Why Hindi Diwas is celebrated on September 14
India's first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru marked September 14 as the Hindi Diwas Day. Photo: Getty
September 14 marks the day when India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, officially declared Hindi as one of the official languages of India. The Constituent Assembly of India accepted Hindi, written in the Devanagari script, as the official language of India on September 14, 1949.
On September 14, 1953, India celebrated its first Hindi Day. The primary reason behind adopting Hindi as the official language was to simplify administration in a nation with multiple languages. Several writers and poets had made efforts, requesting the government to adopt Hindi as the official language.
Jawaharlal Nehru designated this day as Hindi Diwas.
Pandit Nehru recognized the importance of Hindi as a unifying force in a linguistically diverse nation and, therefore, designated September 14 as the official observance of Hindi Diwas.
Hindi is written in the Devanagari script for the uninitiated. It comprises a large number of dialects, including Khari Boli, Awadhi, Bundeli, Braj, and Bagheli. India also has the maximum number of Hindi-speaking regions compared to other countries.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah also extended their wishes to the nation on Hindi Diwas.
हिंदी दिवस के अवसर पर मेरा संदेश… https://t.co/SVhPFu0Kra
— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) September 14, 2023
Why is this day celebrated?
Hindi Diwas is generally celebrated to counter the trend of the English language in India. The Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, referred to Hindi as the language of the people.
Many literary and cultural events are organized across India on the occasion of Hindi Diwas. Additionally, awards like the Rajbhasha Kirti Puraskar and Rajbhasha Gaurav Puraskar are presented on Hindi Diwas to ministries, departments, public sector units, and public sector banks for their contribution to and promotion of Hindi.
Indian Constitution on languages
The Constitution of India recognizes 22 major languages in India, as specified in the "8th Schedule" of the constitution. These include Sanskrit, Bangla, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kashmiri, Kannada, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, and Manipuri.
Other languages recognized by the constitution include Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Santhali, Sindhi, and Urdu. Approximately 425 million people speak Hindi as their first language, and about 120 million people speak Hindi as their second language in India.