World Hindi Day

• 12 Jan 2022

Why in News

World Hindi Day (WHD) is celebrated every year on 10^th January to promote the Hindi language all around the world.

• This year (2022) on the occasion UNESCO's World Heritage Centre (WHC) has agreed to publish Hindi descriptions of India's world heritage sites on WHC website.
• WHC was established in 1992 to coordinate all matters related to World Heritage. The Centre organises the annual sessions of the World Heritage Committee and its Bureau, and provides advice to States Parties in the preparation of site nominations.

Key Points

• About:
  
  • It was first celebrated in 2006 to commemorate the anniversary of the first World Hindi Conference which was held in Nagpur on 10th January, 1975. It is different from Hindi Divas(National Hindi Day).
  • It is also celebrated by Indian embassies located in various parts of the world.
  • The World Hindi Secretariat building was inaugurated in Mauritius in 2018.
• National Hindi Day:
  
  • Hindi, written in the Devanagari script, was adopted as the official language of the Republic of India on 14^th September, 1949. Therefore Hindi Divas is celebrated on 14^th September every year.
    
    • Kaka Kalelkar, Maithili Sharan Gupta, Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, Seth Govindadas made important contributions to make Hindi the official language.
  • Hindi is also an eighth schedule language.
  • Article 351 pertains to ‘Directive for development of the Hindi language’.
• 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-Mahashabdkosh 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.

Hindi Language

• Hindi got its name from the Persian word Hind, meaning 'land of the Indus River'. Turk invaders in the early 11^th century named the language of the region Hindi, 'language of the land of the Indus River'.
• It is the official language of India, English being the other official language.
• Hindi is also spoken in some countries outside India, such as in Mauritius, Fiji, Suriname, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago and Nepal.
• Hindi in its present form emerged through different stages, during which it was known by other names. The earliest form of old Hindi was Apabhramsa. In 400 AD Kalidas wrote a romantic play in Apabhramsa called Vikramorvashiyam.
• The modern Devanagari script came into existence in the 11^th century.

Source: HT