Hindi Day ( hi, हिन्दी दिवस, translit=hindī divas) is celebrated in India to commemorate the date 14 September 1949 on which a compromise was reached—during the drafting of the

Constitution of India The Constitution of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental ...

—on the languages that were to have official status in the Republic of India. The compromise, usually called the Munshi-Ayyangar formula, after drafting committee members

K. M. Munshi Kanhaiyalal Maneklal Munshi (; 30 December 1887 – 8 February 1971), popularly known by his pen name Ghanshyam Vyas, was an Indian independence movement activist, politician, writer and educationist from Gujarat state. A lawyer by profession, ...

and

N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar Diwan Bahadur Sir Narasimha Gopalaswami Ayyangar (31 March 1882 – 10 February 1953) was an Indian civil servant and statesman, who served as the Prime Minister of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir (princely state), Jammu and Kashmi ...

, was voted by the

Constituent Assembly of India The Constituent Assembly of India was elected to frame the Constitution of India. It was elected by the 'Provincial Assembly'. Following India's independence from the British rule in 1947, its members served as the nation's first Parliament as ...

after three years of debate between two opposing camps. The Hindi protagonists wanted Hindi to be the sole "national language" of India; the delegates from South India preferred English to have a place in the Constitution. The Munshi-Ayyangar formula declared (i) Hindi to be the "official language" of India's federal government; (ii) English to be an associate official language for 15 years during which Hindi's formal lexicon would be developed; and (iii) the international form of the Hindu-Arabic numerals to be the official numerals. The compromise resolution became articles 343–351 of India's constitution, which went into effect on 26 January 1950. In 1965, when the 15 years were up, the Government of India announced that English would continue to be the "de facto formal language of India."

Events

Apart from local-level events in schools and other institutions, a few of the notable events include * The former President of India,

Pranab Mukherjee Dr. Pranab Mukherjee (11 December 193531 August 2020) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the 13th president of India from 2012 until 2017. In a political career spanning five decades, Mukherjee was a senior leader in the India ...

had conferred awards in different categories for the excellence in different fields pertaining to Hindi at a function in

Vigyan Bhavan Vigyan Bhawan ("science building") is a premier conference centre of the Government of India in New Delhi. Built in 1956, over the years it has been the venue of conferences of national and international stature, seminars and award ceremonies a ...

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

. * Rajbhasha Awards were conferred upon the Ministries, Departments, PSUs and Nationalised Banks.

Ministry of Home Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

in its order dated 25 March 2015 has changed name of two awards given annually on Hindi Divas. 'Indira Gandhi Rajbhasha Puraskar' instituted in 1986 changed to 'Rajbhasha Kirti Puraskar' and ' Rajiv Gandhi Rashtriya Gyan-Vigyan Maulik Pustak Lekhan Puraskar' changed to "Rajbhasha Gaurav Puraskar".

References

{{Hindi topics, state=expanded Hindi Observances in India Language observances September observances

Events

See also

References