New Delhi, September 13: Hindi wasĀ recognised and adopted as the official language of India on September 14 in 1949, two years after the country got independence. Since then,Ā Hindi Diwas is celebrated on September 14 to highlight the importance of the language. On Hindi Diwas, various literary and cultural programmes are held at educational institutes to bring students closer to the Hindi language.Ā Hindi Diwas 2019 Special: Common English Words Translated into Hindi We Bet You Haven't Heard Before.

Hindi is one of the two official languages of the UnionĀ of India ā€” the other being English. Hindi, which belongs toĀ the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language group,Ā is the fourth most-spoken language in the world. In India, nearly 44 percent of the total population identify Hindi as their mother tongue. AlthoughĀ Hindi has evolved from Sanskrit, it wasĀ influenced by Persian during the Mughal era in India. Many of its words find their origin in Arabic or Persian.

The Congress,Ā in its 1925 Karachi session, had passed a resolution to makeĀ Hindustani ā€” the blend of Hindi and Urdu ā€” the lingua franca of independent India. The resolution, however,Ā was modified later and Hindi alone became the national language.Ā Hindi takes pride in being the mother tongue of 180 million people and the second language of 300 million people across the globe.

After Chinese (all its variants), Spanish and English, Hindi is the fourth most-spoken language in the world. Hindi is also called as "Language of Unity" as Mahatma Gandhi used the language to unite Indians against the British rule. Although Hindi is mainly spoken in North India, leaders in South India have also taken efforts to promote it as the national language.

Former Prime MinisterĀ Deve Gowda, who hails from Karnataka, has spoken for promotion of Hindi. Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M KarunanidhiĀ recited a poem in Hindi during a campaign. Similarly, J JayalalithaaĀ campaigned in Hindi for the promotion of the language. On Hindi Diwas, President gives away awards to people for their contributions to the language. The award ceremony is held in Delhiā€™s Vigyan Bhawan.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 13, 2019 06:08 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).