Bulletin n. 3/2014
February 2015
CONTENTS
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
    • Fernand de Varennes
    Fédéralisme, identités et langues officielles en Inde
    in Droit et culture , no. 67 ,  2014 ,  187-212
    Shortly after its independence, the Indian Government enacted a Constitution in 1950 on the basis of a federal, parliamentary, secular and democratic Republic. Its member-States at that time were inherited from former provinces and kingdoms dating from the British Raj era, and the new Constitution only catered for one official language, the Hindi, with English in a subsidiary and temporary status – still ongoing to the present day. However this distribution soon created various causes for discontent since it meant that some linguistic populations amounting to several tens of millions were, out of practical concerns, cast off the Government higher levels and employment opportunities since they didn’t speak the official languages of India or the new States. Riots and violence soon ensued and started shaking the country basis until India adopted in 1956 the States Reorganisation Act which distributed the States according to linguistic basis. Although conflicts have not yet been eradicated from the various parts of this country, this paper will deal with the way Indian linguistic planning policies, which include numerous constitutional and legislative dispositions, recognize linguistic rights as well the constitutive parts of the Federation and autonomous territories with their own official languages in such a way that India has managed to preserve – despite its poverty- the unity of its country. This has been obtained by the formal recognition of its huge linguistic and cultural diversity and the accommodation of this diversity in a fair and equitable manner.
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