Promotion of Hindi in Foreign Countries

New Delhi: Promotion of Hindi in foreign countries is a matter of high priority for the Government. To coordinate work related to promotion of Hindi in foreign countries, a separate Division was set up in the Ministry two years ago. Several initiatives have been taken since then, by the Ministry of External Affairs, to promote Hindi abroad.

            The 10th World Hindi Conference was orgnised by Ministry of External Affairs on 10-12 September 2015 in Bhopal which was attended by a large number of participants from India and abroad. All issues related to promotion of Hindi language were discussed at the conference. A Recommendations Implementation Committee has been set up under the Chairpersonship of Hon’ble EAM to monitor implementation of recommendations passed at the 10th World Hindi Conference. The Committee meets regularly at an interval of three months to ensure time bound and effective implementation of the recommendations. Regional Hindi conferences are also orgnised by the Ministry of External Affairs in various foreign countries to promote Hindi including those held in the last one year in Paris and Moscow.

            A Joint Declaration of Intent has been signed with Germany to teach Indian languages under which Hindi will be taught in schools in Germany. Ministry of External Affairs also provides books, teaching material and other assistance to orgnisations involved in promotion of Hindi in foreign countries. In addition, World Hindi Day is celebrated every year on 10^th January by Ministry of External Affairs and Missions/Posts abroad to promote Hindi. On this occasion, Hindi competitions are orgnised for foreign students and prizes are given to the winners.

            Other initiatives taken to promote Hindi language in foreign countries are:

i           Chairs

• Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) has established 26 Hindi Chairs in various foreign universities/institutions abroad.

• The Council has deputed 6 Hindi teachers in Indian Cultural Centres (ICCs) abroad, and the process to depute Hindi teachers to other centres is also on.

ii          Scholarship & Fellowship 

• Under the ICCR’s scholarship programme ICCR provides scholarships to the foreign students for studying Hindi language and literature.

• Financial assistance of Rs.26.00 lakhs was provided to the University of South Pacific, Fiji, in 2016 for teaching Hindi. 

iii.        Publications

• ICCR’s bi-monthly Hindi magazine – Gagnanchal is being distributed in various Indian Missions and Council’s ICCs abroad on regular basis.

• ICCR has initiated publication of Dictionaries from Hindi to foreign language and foreign language to Hindi.  In this direction, the financial assistance of Euro 6000 (Rs.4,40,640/-) has been provided to Portugal for the publication of vocabulary from Portuguese to Hindi and works on other languages are being done by ICCR.

1.       CONFERENCE / KAVI SAMMELAN

• ICCR sponsored 5-Hindi poets in various cities of United Kingdom for organizing the “Virat Hindi Kavi Sammelan” from 31 August to 10 December 2016 and 4-Hindi poets to Nairobi and Naruka for the Kavi Sammelan from 4-5 December 2016.

• ICCR supported participation of 2-Hindi Scholars for the participation in the International Conference on Hindi studies in Paris from 14-16 September 2016.

1. In order to generate interest and ability of foreigners in speaking Hindi, ICCR has taken an initiative to establish “Baat Cheet”clubs in Missions and Posts. In this direction, “Hindi Conversation Club” has been established in Ashgabat (Turkmenistan), Tunisia, Ankara (Turkey), The Hague (Netherlands), Moscow (Russia), Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania), Thimphu (Bhutan), Paramaribo (Surinam), Guyana (Georgetown), and the same is in process in Suva (Fiji), Port Louis (Mauritius) and Washington.

(b)        Activities to be undertaken are as follows:-

1.             ICCR is continuously working on establishing more Hindi chairs in the universities abroad. Presently, it is in negotiation with about 10 more Universities to sign MoUs for establishing Chairs.

1.             Presently, ICCR is preparing a model course work for Hindi teaching for the foreign students.

 III.            Conference on ‘Challenges and Opportunities of Hindi Teaching’ is proposed to be organized in Delhi where scholars from other countries will also participate.

2017.  The Council is sponsoring 6-Indian poets for the participation in “Virat Hindi Kavi Sammelan” which would be organized in various cities of United Kingdom from 22 August to 3 September 2017.

This information was given by Gen. (Dr.) V.K. Singh (Retd), the Minister of State for External Affairs, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.