"Dogri Script Revival Effort Brings Namey Dogra Akhar Back to Jammu Signboards"
Eighth Schedule
Constitutional list of 22 officially recognised languages of India, entitling them to state support and Sahitya Akademi recognition.
Takri
The original script of Dogri, used in administrative and literary work before the 19th-century modifications.
India's linguistic landscape is one of the most diverse in the world. The Eighth Schedule of the Constitution originally listed 14 languages and has since grown to 22, reflecting the state's commitment to recognising and protecting linguistic minorities. Inclusion in the Eighth Schedule entitles a language to official recognition, use in public administration, and support from bodies such as the Sahitya Akademi. The Schedule does not, however, mandate the preservation of a language's original script, a gap that has allowed many indigenous scripts to fall into disuse even as the spoken language survives.
Dogri is an Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Western Pahari group, a cluster of related languages found in the western Himalayas. It is primarily spoken by the Dogra community of the Jammu division of Jammu and Kashmir, with smaller speaker populations in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. According to the 2011 Census, Dogri was the primary language of nearly 2.6 million people in India. The language was added to the Eighth Schedule in 2003 and was declared one of the official languages of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in 2020, following the reorganisation of the erstwhile state.
The question of whether a language can truly survive without its own script is central to debates on cultural identity and linguistic diversity. India's experience with Dogri illustrates how administrative convenience and political pressures can gradually displace an indigenous script, even when the spoken language itself is formally protected.
The original script of Dogri is Takri, a script used in administrative and literary work during the reign of the early Dogra rulers of Jammu and Kashmir. Takri, however, lacked vowel signs, which made it difficult to transcribe official orders and legal documents accurately. During the rule of Maharaja Ranbir Singh, who ascended the throne in 1856, writers were asked to borrow vowel signs from Devanagari to address this limitation. The resulting hybrid script is called Namey Dogra Akhar, literally meaning 'new Dogri script'. It was used alongside Persian in administrative work during Ranbir Singh's reign.
The decline of Namey Dogra Akhar happened in stages. Maharaja Pratap Singh replaced Persian with Urdu as the official language of Jammu and Kashmir to simplify administration. While Dogri script continued informally for some years, it lost its institutional base. Under Maharaja Hari Singh, competing pressures from the British (who favoured English) and local communities (who favoured Hindi) led to the promotion of Devanagari and Roman scripts, further marginalising Namey Dogra Akhar. …
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With reference to the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, consider the following statements:
1.The Eighth Schedule originally listed 14 languages at the time of the Constitution's adoption.
2.Dogri, Bodo, Maithili, and Santhali were added to the Eighth Schedule by the 92nd Constitutional Amendment.
3.Inclusion in the Eighth Schedule automatically mandates that a language be taught in its original indigenous script in schools.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Consider the following statements regarding Dogri language:
1.Dogri belongs to the Western Pahari group of Indo-Aryan languages.
2.It was included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution in 2003.
3.The Sahitya Akademi recognised Dogri in 1944, the same year the Dogri Sanstha adopted Devanagari for Dogri literature.
4.Dogri was declared an official language of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in 2020.
How many of the above statements are correct?
Assertion (A): The inclusion of Dogri in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution in 2003 did not result in the revival of its original indigenous script in educational institutions.
Reason (R): The Eighth Schedule mandates the use of a language's indigenous script in all official and educational contexts once the language is recognised.
Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above Assertion and Reason?
Consider the following pairs:
Language — Script originally associated with it
1.Dogri — Takri
2.Santali — Ol Chiki
3.Maithili — Devanagari (original)
Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?
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