RAS question
The Ol Chiki script, whose centenary was celebrated in February 2026, was created to write which of the following languages?
Correct answer: (C) Santhali.
Ol Chiki was created by Pandit Raghunath Murmu in 1925 to write the Santhali language.
Explanation
Ol Chiki is linked specifically to Santhali, not to every tribal or Eighth Schedule language. The President of India’s centenary release says the Santal community had its own language, literature and culture, but Santhali was earlier written in Roman, Devanagari, Oriya and Bengali scripts, which did not correctly capture the pronunciation of original Santhali words. In 1925, Pandit Raghunath Murmu invented Ol Chiki, and since then it has been used for Santhali. This is why the February 2026 centenary celebration matters for governance and culture: the script is presented as both a functional writing system for Santhali and a symbol of Santal identity. Santhali’s later inclusion in the Eighth Schedule through the 92nd Constitutional Amendment makes it especially relevant for RAS.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Bodo is an Eighth Schedule language, but it is identified with Devanagari use, not with the Ol Chiki script.
- (B) Gondi has a separate Gondi script, but that script is distinct from Ol Chiki and Gondi is not listed in the Eighth Schedule here.
- (D) Dogri is written in Devanagari and is an Indo-Aryan Eighth Schedule language, so it does not match a tribal-language script such as Ol Chiki for Santhali.
Concept
This tests Eighth Schedule languages, tribal-language recognition and script-culture linkages. RAS repeatedly asks such facts because they connect constitutional schedules with identity, education and cultural policy.