Editing Indian English (section)

==Status==
After gaining [[Indian Independence Act 1947|independence]] from the [[British Raj]] in 1947, English remained an official language of the new [[Dominion of India]] and later the [[Republic of India]]. After the [[partition of India]], [[Pakistani English]] and [[Bangladeshi English]] were considered separate from Indian English.

In the 21st century, only a few hundred thousand Indians, or less than 0.1% of the total population, speak English as their first language,<ref>[[Census of India]]'s [http://www.censusindia.gov.in/ Indian Census] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070514045222/http://www.censusindia.gov.in/ |date=14 May 2007}}, Issue 25, 2003, pp. 8–10, (Feature: Languages of West Bengal in Census and Surveys, Bilingualism and Trilingualism).</ref><ref>[http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/Census_Data_Online/Language/statement9.htm "Family-wise Grouping of the 122 Scheduled and Non-scheduled Languages".] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130207163559/http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/Census_Data_Online/Language/statement9.htm |date=7 February 2013 }} – [[2001 Census of India]]</ref><ref>Tropf, Herbert S. (2005).
{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080308101143/http://www.lilaproject.org/docs/India%20and%20its%20Languages%20v1.0.pdf "India and its Languages".]}}. Siemens AG, Munich.</ref><ref>For the distinction between "English Speakers" and "English Users", see TESOL-India (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages), [http://tesol-india.ac.in/EnglishTeachingIndustry/en/india-worlds-second-largest-english-speaking-country "India is World's Second Largest English-Speaking Country".] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204102506/http://tesol-india.ac.in/EnglishTeachingIndustry/en/india-worlds-second-largest-english-speaking-country |date=4 December 2010}}. The article explains the difference between the 350 million number mentioned in a previous version of this Wikipedia article and the current number: {{blockquote|Wikipedia's India estimate of 350 million includes two categories – 'English speakers' and 'English users'. The distinction between speakers and users is that Users only know how to read English words, while Speakers know how to read English, understand spoken English and form their own sentences to converse in English. The distinction becomes clear when you consider China's numbers. China has over 200 million people who can read English words but by this definition only a few million are English speakers.}}</ref> and around 30% of the [[Demographics of India|Indian population]] can speak English to some extent.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Flows |first=Capital |title=The Problem With The English Language In India |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2014/11/06/the-problem-with-the-english-language-in-india/ |access-date=2016-06-06 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref>

According to the [[2001 Census of India|2001 Census]], 12.18% of Indians knew English at that time. Of those, approximately 200,000 reported that it was their first language, 86 million reported that it was their second, and 39 million reported that it was their third.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/data/sanskrit-and-english-theres-no-competition/article6630269.ece|title=Sanskrit and English: there's no competition|author=Rukmini S|date=24 November 2014|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]}}</ref>

According to the 2005 [[India Human Development Survey]],<ref>{{cite web|title=EF English Proficiency Index – A comprehensive ranking of countries by English skills|url=http://www.ef.com/epi/|website=www.ef.com|access-date=29 November 2016}}</ref> of 41,554 surveyed, households reported that 72% of men (29,918) spoke no English, 28% of them (11,635) spoke at least some English, and 5% of them (2,077, roughly 17.9% of those who spoke at least some English) spoke fluent English. Among women, 83% (34,489) spoke no English, 17% (7,064) spoke at least some English, and 3% (1,246, roughly 17.6% of those who spoke at least some English) spoke English fluently.<ref>{{cite book|title = Human development in india|publisher= Oxford University Press|year = 2010|url = http://ihds.umd.edu/IHDS_files/HumanDevelopmentinIndia.pdf|author1 = Desai, Dubey|author2 = Joshi, Sen|author3 = Sharif, Vanneman|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151211124532/http://www.ihds.umd.edu/IHDS_files/HumanDevelopmentinIndia.pdf|archive-date = 11 December 2015|df = dmy-all|isbn=978-0-19-806512-8}}</ref> According to statistics from the District Information System for Education (DISE) of the [[National University of Educational Planning and Administration]] under the [[Ministry of Human Resource Development]], [[Government of India]], enrollment in English-medium schools increased by 50% between 2008–09 and 2013–14. The number of English-medium school students in India increased from over 15 million in 2008–09 to 29 million by 2013–14.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Number-of-children-studying-in-English-doubles-in-5-years/articleshow/49131447.cms|title=Number of children studying in English doubles in 5 years |website=The Times of India|date=28 September 2015 }}</ref>

According to the [[2011 Census of India|2011 Census]], 129 million Indians (10.6%) spoke English. 259,678 (0.02%) Indians spoke English as their first language.<ref name="auto"/> It concluded that approximately 83 million Indians (6.8%) reported English as their second language, and 46 million (3.8%) reported it as their third language, making English the second-most spoken language in India.<ref name="censusindia.gov.in"/>

India ranks 52 out of 111 countries in the 2022 [[EF English Proficiency Index]] published by the [[EF Education First]]. The index gives the country a score of 496 indicating "moderate proficiency". India ranks 6th out of 24 Asian countries included in the index.<ref>{{cite web|title=EF English Proficiency Index – India|url=http://www.ef.com/epi/regions/asia/india/|website=www.ef.com|access-date=2 August 2021}}</ref>

As a [[Multilingualism|multilingual]] country, English is the ''[[lingua franca]]'' among different regions of India.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ishwarya |first1=N. Iyer |title=English as a Lingua Franca in a Multilingual India |journal=National Research University Higher School of Economics Journal of Language & Education |date=2019 |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=103–109 |doi=10.17323/2411-7390-2019-5-1-103-109 |ssrn=3381672 |url=https://jle.hse.ru/article/download/8671/9333/|doi-access=free }}</ref> Writing for ''[[The New York Times]]'', journalist [[Manu Joseph]] stated in 2011 that, due to the prominence and usage of the language and the desire for English-language education, "English is the ''[[de facto]]'' national language of India. It is a bitter truth."<ref>{{cite web|author=Joseph, Manu|author-link=Manu Joseph|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/asia/17iht-letter17.html|title=India Faces a Linguistic Truth: English Spoken Here|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=2011-02-17}}</ref> In his book, ''In Search of Indian English: History, Politics and Indigenisation'', Ranjan Kumar Auddy shows that the history of the rise of [[Indian nationalism]] and the history of the emergence of Indian English are deeply inter-related.<ref>{{Citation |last=Auddy |first=Ranjan Kumar |title=Speeches Political |date=2019 |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/mono/10.4324/9780429331602-6/speeches-political-ranjan-kumar-auddy |work=In Search of Indian English |pages=126–144 |access-date=2023-07-23 |publisher=Routledge India |doi=10.4324/9780429331602-6 |isbn=978-0-429-33160-2|s2cid=241712224 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===Court language===
Under the Indian Constitution, English is the language of [[Supreme Court of India|India's Supreme Court]] and of all the [[high courts of India]].<ref name="The Economic Times"/> However, as allowed by the Constitution, Hindi is also used in courts in [[Bihar]], [[Madhya Pradesh]], [[Uttar Pradesh]], and [[Rajasthan]] by virtue of special presidential approval.<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 April 2016 |title=Use of Hindi Language in Courts |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/government-press-release/use-of-hindi-language-in-courts-116042801074_1.html |access-date=16 July 2018 |work=Business Standard India}}</ref> {{As of|2018}}, the high courts of [[Punjab (Indian state)|Punjab]] and [[Haryana]] were also awaiting presidential approval to use Hindi alongside English,<ref>{{Cite news |title=Haryana to approach guv for promoting use of Hindi in HC |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/haryana-to-approach-guv-for-promoting-use-of-hindi-in-hc/articleshow/64848097.cms |access-date=16 July 2018 |work=The Times of India}}</ref> and the [[Madras High Court]] has been taking steps to use [[Tamil language|Tamil]] alongside English.<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 March 2020 |title=Government taking efforts to make Tamil official language in HC |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/government-taking-efforts-to-make-tamil-official-language-in-hc/article31122539.ece |work=The Hindu}}</ref>