for which it was used immediately before the Constitution began. Article 345 is itself “subject to the provisions of articles 346 and 347”.
Article 346 adds that the language authorised for the Union’s official purposes is used for communication between States and between a State and the Union, but two or more States may agree to use Hindi between themselves. Under Article 347, the President may, on a demand, direct the official recognition of a language spoken by a substantial proportion of a State’s population who want it recognised.
A Constitution Bench decision on how these Articles fit together is U.P. Hindi Sahitya Sammelan v. State of U.P., [2014] 13 S.C.R. 675, decided on 4 September 2014 by a Constitution Bench of five judges (Chief Justice R.M. Lodha and Justices Dipak Misra, Madan B. Lokur, Kurian Joseph and S.A. Bobde), with the judgment written by the Chief Justice in Civil Appeal No. 459 of 1997. The question was “whether it is constitutional for the U.P. Legislative Assembly to declare Urdu as the second official language through the 1989 Amendment Act once it has declared Hindi as the official language in 1951”.
The Court explained that Hindi is mentioned separately in Article 345, next to “the languages in use in the State”, in order “to promote and spread Hindi in terms of Article 351 though it may not be spoken or used by the people in the State.” It added: “The use of the word “may” in Article 345 is not without significance. It indicates that State has discretion in adopting the language or languages in use in the State and so also Hindi.” The Court accepted that “Hindi language has a special status and particularly in Part XVII”, and that Articles 343(1), 344(2)(a), 345, the proviso to 346, 348(2) and 351 “prescribe larger constitutional charter for Hindi”. But that did not mean that a State which had adopted Hindi was barred from adopting another language, because “nothing in Article 345 bars adopting any other official language in use in the State, in addition to Hindi, as the second official language.” The Court held that neither the insertion of Section 3 by the 1989 Amendment Act “nor the impugned notification in pursuance of the above provision notifying Urdu as the second language for seven purposes is unconstitutional”, and dismissed the appeal.
The Eighth Schedule: the 22 languages Article 351 refers to
The Eighth Schedule is titled “Languages” and carries the reference “[Articles 344(1) and 351]”. It lists 22 languages: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.
The footnotes in the official edition show how the list grew. Sindhi was added by the Constitution (Twenty-first Amendment) Act, 1967, with effect from 10 April 1967. Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali were inserted by the Constitution (Seventy-first Amendment) Act, 1992, with effect from 31 August 1992. Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali were inserted by the Constitution (Ninety-second Amendment) Act, 2003, with effect from 7 January 2004. The Constitution (Ninety-sixth Amendment) Act, 2011 replaced “Oriya” with “Odia” with effect from 23 September 2011. When the Official Language Resolution was published in January 1968, it described the Schedule as specifying “14 major languages of India besides Hindi”; today it has 22 languages including Hindi.
The Schedule matters to Part XVII in two ways. Under Article 344(1), the Official Language Commission was to consist of a Chairman and members “representing the different languages specified in the Eighth Schedule”. Under Article 351, the same languages are the sources from which Hindi is to be enriched.
How the Union has acted on Article 351 and Part XVII
Several laws, a parliamentary resolution and a number of Government bodies deal with Hindi and with the other official-language provisions of Part XVII. The main ones are described below.
The Official Languages Act, 1963
Article 343(3) allows Parliament to provide by law for the use of English after the first fifteen years. The Official Languages Act, 1963 (Act No. 19 of 1963) does this. Under Section 3(1), notwithstanding the expiry of those fifteen years, English “may, as from the appointed day, continue to be used in addition to Hindi” for all the official purposes of the Union for which it was being used immediately before that day, and for the transaction of business in Parliament. The appointed day is 26 January 1965. English must be used for communication between the Union and a State which has not adopted Hindi as its official language, unless that State itself chooses to use Hindi, in which case English is not obligatory (the third proviso to Section 3(1)); and Hindi communications between a Hindi State and such a State must be accompanied by an English translation.
Section 3(3) requires both Hindi and English to be used for resolutions, general orders, rules, notifications, administrative or other reports and press communiqués of the Central Government and of corporations or companies it owns or controls; for administrative and other reports and official papers laid before Parliament; and for contracts, agreements, licences, permits, notices and forms of tender issued by or on behalf of the Central Government or such corporations. Under Section 3(5), Section 3(1)(a) and sub-sections (2) to (4) of Section 3 remain in force until the legislatures of all the States which have not adopted Hindi as their official language pass resolutions for discontinuing English, and each House of Parliament then passes such a resolution.
