- Why in news
- On 16 February 2026 the Ministry of Culture began the centenary celebrations of the Ol Chiki script in New Delhi. President Droupadi Murmu was Chief Guest, and a Rs 100 commemorative coin and a postage stamp were released.
- What it is
- Ol Chiki is the script made for the Santhali language, an Austroasiatic tribal language. Pandit Raghunath Murmu created it in 1925. Before it, Santhali was written in Roman, Bengali, Odia and Devanagari, which could not capture its sounds well.
- Creator and year
- Pandit Raghunath Murmu developed Ol Chiki in 1925, only for Santhali.
- Number of letters
- The script has 30 letters, each matching a specific sound, and it captures glottal stops.
- Language family
- Santhali belongs to the Austroasiatic family and is spoken in Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Assam and Bihar.
- Eighth Schedule
- Santhali was added to the Eighth Schedule in 2003 through the 92nd Constitutional Amendment Act.
- Commemorative coin
- The Rs 100 coin shows the Lion Capital of Ashoka on the obverse and Murmu's portrait on Ol Chiki characters on the reverse.
Don’t confuse with Ol Chiki vs. Eighth Schedule inclusion: The script dates from 1925. Santhali's Eighth Schedule inclusion came in 2003, and the script itself is not listed in the Schedule.
Don’t confuse with Santhali vs. Santhal Pargana: Santhali is a language and Ol Chiki is its script. Santhal Pargana is a region in Jharkhand.
Art and culture in the news: Prelims tests UNESCO listings, GI tags and where a site is.
Why it matters
- Gave an oral tribal language its own script, supporting education, literature and a distinct identity.
- Shows state recognition of linguistic diversity, e.g. the Constitution translated into Santhali in Ol Chiki (December 2025).
Problems
- Using the script in schools and administration needs trained teachers, books and digital tools.
- Santhali is spoken across several states with different dominant scripts, so use of Ol Chiki is uneven.
Way forward
- Expand Ol Chiki textbooks, teacher training and mother-tongue instruction in tribal areas.
- Build digital tools and publications in Ol Chiki for wider use.
Put in your answer
Constitution in Santhali: The Legislative Department published the Constitution in Santhali in Ol Chiki in December 2025, the first time in its own script.
- 2021Mains GS1 · Q9Examine uniqueness of tribal knowledge systems compared with mainstream knowledge systems.
- 2008Prelims Q99Which amendment added four languages, including Santhali, to the Eighth Schedule?
- 2024Prelims Q72Which languages were added to the Eighth Schedule by the 71st Amendment?
- 2026Prelims Q57Statements on Scheduled Tribe provisions: Fifth Schedule, tax exemption, and Panchayat reservation.
UPSC’s own questions that come close to this issue, from our Prelims and Mains banks.
No practice question for this one; the card may still help an answer. Why: Lasting culture topic with centenary. Culture had only 8 news-linked Prelims questions and almost never reaches Mains, so no question.
Worth revising until Prelims 2027: most news questions come within two years of the event.