World Hindi Day: UNESCO site publishes Hindi descriptions of India's world heritage sites

To mark World Hindi Day, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural (UNESCO) World Heritage Centre (WHC) has decided to publish Hindi descriptions of Indian heritage sites on its website, India's permanent delegate to the UNESCO in Paris, Vishal Sharma, announced on Monday. In a statement released, Sharma welcomed the "historic decision" by the Director of the agency, adding that the Indian delegation to UNESCO has also organised a virtual celebration of World Hindi Day 2022.

“The Permanent Delegation of India is very pleased to announce that on the occasion of World Hindi Day, the Director of the World Heritage Centre has informed us that UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre has agreed to publish Hindi descriptions of India’s UNESCO World Heritage sites on the WHC websites. We welcome this historic decision,” permanent delegate Sharma said in a statement.

On Monday, Minister of State of External Affairs and Culture, Meenakshi Lekhi posted a video message on the occasion of World Hindi Day. In the video, she emphasised the importance of the Hindi language and promote the mother language of India all around the world. In another such video, India's permanent delegate to UNESCO, Sharma too highlighted the "key" achievements of the Hindi language that it has attained in the last 75 years of India's independence.

India's UNESCO delegation also received short videos from Assistant Director-General to Education, Social and Human Sciences, Culture, Communication and Information and Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic. In addition, permanent members to UNESCO from Angola, Bangladesh, Brazil, Ecuador, France, Greece, Iran, Japan, Mongolia, Palestine, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and St. Kitta and Nevis also extended greeting to India on the eve of World Hindi Day. High Commissions and Embassies of Canberra, Wellington, Doha, London, Riyadh, Washington D.C, Male and many more also wished India on Monday.

A virtual program was organised by Meenakshi Lekhi to highlight the importance of the Hindi language. Messages from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar were also read out, in which the diplomats pointed out the role of the language in spreading knowledge and culture due to its simplicity, MEA said in a statement. "We are continuously moving towards our goal of taking Hindi to a global stage," Dr Jaishankar said in his message.

World Hindi Day

World Hindi Day or Vishwa Hindi Diwas is celebrated annually on January 10. The day commemorates the essence, simplicity, and cultural significance of the mother language of India, Hindi. The day is observed mainly as an anniversary of the first World Hindi Conference held in January 1975. It was inaugurated by the then PM of India, Indira Gandhi, in Nagpur. The day was first celebrated in 2006 by former PM Dr Manmohan Singh.

(With inputs from ANI)

(Image: AP/PTI)