Section 4 provides for a Committee on Official Language of thirty members of Parliament to review the progress made in the use of Hindi for the official purposes of the Union and report to the President, who may issue directions that are not inconsistent with Section 3. The Law Commission of India has recorded that this Committee “was constituted in 1976 under section 4(1) of the Official Languages Act, 1963.” Section 5 makes a Hindi translation of a Central Act, Ordinance, order, rule, regulation or bye-law, published under the President’s authority in the Official Gazette, “the authoritative text thereof in Hindi”. Section 7 allows the Governor of a State, with the President’s previous consent, to authorise Hindi or the official language of the State, in addition to English, for judgments, decrees or orders of the High Court, which must then be accompanied by an English translation issued under the High Court’s authority.
The Official Language Resolution, 1968
The Official Language Resolution was published by the Ministry of Home Affairs on 18 January 1968 as adopted by both Houses of Parliament. It begins: “WHEREAS under article 343 of the Constitution Hindi shall be the official language of the union, and under article 351 thereof it is the duty of the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi Language and to develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India”. It resolves that “a more intensive and comprehensive programme shall be prepared and implemented by the Government of India for accelerating the spread and development of Hindi”, with an annual assessment report to be laid before both Houses of Parliament and sent to all State Governments.
The same Resolution looks beyond Hindi. It resolves that a programme be prepared with the State Governments “for the coordinated development of all these languages, alongside Hindi”, meaning the languages of the Eighth Schedule. It also calls for the three-language formula to be implemented in all States, and provides that all the Eighth Schedule languages and English be permitted as alternative media for the All India and higher Central Services examinations, after the views of the Union Public Service Commission are ascertained.
The Official Languages Rules, 1976
The Official Languages (Use for Official Purposes of the Union) Rules, 1976 (G.S.R. 1052 of 17 July 1976) divide the country into three regions for official correspondence. In the text of the Rules as amended in 2007 and 2011, Region A is Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, the National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands; Region B is Gujarat, Maharashtra and Punjab and the Union territories of Chandigarh, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli; and Region C is every other State and Union territory. Communications from a Central Government office to a State or Union territory in Region A are, save in exceptional cases, to be in Hindi; to Region B they are ordinarily to be in Hindi; and to Region C they are to be in English. Replies to communications received in Hindi are to be in Hindi. The Rules extend to the whole of India “except the State of Tamilnadu”.
The bodies that work on Hindi
The Central Hindi Directorate was established on 1 March 1960 as a subordinate office of the then Ministry of Education, and is now under the Department of Higher Education. Its website quotes Article 351 and says that the Directorate “was born to follow the same sentiments and instructions of the Constitution”. Its work includes dictionaries, encyclopaedias and comparative grammars, the standardisation and propagation of the Devanagari script, correspondence courses in Hindi and financial assistance to voluntary Hindi organisations. The Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology was established on 1 October 1961, in pursuance of a Presidential Order dated 27 April 1960, “with the objective to evolve technical terminology in all Indian Languages”; its main function is “to evolve standard terminology, propagate its use and distribute it widely.”
The Department of Official Language was set up in the Ministry of Home Affairs in 1975. The Department of Posts’ commemorative brochure of 2024 describes it as established “in June 1975 as an independent department within the Ministry of Home Affairs”, with the mandate “to ensure compliance with constitutional and legal provisions regarding the use of Hindi and to promote its use in official matters based on the policy of motivation, encouragement and goodwill.” According to the Press Information Bureau (4 November 2024), the Kendriya Hindi Samiti, chaired by the Prime Minister, “is the highest body that provides guidelines for the development and promotion of Hindi language”, and the current Samiti was reconstituted on 9 November 2021.
Hindi Diwas, 14 September
Hindi Diwas is observed on 14 September. In his Hindi Diwas message of 2024, released by the Ministry of Home Affairs through the Press Information Bureau, the Union Home Minister said that “on 14th September, 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India accepted Hindi as the official language of the Union.” The Department of Posts’ brochure for the Diamond Jubilee of Rajbhasha adds that the debate on the official language “began on 12 September 1949 and concluded on 14 September 1949”, and 14 September 2024 marked the 75th anniversary.
