Hindi Diwas 2023: Date, history, significance and celebration
ByZarafshan Shiraz, New Delhi
The Constitution of India does not give any language the status of national language but even though it is not the national language of India, Hindi in Devanagari script is the official language of the central government in India and also of the Union as per the Article 343 of the Constitution of India. This Indo-Aryan language is also the most spoken language globally after English and Mandarin Chinese and is spoken by 600 million people across the world.
Hindi Diwas 2023: Date, history, significance and celebration (Photo by Twitter/IDBI_Bank) Date:
India celebrates Hindi Diwas, also known as Hindi Day, on September 14 every year to commemorate the adoption of Hindi in the Devanagari script as one of the official languages of the nation.
History:
The Constituent Assembly of India accepted Hindi, written in Devanagari script, as the official language of India on September 14, 1949. Officially, the first Hindi Day was celebrated on September 14, 1953. The reason behind adopting Hindi as one of the official languages was to simplify administration in a nation with multiple languages. Efforts were made by several writers, poets and activists for the adoption of Hindi as the official language.
Significance:
One of the reasons behind celebrating this day is to prevent the increasing trend of the English language in the nation and the neglect of Hindi. It is to be noted that Mahatma Gandhi called Hindi the language of the masses.
Celebration:
Many literary and cultural events are organised on this day across the nation, wherein people celebrate great works of Hindi literature. Rajbhasha Kirti Puraskar and Rajbhasha Gaurav Puraskar awards are also given to ministries, departments, public sector units (PSUs), nationalised banks and citizens on Hindi Diwas for their contribution and promotion of Hindi.
Many schools and colleges organise various literary and cultural programmes, as well as competitions to showcase the importance of the day and raise awareness about the language. The President of India honours people for their contributions to the language at a function held on this day in Delhi’s Vigyan Bhawan.
