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But for a country like India with so much cultural and linguistic diversity, it was only natural that there would always be friction between Hindi and other Indian languages and a certain degree of resistance to the adoption of Hindi in some parts of the country. Therefore, while Hindi was adopted as the official language of the country, the constitution also provided for conducting the official proceedings of a state in its local language and English. Therefore, Hindi, despite being the most widely spoken language in the country, is not called the national language of India. Instead, it is one of the 22 official languages of the Republic of India.
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Hindi and its various dialects are still spoken by most people in what is known as India’s cow belt.
One of the reasons for celebrating Diwas Hindi is to contain the growing trend of English language in the country at the cost of Hindi. It is worth noting that Mahatma Gandhi called Hindi the language of the masses. He even talked about making Hindi the national language of the nation.
Another reason behind the adoption of Hindi as one of the official languages was to simplify the administration of a vast and diverse nation that had many languages. Efforts were made by several writers, poets and activists for the adoption of Hindi as an official language.
Therefore, to promote Hindi, it is often advised to use Hindi instead of English in all government offices. Many literary and cultural events are organized on this day across the country where people celebrate great works of Indian literature. Rajbhasha Kirti Puraskar and Rajbhasha Gaurav Puraskar awards are also given to ministries, departments, public sector units (PSUs), nationalized banks and citizens on Hindi Diwas for their contribution and promotion of Hindi language.
It is a descendant of Sanskrit.
It is spoken by more than 50 crore people in India.
As of 2019, Hindi was the third most spoken language in the world with 615 million speakers.
Commonly used Hindi words like ‘Surya Namaskar’, jungle, bazaar and ‘Jugaad’ are now officially part of the Oxford Dictionary
The first Hindi language magazine was published online in 2000.
Apart from India, Indian languages are also spoken in many other countries such as Nepal, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Fiji and Mauritius, which have people of significant Indian origin.
