The correct answer is 3. Associate language because of the way the Constitution of India (1950) handled the language question after independence.
Here’s the background:
English was not an Indian language, but it had been the language of administration, law, and higher education under the British.
After independence, there was a strong movement to replace English with Hindi as the official language.
However, India was (and still is) linguistically diverse, and many non-Hindi-speaking states opposed an immediate switch.
To avoid conflict, the Constitution’s Article 343 declared Hindi in Devanagari script as the official language, but also allowed English to continue for official purposes for 15 years from 1950.
English was therefore given the status of an associate official language — meaning it functioned alongside Hindi for central government work.
This arrangement was later extended indefinitely by the Official Languages Act (1963) due to continued opposition to replacing English entirely.
🔹 Key Point:
“Associate language” here means that English was not a national or official language in its own right, but it was officially recognized to work in association with Hindi for central administrative purposes.
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