As far as legal protection of endangered languages is concerned there is no provision which directly protects the endangered languages. However, some attempts have been done at the International level to protect endangered languages by protecting the interest of linguistic minorities. Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 which came into force in 1976 protects the interest of linguistic minorities by stating that they will not be denied the use of their own culture, profess and practice their own religion and use their own languages. Inspired by these provision United Nations General Assembly by Resolution 47/135 of 18-12-ts of Persons belonging to National, Religious and Linguistic of the Declaration imposes liability on the States to promote and protect the linguistic identity of minorities. It also says that State parties should make legislation in their own State and adopt other measures to promote and protect linguistic identities. In addition, the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, came into existence in 2003 but was ratified on 20 April 2006 when thirty States ratified it. The purpose of the Convention was to safeguard the intangible cultural heritage. The term ‘intangible cultural heritage’ as used in this Convention includes oral traditions and expressions, including language and the performing arts. The Convention provides that the State parties are supposed to take necessary measures to ensure the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage present in its territory. These measures include identification of the intangible cultural heritage that exists in its territory, adoption of appropriate policies, and promotion of education and so on.

In India there is no special legislation to protect the endangered languages. Being a signatory of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to National, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, 1992 India was under the obligation to implement it. That is why under the inspiration of this Declaration, the Indian Parliament enacted the National Commission of Minority Act, 1992 .However, this Act has focused on religious minorities and did not pay heed on linguistic minorities. For instance, Sindhi being a linguistic minority committee did not get a mention/protection in thus Act and only six religious minority languages have been considered as minority in this Act. These six religious communities are Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Zoroastrians (Parsis) and Jains. They have been defined in Gazette of India as minority communities by the Union Government. In the Original notification of 1993 only five religious communities Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis, Christians and Muslims were considered minorities.

Although, the Indian Constitution does not define the word endangered languages and minority it has provided constitutional safeguards and fundamental rights to minorities. Part III of the Indian Constitution makes certain provision regarding protection of minorities to preserve their languages and culture. Article 29 of the Constitution authorizes the linguistic minority citizens of India who are Indian residents to conserve their languages, scripts and culture. Article 29 does not impose any positive obligation on the State to take any action to conserve any culture or language. It merely enables a cultural or linguistic minority people to preserve their own culture or language and bars the State from imposing any other languages on them. Article 29 says that any citizen of India whether he is from a minority community or not, if having distinct language, script or culture are entitled to get the benefit of Article 29(1) of the Constitution. The Sindhi community is not covered under the purview of minority as per the National Commission of Minority Act, 1992, although, they have distinct scripts and languages and are entitled to conserve their scripts and languages. It is to be noted that hich connotes not only to maintain but also to promote and develop. The term used in this Article does not mean only to preserve but includes the right to follow its own school morals and intellectual way of life. Even the Supreme Court of India in the case of Jagdeo Singh Sindhantiv Pratap Singh Daulta held that right to conserve the language of the citizens includes the right to agitate for the protection of the language. Political agitation for conservation of the language of a section of the citizens cannot therefore be regarded as a corrupt practice within the meaning of Section 123(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

Apart from the above, Article 30(1) gives protection to all linguistic minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their own choice. This provision also helps to protect scripts and languages as these institutions are free to teach the languages of their own choice. However, this Article helps only those who are declared as a minority. If they are not a declared minority, they can not avail the benefit of Article30 (1) of the Constitution. However, the beauty of these two provisions is that they are fundamental rights and if these are infringed the aggrieved person can move to the Supreme Court under Article 32 or to the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution for enforcement of these rights. As for as the status of a minority is concerned the Supreme Court of India in the case of T.M.A.Pai Foundation v State of Karnataka held that minority status is determined on the basis of the state not taking into consideration the population of the country as whole. In the case of Inre case the Supreme Court held that the distinct language, script or culture of minority community can be conserved by and through the educational institution. Through education their culture can be inculcated into the mind of children of a community.

In addition, the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution mentions twenty-two languages. It can be said that these languages have achieved linguistic citizenship. These languages have certain benefits for example the Jnanpith award is given to authors who have worked in the languages mentioned in the Eighth Schedule. Moreover, a candidate appearing in an examination conducted by Union Public Service Commission is entitled to use any of these languages in the answers script.

Language is not just a means of communication, but it is a. a powerful instrument in shaping one’s cultural, social and economic identity.economic identity. Therefore, it is a matter of important concern in children education, the language in which one is imparted education is the reason for good or bad performance of a child in school as language is the only means to ensure the comprehensibility of knowledge by a child A knowledge imparted in a foreign language not comprehensible to a child cannot form the strong foundation for a good education to a child. After independence, the mother tongue has received special emphasis as a medium of instruction. In order to make school education more effective, the law should necessarily address the language issue in such a manner that it enables all children to attend schools and participate meaningfully. An initiative has been taken in this direction and Article 350A has been provided in the Constitution, which makes provision to provide instruction to students in their mother tongue. Article350 A of the Constitution supplements Article29.Inthe case of General Secretary Linguistics Minorities Protection Committee. State of Karnataka the Karnataka High Court stated that Article 45 will be read with Article 350A. The Court said that the Constitution does not empower the State government to thrust the language of the majority as the medium of instruction for primary stage children belonging to linguistic minority groups. Students must be ensured that at their primary stage of education they must be taught in their mother tongue.

The case of State of Karnataka v. Associated Management of English Medium Primary & Secondary Schools the State Government compulsorily imposed Kannada or one’s mother tongue as the medium of instruction at the level of primary education. In this case the petitioners raised issues that it infringes individual’s rights to choose their own medium of instruction. The Court said that issuing Kannada o one’s mother-tongue in primary education could be considered valid if take independently, compelling these two as the only options for medium of instruction was seen as unconstitutional. The Court said that the mother-tongue is a language in which the child is comfortable with, and it is up to the parents or guardian of the child to decide their mother tongue. Besides the above, to provide equal opportunities to linguistic minorities for inclusive development and national integration and to spread awareness among the linguistic minorities about the safeguards available to them, the provision of Special Linguistic Officer has been made under 350Bof the Constitution. Article 350B of the Constitution provides for the appointment of a Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities by the President of India. This Officer is known as National Commissioner Linguistic Minorities. He ensures effective implementation of the safeguards provided to linguistic minorities in the constitution and other safeguards agreed to. It shall be the duty of the Commissioner to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards provided for linguistic minorities under this Constitution and report to the President upon those matters at such intervals as the President may direct, and the President shall cause all such reports to be laid before each House of Parliament, and sent to the Governments of the States concerned. Although, the role of Commissioner is creative in nature to safeguard the interests of linguistic minorities, this role is more of an investigating nature. He is not directly responsible for implementing or overseeing the progress of implementation and this is the weakness of the present system.

Apart from the above, the Government launched a scheme known as Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages of India in February 2014. Under this scheme the Central Institute of Indian Languages has been empowered to work on protection, preservation and documentation of all mother tongues of India spoken by less than 10,000 people.