With roughly 1.3 billion people (2015), India makes up nearly one sixth of the world's population, and second only to China. India also boasts an array of ethnic groups, but for simplicity's sake, they can be identified under three broad designations: Indo-Arians (72 %), Dravidians (25 %), and Asians (3 %).

By comparison, "Canadian mosaic," the expression used to describe Canada's population, is a poor fit for India, which is home to more than 1600 languages—almost 400 of which are officially recognized. Of all these languages, only about 40 are spoken by more than one million people, but in combination, they account for over 850 million people or 85% of the country's population. In a nutshell, then, fewer than 10% of India's languages are spoken by the vast majority of the country's citizens, whereas 90% are used by barely 15% of the Indian population. Hindi remains undoubtedly the country's principal language numerically. It is used as a mother tongue or first language by nearly 200 million inhabitants (20% of the country's population), and as a second language by 400 million more, meaning that Hindi is used to various degrees by more 60% of India's citizens—hence its status as a national official language, which it shares with English (the former colonial language).Whereas Hindi is spoken as a first language by about 45% of Indians, English holds that status with fewer than 2% of the population (Anglo-Indians). Other languages spoken by more than 25 million people include Bengali (70.5 M), Telugu (69.6 M), Marathi (68 M), Tamil (61.5 M), Urdu (48 M), Gujarati (45.4 M), Kannada (35,4 M), Malayalam (35.3 M), Oriya (31.6 M) and Punjabi (27 M). Together, these languages total 636 million speakers, or 64% of India's population. By comparison in Canada English and, even more so, French seem like "minor languages": according to Canada's 2011 census, only 17.5 million Canadians spoke English as a first language (56.9%) and 7 million, French (21.3%).

Given the massive number of languages spoken in India, it's easy to understand that not all can have equal status. Indeed, a rigid hierarchy has been established: first come the official languages of the Union, then the constitutional languages, and finally state or territorial official languages. Joining the mix are the "major languages" (spoken by more than 10,000 people) and the "minor" or "tribal languages" (fewer than 10,000 speakers).

Most of India's languages belong to two main linguistic families: Indo-Iranian and Dravidian. A dozen or so alphabets or scripts are used to write these languages: Devanagari (meaning "god of the city": Sanskrit writing), Bengali, Arabo-Persian, Gurmukhi, Gujarati, Oriya, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Latin and Tibetan.

For a more extensive picture, one also has to consider India's religions, an inescapable factor in this complex nation. In all, about 20 religions are practised here, with Hindu leading the way (82%) in front of Islam (12%, and concentrated mostly in the north-west regions), Christianity (3%, mostly in the south), Buddhism (1%), Sikhism (mostly in the Punjab), Jainism (mostly in Gujarat), Parsism or Zoroastrianism (Bombay) and Judaism.

Hindi and English are the official languages of the Indian Union, that is, of India's central (federal) government. However, there is no mention of the "federal government" in India, but rather the "central government", which has greater control over Indian states than with federations such as Canada, the United States, or the United States. Germany. They rank, so to speak, at the top of the linguistic totem pole. Oddly enough, though, both remain "foreign" languages for the Indian population overall, English especially. Again, as a mother tongue or first language, Hindi is spoken by roughly 20% of the population, but is perceived as the language of the Hindu governing caste; English, on the other hand, used as a first language by 2% of India, is seen as a neutral language allowing citizens to communicate with a greater number of people. Together then, English and Hindi are spoken as first languages by about 22% of the population.

As of May 2007, there are 22 so-called " constitutional " languages in India: Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Nepali, Konkani, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Manipuri and Sanskrit Bodo, Dogri, and Santali. Sanskrit is to Indian languages what Latin is to French, Italian, Spanish, etc. An ancie nt religious language now "extinct" in the general population, it is still spoken by a few thousand specialists (historians, linguists, clerics, etc.), who use it mostly as a second language; India has preserved Sanskrit's symbolic status. The 22 constitutional languages alone account for more than 70% of the Indian population.

Canada's two official languages also serve as one or both of the official languages in each province; only Nunavut (a territory) has another official language (Inuktitut) that isn't recognized as such by the federal government. In India, states commonly choose official languages other than Hindi or English, and they can even opt for a non-constitutional language if they like. For instance, in the state of Chhattisgarh, Chhattisgarhi is a co-official language alongside Hindi. Still, Hindi is indeed an official language in many Indian states: Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and in the territories of Delhi, Andaman-Nicobar Islands, etc. The same goes for Urdu: Jammu-Kashmir, Uttaranchal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh. English is a co-official language in these states and territories: Kerala, Misoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Goa, Andaman-Nicobar, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Delhi, Lakshadweep, Manipur, Pondicherry, Daman and Diu.

All together, India's states have more than 35 official languages. Other than Hindi, Urdu and English, these official languages are Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Bhutia, Garo, Gujarati, Haryanvi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Khasi, Konkani, Kuvi, Lushai, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Marwari, Miau, Mizo, Naga, Nepali, Oriya, Pahari, Punjabi, Rajastani, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Tripuri.

French also joins the mix in the territory of Pondicherry, where it isn't a constitutional language but has maintained its co-official status with Tamil, English, Telugu and Malayalam. Some co-official languages are used in local parliaments, others appear in local administrative services, and some are taught in schools and published in both print and electronic media. In short, the legal status of Canada's languages seems like child's play when compared with India's; contrary to Canada, India is a linguistic federation because most of its states were founded on the basis of language and ethnicity.

This section refers to the language policy of India as implemented by the central government. So the focus is on Hindi and English, though the policy must also work around the demands of other languages used across the country, be they constitutional languages, official state languages or minority languages (tribal or otherwise).

Upon gaining its independence, India declared Hindi and English as the two official languages of the Indian Union (central government). But this co-official status was to last only 15 years; after, Hindi was to become the Union's only official language. However, it was impossible to eliminate English outright and impose Hindi across the board: India's southern states, whose languages all derived from the Dravidian family of languages, unanimously rejected Hindi as the sole official language because of its close ties to a specific ethnic group. English thus took on an aura of greater neutrality. The Official Languages Act of 1963 instituted Hindi and English as the official languages of the Indian congress, while individual states kept the right to select their own official languages.

India's federal parliament operated in both official languages of the Union: Hindi and English. Both of these languages are used during debates, in the cabinet (council of ministers), in the central administration, on forms and national symbols (stamps and currency, for example) and for postings inside federal territories. But the issue is this: representatives of India's southern states, of Dravidian linguistic origin, always prefer to use English instead of Hindi.

However, the Official Languages Acts seems to favour the use of Hindi over English. Indeed, section 6 of the Act even states that, when a state's legislature (except Jammu-Kashmir) adopts a language other than Hindi for use in laws enacted in that state (of for ordinances from its governor), an equivalent translation in Hindi as well as in English can be published under the governor's authority in the state's official gazette; furthermore, the Hindi translation in these cases is considered to be authentic.