India is a vast country, with lot of cultural and geographical diversities. This has resulted in a number of different languages spoken across the country. Some of these languages are accepted nationally, while others are accepted as dialects of particular regions. All these languages originated from the great languages of the past, with most of them belonging to several major linguistic families, like Indo-Aryan (spoken by 70% Indians), Dravidian languages (spoken by 22% Indians), Austro-Asiatic languages and Tibeto-Burman linguistic languages.
The Indian Constitution (Article 343) declares Hindi to be the official language of the Union. Hindi is also the mother tongue of about 20% of the Indian population, living in the area known as the 'Hindi-belt' or the 'cow-belt' of northern India. This includes the states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttaranchal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. Haryana and Himachal Pradesh also have Hindi as their official language.
English language is the commonly used official language of India. It enjoys a special status and remains the additional official language of India. It is also the authoritative legislative and judicial language. Apart from the more widely spoken English and Hindi, there are the various regional languages as well. In fact, each state of India has its own official language, apart from the numerous dialects. However, the 8th schedule of the Constitution of India lists 22 such regional languages only, giving them official status.