Ol Chiki Script & Santhali Identity: Centenary Celebrations

Syllabus: Languages and Literature

President's Secretariat

Why in news?

President Murmu attended the centenary celebrations of the creation of the Ol Chiki script in Jamshedpur.

⚛️Static Concepts

8th Schedule LanguagesClassical Languages CriteriaAustroasiatic Language Family

📌

Script: Ol Chiki is the official script for the Santhali language.
Creator: Invented by Pandit Raghunath Murmu in 1925.
Schedule 8: Santhali was included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution via the 92nd Amendment Act (2003) along with Bodo, Dogri, and Maithili.
Constitution Translation: The Constitution of India has recently been translated into Santhali using Ol Chiki script.

⚠️

Examiner's Trap: Santhali is NOT a Dravidian language; it belongs to the Munda subfamily of the Austroasiatic languages.

Created Year: 1925

Amendment: 92nd Amendment Act

GS-1: Diversity of India; GS-2: Constitutional safeguards for languages.

Linguistic Identity: Scripts like Ol Chiki are vital for preserving the oral traditions and unique worldview of tribal communities.
Education: Mother-tongue education (NEP 2020) requires standardized scripts like Ol Chiki for textbook production.