The annual celebration of Hindi Diwas commemorates September 14, 1949, the day when the Constituent Assembly of India took the decision to make Hindi the official language of the Union government, while English was to hold the status of associate language for 15 years.
Hindi versus English debate –
It was a compromise, famously called the Munshi-Ayyangar formula, named after the drafting committee members K M Munshi and N Gopalaswamy Ayyangar, that took into account the demands of the Hindi protagonists and the delegates from South India who wished English to have a Constitutional status.
About the ‘Hindi Diwas’ –
- Hindi, written in the Devanagari script, was adopted as the official language of the Republic of India on 14th September, 1949.
- Kaka Kalelkar, Maithili Sharan Gupta, Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, Seth Govindadas made important contributions to make Hindi the official language.
- 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’.
About Hindi –
- Hindi got its name from the Persian word Hind, meaning ‘land of the Indus River‘. Turkish invaders in the early 11th century named the language of the region Hindi, ‘language of the land of the Indus River’.
- The modern Devanagari script came into existence in the 11th century.
- Spoken in Countries outside India: 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.
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.
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