Q. Why is this in news ?
A. Every year 14th September is celebrated as Hindi divas in India .
Q. What is National Hindi Day or Hindi Divas ?
- National Hindi Day:
- Hindi, written in the Devanagari script, was adopted as the official language of the Republic of India on 14th September, 1949.
- Besides Hindi, English is the other official language (Article 343 of the Constitution).
- Hindi is also an eighth schedule language.
- Article 351 pertains to ‘Directive for development of the Hindi language’.
Q. What is World Hindi Day ?
- World Hindi Day: It is observed on 10th January.
- The Day commemorates the anniversary of the first World Hindi Conference held in Nagpur on 10th January, 1975, which saw 122 delegates from 30 countries participating in it.
Q. Is Hindi a global language ?
A. Yes , as it is is spoken in Countries outside India also :
- Hindi is the fifth most spoken language among the total languages spoken in the world.
- It is spoken in Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, USA, UK, Germany, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates, Uganda, Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad, Mauritius, and South Africa.
Q. What are some of Government Initiatives to Promote Hindi?
- The Central Hindi Directorate was established in 1960 by the Government of India under the Ministry of Education.
- Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) has established ‘Hindi Chairs’ in various foreign universities/institutions abroad.
- LILA-Rajbhasha (Learn Indian Languages through Artificial Intelligence) is a multimedia based intelligent self-tutoring application for learning Hindi.
- E-Saral Hindi Vakya Kosh and E-Maha Shabda Kosh Mobile App, both initiatives of the Department of Official Language, aim to harness information technology for the growth of Hindi.
- Rajbhasha Gaurav Puraskar and Rajbhasha Kirti Puraskar recognise contributions to Hindi.
- The World Hindi Secretariat building was inaugurated in Mauritius in 2018.