JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. Pacific Affairs, University of British Columbia is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Pacific Affairs.ANUARY 26, i965, the fifteenth anniversary of the coming into force of the .J Constitution of India, marked the end of the period in which English rather than Hindi could, according to the terms of the Constitution, be used for all official purposes.' In spite of many efforts to assure the non-Hindispeaking people of India that the change-over to Hindi would not be precipitate and that their legitimate interests would be safeguarded, there was much alarm in the non-Hindi areas, leading to bitter agitation and violent protest, particularly in the State of Madras. No agitation of similar intensity and scale had ever before been known in Madras, and it demonstrated deepseated dissatisfaction with the language policy of the Government of India and the mounting strength of some new political forces. This article concentrates on the agitation in Madras State and the response to it on the part of Indian policy-makers. Its purpose is to throw some light on the dynamics According to the i96i Census,3 i652 languages or dialects are spoken in India. Out of a total population of 439 million, I33.4 million were recorded

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