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Hindi Day

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Hindi Divas
Also calledHindi Day
Observed byGovernment of India
SignificanceAdoption of [[]] as a popular language of India
ObservancesPresentation of awards in Hindi fields; Hindi language promotion; local events
Date14 September
Next time14 September 2025 (2025-09-14)
FrequencyAnnual
Related toKarnataka Rajyotsava

Hindi Divas (Hindhi Day) is an annual day celebrated on 14 September in India to celebrate Hindi as a popular language of India.

History

Beohar Rajendra Simha, the acclaimed Hindi-stalwart. On his 50th birthday (14-09-1949), Hindi was adopted as the Official Language of Republic of India, celebrating it as "Hindi-Day" since then.

Hindi Divas is celebrated on 14 September, to commemorate the adoption of Hindi written in Devanagari script as one of the two official languages of the Republic of India by Constituent Assembly of India . To this end, several people rallied and lobbied pan-India in favor of Hindi, Beohar Rajendra Simha along with Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, Kaka Kalelkar, Maithili Sharan Gupt and Seth Govind Das . As such, on the 50th birthday of Beohar Rajendra Simha on 14 September 1949, the efforts came to fruition following adoption of Hindi as an official language.[1][2] This decision was ratified by the Constitution of India that came into effect on 26 January 1950. Under the Article 343 of the Indian Constitution, Hindi written in Devanagari script was adopted as the official language. In all, there are 22 Scheduled languages of India, of which, two are officially used at Union government of India level: Hindi and English. Hindi is spoken by 250 million people as the original language and it is the fourth language of the world.

Controversy

While India has two official languages at the national level and 22 scheduled languages recognized at the state level, the country does not have any national language. A national language is intended to have a patriotic and nationalistic identity, whereas an official languages and scheduled languages are designated purely for the purpose of communication at the official level[3]

In June 2019, the draft of the new Educational Policy 2019 faced strong opposition, especially in the southern states, after a clause recommended making Hindi mandatory in all schools across India. Tamil Nadu's main political parties AIADMK and DMK spearheaded the anti-Hindi protests, saying that the plan served "a political purpose" in the long term. Tamil Nadu has long opposed any moves to give Hindi greater prominence than other Indian languages. The region saw anti-Hindi protests in 1937 that went on till 1940. In 1965, the issue flared up once again, triggering riots that killed as many as 70 people.[4]

In 2018, the state capital of Karnataka, Bengaluru had seen protests against the use of Hindi in the city's metro stations as part of the #HindiBeda movement. "Hindi beda", when translated from Kannada, means "we don't want Hindi". That movement was backed by politicians too - and Hindi signboards were removed from metro stations.[5]

The declaration by Home Minister Amit Shah, urging citizens to "use their mother tongues, and also the Hindi language more often, and in doing so, contribute to realising the dream of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel of 'one nation, one language' "[6] on 14 September 2019, has sparked fresh controversy on this contentious issue, with many social media users using the hashtag #StopHindiImposition and #StopHindiImperialism to voice their dissent over this stance by the ruling BJP government.[7]

Notable events

Apart from local-level events in schools and other institutions, a few of the notable events include

  • The former President of India, Pranab Mukherjee had conferred awards in different categories for the excellence in different fields pertaining to Hindi at a function in Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.
  • Rajbhasha Awards were conferred upon the Ministries, Departments, PSUs and Nationalised Banks.[8]

Ministry of Home Affairs in its order dated 25 March 2015 has changed name of two awards given annually on Hindi Divas. 'Indira Gandhi Rajbhasha Puraskar' instituted in 1986 changed to 'Rajbhasha Kirti Puraskar' and 'Rajiv Gandhi Rashtriya Gyan-Vigyan Maulik Pustak Lekhan Puraskar' changed to "Rajbhasha Gaurav Puraskar".[9]

References

  1. ^ "Hindi Diwas 2019: History, Significance Of World's Fourth Most Spoken Language". News Nation. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  2. ^ "हिन्दी दिवस विशेष: इनके प्रयास से मिला था हिन्दी को राजभाषा का दर्जा". patrika.com (in Hindi). Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  3. ^ "On Hindi Diwas, Amit Shah Appeals For Hindi As India's National Language". NDTV.com. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  4. ^ "10-Point Guide On Protests Over Centre's Hindi Plan In South States". NDTV.com. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  5. ^ "In Karnataka's Latest Resistance Against Hindi, A Throwback To Past Protests". NDTV.com. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  6. ^ "'Only Hindi can unite country': Home Minister Amit Shah declares". The News Minute. 14 September 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  7. ^ "#StopHindiImperialism hashtag on Twitter". twitter.com. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  8. ^ "India observed Hindi Divas on 10 January". Jagran Josh. 15 September 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  9. ^ "Names of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi knocked off Hindi Diwas awards". The Economic Times. 21 April 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
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