Other Supreme Court decisions on Part XVII
Article 350A, on mother-tongue instruction, was considered by a Constitution Bench of five judges in State of Karnataka v. Associated Management of (Government Recognised – Unaided – English Medium) Primary & Secondary Schools (6 May 2014), in a judgment written by Justice A.K. Patnaik. The Court observed that “The only provision in the Constitution which contains the expression “mother tongue” is Article 350A”, that “the expression ‘mother tongue’ in Article 350A means the mother tongue of the linguistic minority group in a particular State”, and that “it is the parent or the guardian of the child who will decide what the mother tongue of child is.” It held: “We accordingly hold that State has no power under Article 350A of the Constitution to compel the linguistic minorities to choose their mother tongue only as a medium of instruction in primary schools.”
Article 348(1)(a), under which proceedings in the Supreme Court and the High Courts are conducted in English until Parliament by law otherwise provides, was challenged in Kishan Chand Jain v. Union of India (Writ Petition (Civil) No. 701 of 2024). On 4 November 2024 a bench of the Chief Justice and Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra recorded that “The challenge to the constitutional validity of Article 348(1)(a) of the Constitution of India is wholly lacking in substance”, and dismissed the petition.
The language of the higher courts was also examined by the Law Commission of India in its Report No. 216 of December 2008, titled “Non-Feasibility of Introduction of Hindi as Compulsory Language in the Supreme Court of India”. Among its recommendations: “No language should be thrust on any section of the people against their will since it is likely to become counterproductive”, and judges of the higher judiciary “should be left free to deliver their judgments in the language they prefer.”
Looking for Section 351 BNS (“kalam 351” or “dhara 351”)?
Many readers who search for “kalam 351” or “dhara 351”, often with a sub-section such as 351(2) or 351(3), want Section 351 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (formerly Sections 503, 506 and 507 IPC), not Article 351 of the Constitution. Section 351 BNS deals with criminal intimidation. Under Section 351(1), a person commits criminal intimidation if he “threatens another by any means, with any injury to his person, reputation or property, or to the person or reputation of any one in whom that person is interested”, with intent to cause alarm, or to make that person do something he is not legally bound to do, or omit something he is legally entitled to do, as the means of avoiding the threat being carried out. Section 351(2) punishes it with imprisonment of up to two years, or fine, or both. Section 351(3) allows imprisonment of up to seven years, or fine, or both, where the threat is to cause death or grievous hurt, to destroy property by fire, to cause an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life or for up to seven years, or to impute unchastity to a woman. Section 351(4) adds up to two years’ imprisonment where the threat is made by an anonymous communication or the person has hidden his name or abode.
You can compare the old and new sections in our free Legal Code Comparison Tool. The Constitution itself has no Article 351A or 351B.
अनुच्छेद 351 – हिंदी में
भारत के संविधान का अनुच्छेद 351, जिसका शीर्षक “हिंदी भाषा के विकास के लिए निदेश” है, संविधान के भाग 17 (Official Language / राजभाषा) के अध्याय 4 (विशेष निदेश – Special Directives) में है। इसका पाठ इस प्रकार है: “संघ का यह कर्तव्य होगा कि वह हिंदी भाषा का प्रसार बढ़ाए, उसका विकास करे जिससे वह भारत की सामासिक संस्कृति के सभी तत्वों की अभिव्यक्ति का माध्यम बन सके और उसकी प्रकृति में हस्तक्षेप किए बिना हिंदुस्थानी में और आठवीं अनुसूची में विनिर्दिष्ट भारत की अन्य भाषाओं में प्रयुक्त रूप, शैली और पदों को आत्मसात करते हुए और जहां आवश्यक या वांछनीय हो वहां उसके शब्द-भंडार के लिए मुख्यतः संस्कृत से और गौणतः अन्य भाषाओं से शब्द ग्रहण करते हुए उसकी समृद्धि सुनिश्चित करे।” यह हिंदी पाठ भारत के नियंत्रक-महालेखापरीक्षक (CAG) और केंद्रीय विद्यालय संगठन की वेबसाइटों पर प्रकाशित रूप से लिया गया है।
