Prof. Vivek singh
Hindi is the second most spoken language in the world today. More than 75% of people in India speak or understand Hindi. As per the 2011 census 52.83 crore people had selected Hindi as their mother tongue. 13.92 crore people had selected Hindi as second and 24.16 crore people had selected Hindi as their third language. Thus, today there are more than 100 crore people in the country who speak and understand Hindi easily. Apart from India there are many countries in the world where Hindi is spoken such as Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, China, Japan, UK, South Africa, Yemen, Singapore, Canada, USA etc.
Hindi is also one of the official languages of UNESCO. Hindi is fully entitled to become the language of the United Nations. At the 32nd Session of the United Nations in 1977, the then Foreign Minister of the Janata Party, Atal Bihari Vajpayee's decision to deliver his speech in Hindi in the United Nations was a very important decision. Due to this, the popularity of Hindi increased in the whole world. Today Hindi is being taught in more than 150 countries of the world. Hindi is being taught by more than 170 universities around the world.
September 14 is celebrated every year as Hindi Day. On September 14, 1949 the Constituent Assembly unanimously decided that Hindi would be the official language of India. From 1953 onwards 14th September is being celebrated as Hindi Day across the country. In 1918 Mahatma Gandhi also spoke of accepting Hindi as the national language. Under Article 343 (1) of the Constitution, the official language of India is Hindi and the script is Devanagari script.
It is the country's misfortune that even after 74 years of independence, we have been able to keep Hindi as the official language only. Till date, we have not been able to give Hindi the status of national language which Hindi deserves. Fiji is a small country where Fiji Hindi is the national language which is a type of Awadhi influenced by Bhojpuri. Why don't we learn from Fiji?
The number of people in India whose mother tongue is Hindi has increased. As per the 1991 census, there were 32.95 crore people in India, 39.3% of population whose mother tongue was Hindi. As per the 2001 census Hindi was the mother tongue of 42.20 crore people, 41.1% of the population. As per the 2011 census Hindi was the mother tongue of 52.83 crore people, which constitutes 43.63% of the population.
At present, Hindi is the official language of many states and union territories in India like Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Delhi, Dadra Nagar Haveli, Daman And Diu.
Hindi is one of the most scientific and powerful languages in the world. The whole world celebrates World Hindi Day on January 10. Hindi has become the language not only of India but of the whole world. Hindi is being promoted in hundreds of countries but some so-called educated people in India are still running after English. It must change. Hindi is the language of general public as well as official language. Hindi should be the language of the nation, Hindi should be the national language.
When Hindi was made the official language of the country, at that time it was expected that after 1965 Hindi will become the only language of official work in the country. Hindi will be accepted as the national language but due to the partisan and political gain of some state level political parties even today, the parallel language of Hindi, English remains the language of government offices.
The independence of the country has been 74 years and till date, Hindi spoken and understood by more than 75% people, more than 100 crore people have knowledge of Hindi, the second most spoken and understood language in the world, taught by more than 175 universities in 150 countries but We are unable to declare Hindi as the national language of India. I am Hoping that when we will celebrate 14 September 2021 as Hindi Day, Hindi will have been declared as national language of India.
The author is columnist, Faculty of Commerce
