Despite Hindi being the national language of the country, the irony remains that Government has to set aside a day or a week to encourage the use of language in Government work. Expressing concern over this situation, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that with such a scenario, there would be no future for Hindi and other Indian languages.
“Seventy-five per cent of the people in the country either speak or know Hindi. But we do not use Hindi in official work. Now such a situation has come that we have to observe Hindi Divas,” Singh said at the ‘Rajbhasha Samaroh’ in Vigyan Bhawan.
While pitching for the use of national language regularly in Government offices, Home Minister said although three-fourths of the Indian people know or speak Hindi yet the language is not used amply in official work even after 67 years of country’s Independence.
The Home Minister said that non-Hindi speaking stalwarts of India’s freedom movement like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Subhash Chandra Bose and C Rajagopalachari had advocated the promotion of Hindi
For his part, President Pranab Mukherjee said the language has a significant role in connecting the Government and the people.
“In a vast country like India, where many languages are spoken, Hindi has its own special position. It is the symbol of our social and cultural unity and is the main connecting language between the people. Hindi also has a significant role in connecting the Government and the people,” he said.
Department of Finance Service, Food and Public Distribution, Railways, Information and Broadcasting, Parliamentary Affairs and Telecommunications were some of the Ministries that were given the Rajbhasha Awards for their extra-ordinary efforts in promoting Hindi.