World Hindi Day – January 10
World Hindi Day (विश्व हिन्दी दिवस) is celebrated on January 10 all over the world, its main purpose is to create awareness for the promotion of Hindi in the world and to introduce Hindi as an International Language.
This day is completely different from National Hindi Diwas which is celebrated on September 14 every year. On 14 September 1949, the Constituent Assembly gave Hindi the status of an official language, since then Hindi Diwas is celebrated in India. While World Hindi Day is to promote the Hindi language on the global stage.
The first World Hindi Conference was organized on 10 January 1975 in Nagpur by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi to promote Hindi in the entire world. Therefore, this day is celebrated as World Hindi Day. A total of 122 delegates from 30 countries attended this conference and the prime minister of Mauritius was the chief guest.
The official celebration of World Hindi Day began on January 10, 2006, by former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. Every year since 2006, World Hindi Day is celebrated worldwide on 10 January.
The first World Hindi Day was celebrated by the Indian Embassy in Norway. After this, the second and third World Hindi Day was celebrated with great pomp under the chairmanship of author Suresh Chandra Shukla under the auspices of the Norwegian Information and Cultural Forum.
Currently, Hindi is taught in hundreds of universities in the world and millions of people speak Hindi all over the world. Not only this, Hindi is one of the most widely spoken languages worldwide.
There is an island named Fiji in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean. In Fiji, Hindi has been given official language status. It is also called Fijian Hindi or Fijian Hindustani. It is a mixed form of Awadhi, Bhojpuri, and other dialects.
Hindi is spoken in many countries including the USA, Bangladesh, UK, Nepal, Pakistan, Germany, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates, Uganda, Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad, Mauritius, and South Africa.
Oxford dictionary in the year 2017 included Hindi words like ‘good’, ‘big day’, ‘baby’ and ‘Surya Namaskar’ for the first time. According to the calculation of the World Economic Forum, Hindi is one of the ten powerful languages of the world.
Indian embassies all over the world dedicate World Hindi Day for the promotion and propagation of Hindi through their Missions abroad by taking new initiatives and harnessing the opportunities available worldwide. Special events are organized on this day, and Programs in Hindi on various subjects are organized in all government offices.