इस अनुच्छेद में कर्तव्य संघ (Union) का है, राज्यों का नहीं। राज्य अपनी राजभाषा अनुच्छेद 345 के तहत स्वयं चुनते हैं: अनुच्छेद 346 और 347 के उपबंधों के अधीन रहते हुए, किसी राज्य का विधान-मंडल, विधि द्वारा, उस राज्य में प्रयोग होने वाली भाषाओं में से किसी एक या अधिक भाषाओं को या हिंदी को अंगीकार कर सकता है। संघ की राजभाषा के बारे में अनुच्छेद 343(1) कहता है: “संघ की राजभाषा हिंदी और लिपि देवनागरी होगी”। राजभाषा अधिनियम (Official Languages Act), 1963 की धारा 3 के तहत अंग्रेज़ी भी हिंदी के साथ संघ के शासकीय कामकाज और संसद में प्रयोग की जा सकती है; संसद की भाषा के बारे में अनुच्छेद 120 कहता है कि संसद में कार्य हिंदी में या अंग्रेज़ी में किया जाएगा। संविधान के अंग्रेज़ी पाठ में “national language” (राष्ट्रभाषा) शब्द कहीं नहीं है। आठवीं अनुसूची में आज 22 भाषाएँ हैं, और अनुच्छेद 351 के अनुसार हिंदी को हिंदुस्थानी से और इन्हीं भाषाओं के रूप, शैली और पदों से समृद्ध किया जाना है (हिंदुस्थानी स्वयं आठवीं अनुसूची की सूची में नहीं है), जबकि नए शब्द मुख्यतः संस्कृत से और गौणतः अन्य भाषाओं से लिए जाने हैं।
सुप्रीम कोर्ट की पाँच न्यायाधीशों की संविधान पीठ ने उत्तर प्रदेश हिंदी साहित्य सम्मेलन बनाम उत्तर प्रदेश राज्य (4 सितंबर 2014) में माना कि भाग 17 में हिंदी को विशेष दर्जा (special status) प्राप्त है, लेकिन यह भी कहा कि अनुच्छेद 345 किसी राज्य को हिंदी के साथ उस राज्य में प्रयोग होने वाली किसी अन्य भाषा को दूसरी राजभाषा के रूप में अपनाने से नहीं रोकता। इसी आधार पर उत्तर प्रदेश में उर्दू को सात प्रयोजनों के लिए दूसरी राजभाषा के रूप में अधिसूचित करने को असंवैधानिक नहीं माना गया। हिंदी दिवस 14 सितंबर को मनाया जाता है, क्योंकि केंद्रीय गृह मंत्री के 2024 के हिंदी दिवस संदेश (पत्र सूचना कार्यालय, गृह मंत्रालय) के अनुसार 14 सितंबर 1949 को संविधान सभा ने हिंदी को संघ की राजभाषा के रूप में स्वीकार किया था।
“कलम 351” या “धारा 351” खोजने वाले कई पाठक भारतीय न्याय संहिता, 2023 (BNS) की धारा 351 के बारे में जानना चाहते हैं। यह धारा criminal intimidation, यानी धमकी देकर डराने के अपराध से संबंधित है और पुरानी IPC की धारा 503, 506 और 507 की जगह आई है। इसमें सामान्य मामले में दो वर्ष तक का कारावास या जुर्माना या दोनों, और मृत्यु या गंभीर चोट (grievous hurt) जैसी धमकियों पर सात वर्ष तक का कारावास या जुर्माना या दोनों का प्रावधान है; गुमनाम संदेश से धमकी देने पर धारा 351(4) के तहत दो वर्ष तक का अतिरिक्त कारावास हो सकता है। संविधान में अनुच्छेद 351A या 351B नाम का कोई अनुच्छेद नहीं है।
Frequently asked questions
Article 351, headed “Directive for development of the Hindi language”, makes it the duty of the Union to promote the spread of Hindi and to develop and enrich it, from Hindustani and from the other languages of India specified in the Eighth Schedule, with vocabulary drawn primarily from Sanskrit, so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India.
अनुच्छेद 351 का शीर्षक है “हिंदी भाषा के विकास के लिए निदेश”। इसके अनुसार संघ का कर्तव्य है कि वह हिंदी भाषा का प्रसार बढ़ाए और उसका विकास करे जिससे वह भारत की सामासिक संस्कृति के सभी तत्वों की अभिव्यक्ति का माध्यम बन सके। हिंदी की समृद्धि हिंदुस्थानी में और आठवीं अनुसूची में विनिर्दिष्ट भारत की अन्य भाषाओं में प्रयुक्त रूप, शैली और पदों को आत्मसात करते हुए की जानी है, और शब्द-भंडार के लिए शब्द मुख्यतः संस्कृत से और गौणतः अन्य भाषाओं से लिए जाने हैं। यह कर्तव्य संघ का है, राज्यों का नहीं।
Article 351 is in Part XVII, “Official Language” (Articles 343 to 351), in Chapter IV, “Special Directives”, with Articles 350, 350A and 350B. It is neither a Fundamental Right (Part III) nor one of the Directive Principles of State Policy (Part IV); it is a special directive addressed to the Union.
