GS Paper - II

Hindi Diwas, also known as National Hindi Day, is celebrated annually to commemorate the adoption of Hindi as one of the official languages of India. In 2024, it is celebrating on 14 September 2024. While the Constitution of India does not give any language the status of national language, Hindi in Devanagari script is the official language of the central government and the Union as per Article 343.

More about Hindi Diwas

• Hindi Diwas is a day dedicated to celebrating the Hindi language, one of the official languages of India. It is a cornerstone of India’s cultural and linguistic identity.
• This day marks the anniversary of the Constituent Assembly of India’s decision to adopt Hindi, written in the Devanagari script, as the official language of the Republic of India.
• Notably, Hindi is the most widely spoken language in India and the third most spoken language in the world after Mandarin Chinese and English.

Flashback

• The history of Hindi Diwas dates back to the early days of the Indian independence movement.
• In 1918, a group of Hindi scholars and activists formed the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan (Hindi Literary Conference) to promote the use of Hindi as a national language.
• The Sammelan played a major role in the adoption of Hindi as the official language of India.
• After independence, the Constituent Assembly of India accepted Hindi, written in Devanagari script, as an official language on 14 September 1949.
• This decision was taken to promote and develop Hindi as the lingua franca of India and to unite the diverse linguistic and cultural regions of the nation. The first Hindi Diwas was celebrated in 1953.