Hindi Diwas 2020: Here is Everything You Should Know About This Day

There are 22 scheduled languages in India and among them, one is Hindi. Mainly spoken in North India, Hindi is also used for communication in other parts of the country. Many state governments carry out their function in this language. They release official notifications in Hindi. Apart from India, Hindi is spoken in Fiji, Mauritius, Trindad and Tobago.

To encourage the use of Hindi in daily life and highlight the contribution of writers and poets of this language, Hindi Diwas is celebrated on September 14 every year.

History

Written in Devanagari script, Hindi was adopted as an official language by the Constituent Assembly of India in 1949. It is one of the two official languages used by the Union government. The other one is English.

People like Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, Kaka Kalelkar, Maithili Sharan Gupt, Seth Govind Das and Beohar Rajendra Simha put in effort to get Hindi the status of official language. Besides, Hindi got the official language status on the 50th birth anniversary of Simha on September 14, 1949.  Hindi Diwas was first marked in 1953.

Hindi Diwas celebrations

Hindi Diwas is observed in schools, colleges and other educational institutions. Poetry, debate, essay writing competitions are organised in institutes on the occasion of Hindi Diwas. Apart from this, students perform plays written by some legendary writers in their schools and colleges.

At some places, book fairs are also organised where books written in Hindi are sold. Contemporary writers are sometimes present at these fairs to interact with readers and make them aware of the importance of this language.

Unlike every year, this time Hindi Diwas cannot be marked in educational institutions because of the prevailing COVID-19 situations. Schools across the country have been closed since March and there is no clarity when they will resume normal functioning.

However, students can participate in online writing or debate competitions to observe Hindi Diwas 2020. People can read books written by writers like Mahadevi Verma or Munshi Premchand on this day.