Hindi is the official language of the State of Bihar. Urdu is the second official language in 15 districts of the State. Maithili is a recognized language of the state.The major ones are Bhojpuri, Maithili, Magahi and are spoken by large numbers. Maithili is a recognised regional language of India under the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India. However speaker numbers for the languages of Bihar are limited because the more educated prefer to speak in Hindi (in formal situations) and so return this answer on the census, while many in rural areas and the urban poor, especially the illiterate, list their language as "Hindi" on the census as they regard that as the term for their language. Smaller communities of Bengali and Santali speakers are found in the eastern districts of the state. History Despite of the large number of speakers of Bihari languages, they have not been constitutionally recognised in India, except Maithili which is recognised under the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India. Hindi is the language used for educational and official matters in Bihar. These languages was legally absorbed under the subordinate label of Hindi in the 1961 Census. Such state and national politics are creating conditions for language endangerment. The first success for spreading Hindi occurred in Bihar in 1881, when Hindi displaced Urdu as the sole official standard of the province. In this struggle between Hindi and Urdu standards of the Hindustani language, the potential claims of the three large mother tongues in the region – Bhojpuri, Maithili and Magahi were ignored. After independence, Hindi was again given the sole official status through the Bihar Official Language Act, 1950. Urdu became the second official language in the undivided State of Bihar on 16 August 1989. Official languages Hindi is the official languages of the State. Urdu is the second official language of the state. Hindi Recognised languages Maithili Maithili (; Maithilī) is an Indo-Aryan language native to India and Nepal. In India, it is widely spoken in the Bihar. Native speakers are also found in other states and union territories of India, most notably in Jharkhand and the National Capital Territory of Delhi. According to Ethnologue, there are about 12 million Maithili speakers in India as per 2011 Census. However, in the 2011 census of India, It was reported by only 1,35,83,464 people as their mother tongue comprising about 1.12% of the