Multilingualism in India

The Constitution of India designates the official languages of India as Hindi and English.{{cite web|url=http://rajbhasha.nic.in/UI/pagecontent.aspx?pc=MzU=|title=Constitutional Provisions: Official Language Related Part-17 of The Constitution Of India|publisher=Department of Official Language, Government of India|accessdate=1 July 2015|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201081439/http://rajbhasha.nic.in/UI/pagecontent.aspx?pc=MzU%3D|archivedate=1 February 2016|df=dmy-all}} The number of bilingual speakers in India is 314.9 million, which is 26% of the population in 2011.{{cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/hindi-migrants-speaking-marathi-rise-to-60-lakh/articleshow/66061624.cms|title=Hindi migrants speaking Marathi rise to 60 lakh|website=The Times of India }}

Multilingualism

=Hindi=

Hindi is one of the official languages of India and had 528 million native speakers as of the 2011 Census. About 139 million Indians speak Hindi as a second language and 24 million speak it as their third language.

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|+First, second, and third languages by number of speakers in India (2011 Census){{cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/how-languagesintersect-in-india/story-g3nzNwFppYV7XvCumRzlYL.html|title=How languages intersect in India|date=22 November 2018|publisher=Hindustan Times}}{{cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/static/iframes/language_probability_interactive/index.html|title=How many Indians can you talk to?}}

!Language

!First language
speakers{{cite web|url=http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011Census/C-16_25062018_NEW.pdf|title=Census of India: Comparative speaker's strength of Scheduled Languages-1951, 1961, 1971, 1981, 1991 ,2001 and 2011|last=ORGI|publisher=}}

!First language
speakers as a percentage
of total population

!Second language
speakers

!Third language
speakers

!Total speakers

!Total speakers as a
percentage of total
population

Hindi

|528,347,193

|43.63

|139,000,000

|24,000,000

|692,000,000

|57.1

English

|259,678

|0.02

|83,000,000

|46,000,000

|129,000,000

|10.6

Bengali

|97,237,669

|8.3

|9,000,000

|1,000,000

|107,000,000

|8.9

Marathi

|83,026,680

|7.09

|13,000,000

|3,000,000

|99,000,000

|8.2

Telugu

|81,127,740

|6.93

|12,000,000

|1,000,000

|95,000,000

|7.8

Tamil

|69,026,881

|5.89

|7,000,000

|1,000,000

|77,000,000

|6.3

Gujarati

|55,492,554

|4.74

|4,000,000

|1,000,000

|60,000,000

Urdu

|50,772,631

|4.34

|11,000,000

|1,000,000

|63,000,000

|5.2

Kannada

|43,706,512

|3.73

|14,000,000

|1,000,000

|59,000,000

|4.94

Odia

|37,521,324

|3.2

|5,000,000

|390,000

|43,000,000

|3.56

Malayalam

|34,838,819

|2.97

|500,000

|210,000

|36,000,000

|2.9

Punjabi

|33,124,726

|2.83

|2,230,000

|720,000

|36,600,000

Assamese

|15,311,351

|1.26

|7,488,153

|740,402

|23,539,906

|1.94

Sanskrit

|0{{Cite web|title=Searching for Sanskrit Speakers in the Indian Census|url=https://thewire.in/culture/india-census-sanskrit|access-date=2021-02-09|website=The Wire}}{{Cite web|title=The Myth of 'Sanskrit Villages' and the Realm of Soft Power|url=https://thewire.in/society/sanskrit-soft-power|access-date=2021-02-09|website=The Wire}}{{Cite news|last=Sreevatsan|first=Ajai|date=2014-08-10|title=Where are the Sanskrit speakers?|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/where-are-the-sanskrit-speakers/article6299433.ece|access-date=2021-02-09|issn=0971-751X}}

|1,230,000

|1,960,000

|3,190,000

|0.19

=Multilingualism by state=

Combined percentages of first, second and third language speakers of Hindi and English in India from the 2011 Census.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/hindi-the-first-choice-of-people-in-only-12-states/article27459774.ece|title = Hindi the first choice of people in only 12 States|newspaper = The Hindu|date = 4 June 2019|last1 = Sen|first1 = Sumant}}

File:Trilingual Signboard at Bhubaneswar Railway Station Ticket Counter.jpg has text in Odia, Hindi and English.]]

File:Trilingual signboard in the Imphal International Airport (Tulihal International Airport) displaying in Meitei, Hindi and English languages.jpg in Meitei, Hindi and English.]]

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|+Hindi and English Proficiency in 2011{{cite web |url=http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/C-17.html |title= Census of India Website : Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India|website=www.censusindia.gov.in |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191113211224/http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/C-17.html |archive-date=2019-11-13}}

!State or union territory

!Hindi

!English

India

|57.11%

|10.62%

Andaman and Nicobar Islands

|79.87%

|21.94%

Andhra Pradesh (incl. Telangana)

|12.59%

|13.06%