Languages of Puducherry
The official standing of languages in Puducherry is governed by the "Pondicherry Official Language Act, 1965" which states under the heading "Official language of the Union territory" that Tamil is the language to be used for all or any official purposes in the Union Territory, while Malayalam and Telugu may be used in Mahé and Yanam respectively. The Act also stipulates that English may be used for any of the official purposes of the Union territory. 1956 Treaty of Cession. French was the official language of Puducherry under the Treaty of Cession 1956. French was also the  official language of the "Établissements français dans l'Inde" (French India) and it remained as de jure official language of Pondicherry U.T by the "Article XXVIII" of Traité de Cession which states that, While the Official Gazette of Puducherry has a trilingual heading (in English, Tamil and French), it is published exclusively in English. Pondicherry Official Language Act, 1965. After independence, the new official languages got recognized by The Pondicherry Official Language Act, 1965 (Act No. 3 of 1965) establishes that ""the Tamil language shall [...] be the language to be used for all or any of the official purposes of the  Union Territory". It states that "Provided that the Administrator may by like Notification, direct that in the case of Mahe area, the Malayalam language, and in the case of Yanam area, the Telugu language may be used for such official purposes and subject to such conditions as may be specified in such notification"". Finally, it states that ""Notwithstanding anything contained in section 3, and from the commencement of this Act, the English language may be used for all or any of the official purposes of the Union Territory"". During the early twentieth century, Tamil gained equal status alongside the existing  French language. After the merger with India, Telugu and Malayalam also obtained the same status although with some restrictions. Though the status of each languages varies with respect to each district, when communicating in between districts of different languages, generally English is used for convenience. The three official languages are: Demographics. In 2001, the number of people speaking in each official languages was: