The Gujral Committee Report - Language in India

a Directive under Article 347, he thought that the term 'substantial proportion of population' under Article 347 had to be viewed against that background. He did not agree with the view that 'substantial proportion' indicated a rigid percentage. issuing
While stressing that substantial proportion of population corresponds to a dignified percentage like 15 to 20, Shri Sardar Ali Khan draw a significant distinction between `mother-tongue', 'official language' and 'spoken language'. As people spoke languages 3.49
than their mother tongue also, it was possible to have a much larger proportion of other
speaking a particular language than those claiming it as a mother tongue. He cited the case of Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh where the number of people speaking Urdu was much larger than that of those who had returned it as their mother people
in the census. As compared to Articles 350-A and 350-B which speak of the mother tongue, "the linguistic minority" or "the languages mentioned in the Eighth Schedule", Article 347 is concerned only with the 'spoken language'. In this connection, tongue
also cited the case of English, which was spoken by a much larger number. he
To sum up, the constitutional experts are not unanimous in defining the exact scope of Article 347. Similar differences existed with regard to the question whether the 'proportion' of the State as a whole and not of a part thereof should be 'substantial' in 3.50
to attract a Presidential Directive under the Article. 3.51 Opinions are evenly divided on the interpretation of the word 'substantial proportion'. Some feel that it should be reducible into concrete terms of a percentage order
others feel that the Constitution makers have repeatedly refused to accept any while
percentage as an indication of the term 'substantial'. We, however, feel that a decision exclusively on the basis of percentage is likely to create anomalous situations in a vast country like ours. For example, ten per cent of the population in Jammu and rigid
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The Gujral Committee Report
Kashmir or in Nagaland will not be the same as ten per cent of the population in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The actual numbers involved in the densely and thinly populated States would vary considerably and a smaller group of one particular area will become entitled to certain facilities on the basis of a percentage, while another group with a much larger number would be deprived of it. We are led to think that among the
on Urdu