World Hindi Day 2023

Context: On 10th January every year, World Hindi Day is celebrated to mark the anniversary of first time Hindi was spoken in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

About Hindi Language:

• The word Hindi came from a Persian word ‘Hind’, which means the land of the Indus River.
• Spoken Hindi has 4 varieties: High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, Literary Hindi, and standard Hindi.
• The earliest form of Hindi was called ‘Apabhramsa’, which was an offspring of Sanskrit.
• In 400 AD, poet Kalidas wrote Vikramorvashiyam in Apabhramsa.
• It is the third most spoken language in the world after English and Mandarin (Chinese).
• It belongs to Indo-Aryan language, widely spoken in Northern part of India.
• Mauritius, Fiji, Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Nepal also have Hindi speaking population.
• Hindi written in Devanagari script is to be the official language of the Union.
• The other official language of the state is English since 1965.

World Hindi Day (Vishwa Hindi Diwas):

• The purpose is to create awareness about the Indian language and promote it as a global language around the world.
• Indian Ministry of External Affairs celebrates this day every year since 2006.
• World Hindi Conference is observed every three years to spread awareness about the leading scholars and contributors to the language.
• First World Hindi Conference was organised in 1975.
• On this day, President of India presents the Rajbhasha awards to people for their contribution towards Hindi language.
• Hindi Diwas is celebrated on September 14 annually.
  • It marks the birthday of Beohar Rajendra Sinha, who is also regarded as the main person behind making Hindi the official language of India.

Source: Indian Express