NEW DELHI: More than 40 languages or dialects in India are considered to be endangered and is believed to be heading towards extinction as only a few thousand people speak them, officials said.

According to a report of the census directorate, there are 22 scheduled languages and 100 non-scheduled languages spoken by at least 100,000 or more people in the country.

However, around 42 languages which are spoken by less than 10,000 people are considered endangered as they seemed heading towards extinction, said a home ministry official.

Only a few thousand people speak these languages

A list prepared by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) has also mentioned the 42 languages or dialects in India, which are endangered and may be heading towards extinction, the official added. Among them, 11 languages or dialects spoken in Andaman and Nicobar Islands are Great Andamanese, Jarawa, Lamongse, Luro, Muot, Onge, Pu, San­enyo, Sentilese, Shompen and Takaha­nyilang; seven others from Manipur are Aimol, Aka, Koiren, Lamgang, Langrong, Purum and Tarao; while four from Himachal Pradesh are Baghati, Handuri, Pangvali and Sirmaudi.

The other languages in the endangered category are Manda, Parji and Pengo (Odisha), Koraga and Kuruba (Karnataka), Gadaba and Naiki (Andhra Pradesh), Kota and Toda (Tamil Nadu), Mra and Na (Arunachal Pradesh), Tai Nora and Tai Rong (Assam), Bangani (Uttara­khand), Birhor (Jhar­khand), Nihali (Maha­rashtra), Ruga (Meghalaya) and Toto (West Bengal).

Another official said the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, has been working for the protection and preservation of endangered languages of the country, under a central scheme.

Under the programme, he added, grammatical descriptions, monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, language primers, anthologies of folklore, encyclopaedias of all languages or dialects especially those spoken by less than 10,000 people were being prepared.

Apart from the 22 scheduled languages, there are 31 languages which were given the status of official language by various state governments and union territories in India.

According to the census data, there are 1,635 rationalised mother tongues, 234 identifiable mother tongues and 22 major languages in the country.

—By arrangement with The Times of India

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2018