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LANGUAGES OF INDIA NEWS

Why the Hindi vs Urdu debate is inaccurate

September 23, 2025 9:13 am

Urdu is known to have originated in the armed forces of the Mughal Empire, and was in no way tied to religion.

When did Kannada begin? Tracing the origins of a language and script

June 13, 2025 4:57 pm

Historians have noted that long before any available palaeographic evidence of Kannada script in the region where it is predominantly spoken today, it was Prakrit and Sanskrit that were the languages of the elite and the powerful.

A group of Brahui tribesmen & the Kurux script (Edited by Abhishek Mitra)

Brahui, Malto, Kurux: The histories and the unsettling futures of the North Dravidian languages

June 17, 2025 3:01 pm

Although often associated with Southern India, the Dravidian language family includes 27 languages, spoken by 220 million people across South Asia and beyond. This is a story on the North Dravidian language family and its presence in India & Pakistan

UPSC, issue at a glance , mains, India’s Linguistic Landscape: From constitutional safeguards to endangered languages

UPSC Issue at a Glance | India’s Linguistic Landscape: From constitutional safeguards to endangered languages

June 06, 2025 12:33 pm

"Kos-kos par badle paani, chaar kos par baani" — this age-old saying beautifully captures the essence of India’s unmatched linguistic richness. With many languages spoken, multilingualism is seen as the backbone of India's democracy. Here's what you need to know about India's language landscape.

Knowledge Nugget: Demand for inclusion of Bhojpuri and Kokborok in Eighth Schedule of Constitution

Knowledge Nugget | Demand for inclusion of Kokborok and Bhojpuri in Eighth Schedule of Constitution: A must-know for UPSC Exam

June 03, 2025 11:03 am

Recently the Kokborok Sahitya Parishad sought the inclusion of the Kokborok language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, and a similar demand was made for Bhojpuri earlier. Here's all you need to know about it. Also, go 'Beyond the Nugget' to learn about the Classical languages.

Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global (2025) by Laura Spinney (Edited by Abhishek Mitra)

‘Some suggest we might lose a quarter of all living languages by end of the century’: Author Laura Spinney

May 09, 2025 1:14 pm

Author Laura Spinney weighs in on the linguistic expansion of Indo-European languages thousands of years ago, examining the alignment between archaeology, genetics, and linguistics.

Vanishing voices of the mountains: The struggle to preserve Pahari languages

August 28, 2025 3:15 pm

Spoken by millions in the regions of the Western Himalayas, Pahari languages remain unrecognised in India’s official language policies. As younger generations turn to Hindi and English, community elders and linguists fight to keep local tongues alive.

The Panchatantra & Indian epics (Source: Amazon)

From Ashokan edicts and Manusmriti to modern novels: deciphering the art and politics of translation in multilingual South Asia

May 01, 2025 10:14 am

Understanding the complexities and nuances of translation in a linguistically diverse landscape like South Asia where it has played a crucial role in shaping cultural identity and addressing power imbalances.

Andamanese Hindi: how Andaman and Nicobar Islands came to embrace a unique linguistic identity and take pride in it

April 29, 2025 5:09 pm

Decades of migration and settlement in the Andaman Islands have led to the rise of Andamanese Hindi as the chief language of communication while native languages like the Great Andamanese face extinction.

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (Edited by Abhishek Mitra)

Bengali through the ages: from Islamic rule to the colonial era and beyond

August 21, 2025 10:58 am

While Bengali is primarily derived from Magadhi Prakrit, over the years, the language has taken on new forms, ranging from the Sylheti dialect that absorbed Persian vocabulary to Radhi Bengali moulded by Vaishnava devotional poetry.