Twenty-one Union government sites do not use English as the default language. While 17 sites use Hindi as the default language, three give the user an option to choose, and one is completely bilingual.
Published Jun 21, 2025 | 7:26 PM ⚊ Updated Jun 23, 2025 | 8:47 AM
The Union Government's websites seem to be preferring Hindi gradually
Synopsis: Slowly, but steadily, more Government of India websites seem to be opening by default in Hindi. This gradual shift may alienate over 43 percent of non-Hindi-speaking Indians.
On 19 June, Union Home Minister Amit Shah asserted that a day would soon come when people in India would feel ashamed to speak in English.
CAG (Hindi)
However, a quick look at how government websites are increasingly prioritising Hind
i tells another story: Over 43 percent of Indians are being left behind at first glance.
South First dug into the Integrated Government Online Directory (IGOD)—the Union government’s official hub of Ministries, Departments, and Apex Bodies—revealed that 17 government websites now open by default in Hindi. These include key portals like the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Defence, and the Department of Agriculture.
In total, 20.58 percent of the 102 working Union-level websites do not use English as the default language, despite only 57.09 percent of Indians being Hindi speakers (including those who speak it as a second or third language).
Though most sites offer an option to switch to English, it is often tucked away in a corner. As government websites gradually shift to Hindi over the years, the message seems less about accessibility and more about asserting linguistic dominance, at the cost of inclusivity.
South First looked at the Integrated Government Online Directory (IGOD) to check the
Category-Wise Breakdown of Default Languages
default language.
Within IGOD, four categories primarily pertain to Union government resources. They provide links to various ministries, departments, independent departments, and apex bodies.
The IGOD has a list of 53 ministries (44 functional links, 9 links absent), 48 departments (45 functional links, 3 links absent), two independent departments, and 11 apex bodies. This puts the list at 114, of which 102 links are available.
Among these, there are four kinds of default language settings:
South First found that 21 sites do not use English as the default language. While 17 (16.6 percent) sites use Hindi as the default language, only three give the user an option to choose, and one is completely bilingual.
The following are the 17 ministries, departments, and apex bodies that use Hindi as the default language:
Websites for the Ministry of Textiles, Ayush, and the Department of Financial Services provide users with the option to choose their preferred language upon landing on the page. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has a bilingual webpage with text in both English and Hindi.
Of the 102 sites linked in the directory, 20.58 percent do not use English as the default language. As per the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, the 2011 Census indicates only 43.63% of the Indian population uses Hindi as a first language. Once the second and third language speakers are included, it comes up to about 57.09 percent.
Ministry of Civil Aviation (Bilingual)
Hence, the usage of
Hindi as a default language on 17 sites, including the Ministry of Education, Panchayati Raj, and the Department of Pensions, alienates 42.91 percent of the population.
However, it is a respite for non-Hindi speakers. All the aforementioned websites do provide the option to change the language, often in the top-right corner of the page. It comes in the form of the word “English,” a dropdown under “Language,” or an icon showing the letters: “A” and “अ.”
To identify the timeline of the switch, South First used Wayback Machine, an American non-profit internet archive. On the home page of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, this switch to Hindi appears to have occurred between 30 December 2020 and 7 February 2021.
The switch to Hindi seems to have occurred even earlier on the Department of Pensioners website, with archive snapshots suggesting it took place between 2 October and 27 October of 2019. Meanwhile, the switch in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is more recent. The archive snapshots suggest that the switch took plac
Breakdown of sites
e between 23 November and 27 November of 2024.
This could further imply that the change did not take place in one go. Rather, it seems to be a gradual switch spanning years. Additionally, the Union Government is also slowly adding Hindi URLs to its websites, with the Ministry of Home Affairs also being accessible through “गृहमंत्रालय.सरकार.भारत.”
“If Google and Facebook can support multiple languages, there is no reason that the government can’t,” Tanveer Hasan, Executive Director of the Centre for Internet and Society, said.
“With Delhi being at the centre of policy, they are trying to build a false narrative that the internet is a medium of one language, whether it’s English or Hindi,” he explained.
“While this narrative is shoved right in your face, it is more nuanced. This is not about technology or language; this is a typical power move on the part of the Union Government. As Hindi is their language of comfort, it has become the language of business. Other languages are not taken into account,” he continued.
“Furthermore, the issue is not simply about language, it’s a form of soft pressure aimed at influencing your next decision,” he said, adding that “language-driven governments do not realise the importance of having mirror sites in local languages.”
Agricultural Research and Education (Hindi)
On the gradual shift to Hindi in the websites and their effects on the non-Hindi speaking populace, Hasan held that it would absolutely impact them.
“This is not in the spirit of the internet,” he asserted. “Government information is meant for everybody. This is denying a person the basic right to learn,” he continued. “This could lead to a day when gambling advertisements are in Telugu, but vital information remains in Hindi or English,” he added.
However, Hasan felt that the issue is not without a solution. “Dravidian states and states like Maharashtra and Odisha all have strong language activism,” he held. He noted that they are important to making sure the internet is accessible in local languages.
“While the government should promote other languages, it is important that the service also be local,” he noted. Hasan cited the example of an LIC application, which may be available in three languages.
“You understand the English application quite well. When it comes to Hindi, it may be a little awkward, but you’d still know what to do. However, when you come to Telugu, you enter bizarre territory. That is what happens when you translate without localising,” he explained.
Hasan opined that the debate is beyond the language of official communication. “The big question is how we can ensure that local languages can become the medium of knowledge building, not just an afterthought,” he said.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
