bhopal

Updated: Sep 16, 2015 19:35 IST

Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said it was because of some weakness on the part of our leadership that it couldn't ensure making Hindi the national language of India. They couldn't do it perhaps because of the regional political compulsions, he added, while speaking as the chief guest at the valedictory session of three-day World Hindi Conference in Bhopal.



Singh said that despite being spoken and understood by a substantial section of India's population, Hindi has not been able to get the well-deserved status of national language as yet.

He rubbished the argument that English was the language of communication at pan-Indian level. "Across India, even in north-east, people understand Hindi. Once I was advised to give an election speech in English in north-east and as I spoke many people from the audience shouted that I should speak in Hindi", he said.

Singh said that because Hindi was closer to the mother language of all Indian languages Sanskrit, he considers Hindi as the elder sister of all regional languages. "Hindi is the connecting language of India and is understood by over three-fourths of the country's population", he said.



On the issue of inclusion of Hindi as one of the official languages in the United Nations, Rajnath Singh when India could manage 177 votes for the declaration of the International Day of Yoga, why couldn't India manage 127 votes needed in the UN to get Hindi included as one of the official languages.

Earlier, addressing the function chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that there was a notion that speaking in English made one look superior. He said that he had been an MLA and MP for last 25 years and had always spoken in Hindi in all functions. "And I have always got love and admiration of people despite never speaking in English", he said.

Chouhan announced that efforts would be made to upgrade Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hindi University to an international university. He said efforts would also be made to revive Raj Bhasha department under culture department , have label in Hindi also on consumer products and provide translators for court judgments so that people don't have difficulty in understating the court verdict.



Minister of state for external affairs VK Singh said that a special committee will be constituted to look into the recommendations made by the Hindi scholars and writers during the 12 sessions of the conference spread over three days.

"Then these recommendations would be sent to the respective department for implementation", he said. He also moved a proposal that next world Hindi conference should be held un Mauritius in 2018, which was passed by delegates through voice vote.



Expressing condolences to the kith and kin of those who died in the blast at Jhabua, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said he was attending the concluding ceremony with a sad heart. Later in the evening, he also cancelled a kavi sammelan scheduled at 8.00 pm at the conference venue due to Jhabua tragedy.



Amitabh Bachchan couldn't attend the concluding ceremony as he had to undergo a minor tooth surgery while Sushma Swaraj couldn't attend as her daughter was not keeping well, said organizers of the conference. Bachchan's message was, however, read out at the function by BJP MP and vice-president of the organising committee, Anil Madhav Dave.

Major recommendations of the 10th world Hindi conference

There should be a Raj Bhasha Lokpal to redress the grievances and complaints related to Hindi language.

National Language Commission should be constituted.

Labels on consumer goods should also be in Hindi.

Language Rights Act should be formulated.

Hindi should be promoted through embassies across the globe.

Law courses should also be taught in Hindi.

There should be Bal Sahitya Akademi.

NGOs be encouraged to promote Hindi.

Hindi libraries be strengthened and Hindi ebook libraries be started.

Hindi should be made language of science, management, medicine and technology.

Notice boards should be written in Hindi.

Unnecessary use of English words should be checked. Attention should be paid to purity of grammar.

Necessary software to be made available to people to promote Hindi through computer.

Hindi should be written in only Devnagari script and not in Roman or any other script.

Online tests should be held for Hindi proficiency certificate.

Hindi words should be standardized. Along with English, arrangements should also be made for core banking in Hindi and other Indian languages.

Hindi should be used in government ads and publicity materials

Training and workshops be held for Hindi teachers teaching abroad

Foreign students studying Hindi be given scholarships and hostel facilities when they come to India.