The English text of the Constitution does not use the expression “national language”. Article 343(1) says “The official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script.” Under Section 3 of the Official Languages Act, 1963, English may continue to be used in addition to Hindi for the official purposes of the Union and in Parliament (where, under Article 120, business is transacted in Hindi or in English), and each State chooses its own official language or languages under Article 345.
No. Article 351 places the duty on “the Union” only. Under Article 345, a State Legislature “may” adopt any one or more of the languages in use in the State, or Hindi. In U.P. Hindi Sahitya Sammelan v. State of U.P. (4 September 2014), the Supreme Court said that the word “may” “indicates that State has discretion”, and held that a State which has adopted Hindi may also adopt another official language in use in the State.
Twenty-two: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. The Schedule refers to Articles 344(1) and 351.
Article 351 asks that Hindi be enriched from Hindustani and from the other languages of India specified in the Eighth Schedule, “without interfering with its genius”. Other Articles protect the other languages, among them Article 345 (official languages of the States), Article 347, Article 350, Article 350A (mother-tongue instruction for children of linguistic minorities) and Article 350B (Special Officer for linguistic minorities). The Official Language Resolution, 1968 also resolved on a programme “for the coordinated development of all these languages, alongside Hindi”.
The Official Languages Act, 1963 and the Official Languages (Use for Official Purposes of the Union) Rules, 1976, read with Articles 343 to 346. Section 3(3) of the Act requires both Hindi and English for documents such as rules, notifications, reports, papers laid before Parliament, contracts and licences. The Rules divide the country into Regions A, B and C for correspondence and do not extend to Tamil Nadu.
Because on 14 September 1949 the Constituent Assembly of India accepted Hindi as the official language of the Union, as the Union Home Minister said in his Hindi Diwas message of 2024 (Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, 14 September 2024).
Among them are the Department of Official Language in the Ministry of Home Affairs (set up in 1975); the Central Hindi Directorate (set up on 1 March 1960, now under the Ministry of Education), which describes itself as created to follow the directions in Article 351; the Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology (established on 1 October 1961), which evolves technical terminology in Indian languages; and the Kendriya Hindi Samiti, chaired by the Prime Minister.
Section 351 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (formerly Sections 503, 506 and 507 IPC) defines criminal intimidation. It is punishable with imprisonment of up to two years, or fine, or both; up to seven years, or fine, or both, for the serious threats listed in Section 351(3), such as threats to cause death or grievous hurt; and up to two years more under Section 351(4) for anonymous threats. The Constitution has no Article 351A or 351B.
Under Article 348(1), until Parliament by law otherwise provides, proceedings in the Supreme Court and every High Court are in English, as are the authoritative texts of Bills, Acts and subordinate legislation. With the President’s previous consent, a Governor may authorise Hindi or another official language of the State in High Court proceedings, though not for judgments, decrees or orders; for those, Section 7 of the Official Languages Act, 1963 allows such a language with an English translation. On 4 November 2024 the Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to Article 348(1)(a) as “wholly lacking in substance”.
The Article states its own purpose. It makes it the duty of the Union to promote the spread of Hindi and 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 enrich it from Hindustani and from the other languages of India specified in the Eighth Schedule, drawing vocabulary “primarily on Sanskrit and secondarily on other languages”. The Constitution gives no other reason in its text. According to the Department of Posts’ 2024 brochure on the Diamond Jubilee of Rajbhasha, the Constituent Assembly’s debate on the official language began on 12 September 1949 and concluded on 14 September 1949; on 14 September 1949, in the words of the Union Home Minister’s Hindi Diwas message of 2024, “the Constituent Assembly of India accepted Hindi as the official language of the Union”, which is why Hindi Diwas is observed on 14 September.
Article 351 itself deals with neither. The languages of government communication are governed by Articles 343 to 346, by the Official Languages Act, 1963, under which English may continue to be used in addition to Hindi for the official purposes of the Union for which it was being used before 26 January 1965, and by the Official Languages (Use for Official Purposes of the Union) Rules, 1976, which divide the country into Regions A, B and C and do not extend to Tamil Nadu. Education is addressed by Article 350A, inserted in 1956, under which it is the endeavour of every State and local authority “to provide adequate facilities for instruction in the mother-tongue at the primary stage of education to children belonging to linguistic minority groups”; in State of Karnataka v. Associated Management (6 May 2014) the Supreme Court said that “mother tongue” in Article 350A means the mother tongue of the linguistic minority group. Each State chooses its own official language or languages under Article 345.
