Languages with official status in India
The Indian constitution, in 1950, declared Hindi in Devanagari script to be the official language of the union. Unless Parliament decided otherwise, the use of English for official purposes was to cease 15 years after the constitution came into effect, i.e., on 26 January 1965. The prospect of the changeover, however, led to much alarm in the non Hindi-speaking areas of India, especially Dravidian-speaking states whose languages were not related to Hindi at all. As a result, Parliament enacted the ,
Ethnic groups in Kerala
Kannada is one of the major languages of India, spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka. The Kannada people number roughly 50 million, making it the fifteenth-most spoken language in the world. It is one of the official languages of India and the official and administrative language of the state of Karnataka. Kannada people constitute a significant portion of the population of the district of Kasargod in North Kerala. Kannada is also an administrative language in the district.