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.
Version 1
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.
Summary
Draft Article 301I was absent in the Draft Constitution 1948. A Drafting Committee Member introduced this provision on 12 September 1949. The Draft Article directed the Union to promote the spread of Hindi, develop the language to serve as a medium of expression and ensure its ‘enrichment.’
A Member felt that that the development of Hindi must be followed by the development of India’s provincial languages as well. Another member refuted the Draft Article’s assumption that Hindi required development. A third member, accepted the Draft Article’s privileging of Hindi –but warned against marginalizing other regional languages in the process.
There were no further discussion of the Draft Article and it was adopted without any amendments on 14 September 1949.