Promotion of Hindi in Institutions

    0
    2135

    In News

    • Recently, the centre is taking efforts to promote Hindi in Indian government institutions in foreign countries.

    More about the news

    • The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has written to the External Affairs Ministry to promote the use of Hindi for official work in banks, public sector undertakings, embassies and other government offices located in foreign countries.
    • MHA had previously asked the External Affairs Ministry to constitute an Official Language Implementation Committee that would oversee the progress of Hindi in official work.
    Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India & promotion of Hindi language

    • The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India lists the official languages of the Republic of India.
    • Part XVII of the Indian Constitution deals with the official languages in Articles 343 to 351.
      • The Constitutional provisions relating to the Eighth Schedule occur in articles 344(1) and 351 of the Constitution.
        • Article 344(1): 
          • It provides for the constitution of an official language Commission by the President, which shall consist of a Chairman and such other members representing the different languages specified in the Eighth Schedule to make recommendations to the President for the progressive use of Hindi for official purposes of the Union.
        • Article 345: 
          • Official language or languages of a State subject to the provisions of Article 346 and 347.
          • It would thus appear that the Eighth Schedule was intended to promote the progressive use of Hindi and for the enrichment and promotion of that language.
        • Article 351: 
          • It provides for enriching the Hindi language by assimilating in it the forms, style and expressions used in the languages specified in the Eighth Schedule so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India.

    Government’s efforts to promote Hindi

    • Language of Parliamentary reports: 
      • In 2017, MHA accepted most of the recommendations contained in the 2011 report of a parliamentary standing committee on Hindi. 
      • Some of the recommendations were:
        • Option to write exams in Hindi, 
        • Minimum knowledge of Hindi must for government jobs, 
        • 50% government advertisements in Hindi, 
        • Railway tickets should be bilingual- Hindi being one of the languages and announcement at railway stations in “C” category (non-Hindi speaking) such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana and Kerala should be in Hindi.
    • Websites open by default in Hindi:
      • In 2017, the government stated that the websites of all the Union Ministries and the offices under their control should be bilingual and the Hindi pages should also be compulsorily uploaded while updating the website.
        • Most government websites are bilingual now — Hindi and English. 
      • However, the websites of organisations such as the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Border Security Force (BSF) and even the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) open in Hindi by default.
    • Press releases:
      • In the past two years, most press releases by the Union Ministries were released first in Hindi.
    • Digital dictionary:
      • Ministry of Education in collaboration with the MHA had developed a digital dictionary that included commonly used words in various regional languages. 
      • This included words from technology and banking to ensure that people from various fields could work in Hindi with ease.

    Promotion of Education in regional languages

    • The National Education Policy 2020:
      • The National Education Policy 2020 emphasises multilingualism and proposes a three-language formula in schools, where at least two of the languages are native to India. 
      • State Government are publishing bilingual and trilingual textbooks at foundational level and the learning material on Diksha platform relevant to the school curriculum has been made available in 33 Indian languages.
    • Higher education:
      • As far as higher education is concerned, engineering courses are being offered in six Indian languages in 19 engineering colleges across 10 States from 2021-2022. 
      • The provision for the additional supernumerary seats in regional languages and up to 50% of the sanctioned intake in the regional languages have also been made by the AICTE.
      • At the UGC we have formed a committee for translating books in subjects such as commerce and humanities.
    World Hindi Day

    • World Hindi Day or Vishwa Hindi Divas is celebrated every year on January 10th to mark the first World Hindi Conference that was held in Nagpur on January 10 in 1975. 
    • In 2006, former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh declared that January 10 will be observed as World Hindi Day every year.
      • This was also the first time that the ministry of external affairs started celebrating the day abroad.
    •  It is celebrated across the world to promote the use of the Hindi language.
    • Aim: 
      • To spread awareness about Hindi as an international language across the world. 

    About National Hindi Divas

    • India also celebrates National Hindi Divas on September 14th.
    •  It, however, is different from World Hindi Day as National Hindi Divas is celebrated to commemorate the adoption of Hindi as an official language of India by the Constituent Assembly.
      • The Constituent Assembly of India accepted Hindi, written in Devanagari script, as the official language of India on September 14th, 1949, under Article 343 of the Indian Constitution.
    • The reason behind adopting Hindi as one of the official languages was to simplify administration in a nation with multiple languages.

    Source: TH

    RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR