Number Theory: Indian multilingualism in perspective

India is a country where a lot of languages are spoken. Because Hindi speakers have the largest share in population , and therefore political calculus, desirability and mechanics of multilingualism have always been a debated topic in the country. This debate has been resurrected again in the context of the three-language push in the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP). What is the exact picture of multilingualism in India? A detailed analysis of the data shows that the picture is more nuanced than it appears from the headline numbers.