New Delhi, September 13: As part of Hindi Day Week celebrations the Department of Political Science and Sarojini Naidu Centre for Women’s Studies (SNCWS), Jamia Millia Islamia(JMI) jointly organised a Webinar titled “Contemporary Relevance of Hindi in Creating a Pan Indian (Bharatiya!) Identity in the Diaspora” to commemorate Hindi Day on September 12, 2023.
JMI Vice Chancellor Prof. Najma Akhtar (Padma Shri) was the patron,and Dr. Shubhankar Mishra, Deputy General Secretary, Vishwa Hindi Secretariat-Mauritius, participated as the keynote speaker. Dr. Shahzad Ahmed Ansari, Assistant Director, Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology, Ministry of Education, Government of India, and Dr. Anushabd, Senior Assistant Professor, Department of Hindi, Tezpur University, participated as panellists in the webinar.
The webinar was presided over by Head of the Department of Political Science and Director, SNCWS,JMI, Prof. Bulbul Dhar James. The convenor of the webinar was Prof. Naved Jamal, Department of Political Science, Jamia, and the discussant was Dr. Aamna Mirza, Associate Professor, SNCWS,JMI
The keynote speaker in the webinar, Dr. Shubhankar Mishra expressed his views in detail on the relevance of Hindi in creating an all-India identity among the Indian Diaspora. He discussed many topics, including official language Hindi, the concept of sustainable development and multilingualism, the promotion of Hindi at the government level, the concept of Overseas Indian, the Overseas Indian world, the creation of Hindi world: indigenous and overseas, Overseas Hindi literature, and various forms of Overseas Hindi. He emphasised that the World Hindi Secretariat is working towards establishing the Hindi language as a global language and getting the Hindi language recognised in the United Nations.
He said that Hindi is the language of communication, participation, and knowledge in more than 600 universities and schools in more than 40 countries. He said that the concept of multilingualism actually focuses on the recognition of the importance of indigenous languages, which acknowledge diverse linguistic backgrounds, aspirations, and important uses of language. This is important not only for the dissemination of information and knowledge but also for creating an inclusive and sustainable society. In the webinar, he mentioned the work being done at the government level for the Hindi language at the level of the Home Ministry and Education Ministry.
In the context of the Indian Diaspora, he said that those people have left India and settled in other parts of the world. Even though they live in different countries and speak different languages, they remain connected to India. According to the report released by the International Organisation for Migration of the United Nations, the population of overseas Indians in the world is 1.75 crore, which is considered to be the highest in the world. He said that many forms of Hindi have developed in overseas countries. Like in Suriname, there is Sarnami Hindi/Sarnami Hindustani/Sarnami; in Guyana, there is Gayani Bhojpuri; in South Africa, there is Natali Hindi; in Mauritius, there is Creole/Bhojpuri Hindi; in Fiji, there is Fiji Hindi/Fijibal; and in Trinidad, there is Trinidad Hindi.
In the webinar, Dr. Anushabd said that India is a multilingual and multicultural country. Many languages are spoken all over the world, but India alone has the highest number of languages. He said that there is no specific region for the Hindi language because Hindi is the language of the entire country. Discussing the global influence of the Hindi language, he said that Hindi is spoken in 140 countries globally. Reminiscing about his visit to Portugal, he said that the security officer in Portugal responded in Hindi and helped him. He described in detail the development journey of Hindi in the Northeast and highlighted the contributions of Yamuna Srivastava, Raja Raghav Das, Rajnikant Chakraborty, and Gopinath. On the increasing popularity of Hindi in Gulf countries, he said that Hindi has been recognised as the third court language in Saudi Arabia after Arabic and English.
Dr. Shahzad Ahmed Ansari has mentioned the work done by the Scientific and Technical Terminology Commission in the development of the Hindi language. He said that the commission works for the development of Hindi and Indian languages. Explaining the process of vocabulary creation in detail, he said that many obstacles arise in vocabulary creation, but priority is given to the words suitable for the general public. Whereas Dr. Aamna Mirza said that one language refers to nation-building and its concept. Universities work to connect the entire world. In today's time, when there is talk of Vishwaguru and Vishwamitra, this feeling emanates from universities.
The webinar ended with a formal vote of thanks presented by Prof. Naved Jamal.