Official sources show two direct links. The Official Language Resolution, 1968, adopted by both Houses of Parliament and published by the Ministry of Home Affairs on 18 January 1968, begins by reciting Article 343 and the duty under Article 351, resolves that “a more intensive and comprehensive programme shall be prepared and implemented by the Government of India for accelerating the spread and development of Hindi”, and also resolves on a programme for the coordinated development, alongside Hindi, of the other languages then in the Eighth Schedule. The Central Hindi Directorate, established on 1 March 1960 and now under the Ministry of Education, quotes Article 351 on its website and says that it “was born to follow the same sentiments and instructions of the Constitution”. Other bodies work on Hindi and on terminology in Indian languages, though the sources opened do not tie them to Article 351: the Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology, established on 1 October 1961 in pursuance of a Presidential Order dated 27 April 1960 “with the objective to evolve technical terminology in all Indian Languages”, and the Department of Official Language in the Ministry of Home Affairs, set up in 1975.
The Constitution places the duty under Article 351 on the Union alone and, in the same Part, protects the other languages: Article 345 lets each State Legislature adopt any of the languages in use in the State, or Hindi, as its official language; Article 347 provides for the recognition of a language spoken by a substantial proportion of a State’s population; Article 350 allows representations in any language used in the Union or the State; and Articles 350A and 350B provide for mother-tongue instruction and a Special Officer for linguistic minorities. The Eighth Schedule now lists twenty-two languages; the Official Language Resolution, 1968 resolved on a programme for the coordinated development, alongside Hindi, of the languages then in the Schedule (“14 major languages of India besides Hindi”). In U.P. Hindi Sahitya Sammelan v. State of U.P. (4 September 2014), five judges held that a State which has adopted Hindi may also adopt another language in use in the State, Urdu in that case. Whether these aims conflict in practice is a matter of debate on which this post takes no position.
Conclusion
Article 351 is a short provision with a clear addressee and a clear task. It asks the Union, not the States, to spread Hindi and to develop and enrich it from India’s other languages so that it can express the country’s composite culture. It does not by itself decide which language is used in an office, in Parliament or in a court; those rules are in Article 120 (Parliament), Articles 343 to 348, the Official Languages Act, 1963 and the Rules of 1976. The Supreme Court has recognised the special place of Hindi in Part XVII while upholding the freedom of the States to adopt other official languages, and Article 351 sits alongside Article 350 and the safeguards for linguistic minorities in Articles 350A and 350B.
Sources used for this post: the Constitution of India, Part XVII (Articles 343 to 351), Articles 120 and 210 and the Eighth Schedule with their amendment footnotes, and the titles of Parts III and IV (Legislative Department diglot edition, as on 10 September 2026, with a search of its whole English text for the words “national language” and “Hindustani”); the Hindi text of Article 351, and of Articles 343(1) and 345, as published by the Office of the Director General of Audit, North Eastern Railway, Gorakhpur (cag.gov.in) and the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Regional Office, Agra (kvs.gov.in); the Official Languages Act, 1963, Sections 2 to 5 and 7, as amended in 1967 (copies on the mumbaiport.gov.in and socialjustice.assam.gov.in websites); the Official Language Resolution, 1968 (Ministry of Home Affairs, 18 January 1968, copy on the Government of Maharashtra’s marathi.gov.in website); the Official Languages (Use for Official Purposes of the Union) Rules, 1976, as amended in 1987, 2007 and 2011 (copy published by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India); Press Information Bureau releases of 14 September 2024 and 4 November 2024; the Department of Posts’ 2024 brochure on the Diamond Jubilee of Rajbhasha; the websites of the Central Hindi Directorate and the Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology; Law Commission of India Report No. 216 (December 2008, copy on the Delhi High Court website); the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, Section 351 (the firm’s section-by-section data checked against the Gazette text); and the Supreme Court of India’s own copies of U.P. Hindi Sahitya Sammelan v. State of U.P. (4 September 2014; the S.C.R. citation from the Supreme Court Reports print on the Rajasthan High Court website) and of the record of proceedings in Kishan Chand Jain v. Union of India (4 November 2024), with its judgment in State of Karnataka v. Associated Management of (Government Recognised – Unaided – English Medium) Primary & Secondary Schools (6 May 2014) read from the copy on the Gauhati High Court website.
