NEW DELHI: India has given $1 million to the United Nations to promote Hindi. This was disclosed recently by India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj.
The purpose of the contribution is to support the promotion of Hindi language within the organisation and to facilitate inclusive dialogue on a global scale.
During a formal ceremony, Ambassador Kamboj handed over the cheque of $1 million to Melissa Fleming, Under Secretary General of the United Nations Department of Global Communications.
Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish. These are the six official languages of the United Nations which is the world’s largest intergovernmental organisation with 193 member countries, committed to protecting international peace, human rights and promoting sustainable development.
Chinese has been one of the official languages in UN since its inception in 1945 because China was then the world’s largest country with a population of about 550 million. India was then a 350 million country.
Cut to the present, India has overtaken China as the world’s largest country with 1.48 billion people. So it is logical that one of India’s primary official lanaguages, Hindi, which is spoken by more than 500 millon people globally, should find its place in the UN ecosystem.
The Hindi@UN initiative, launched in 2018 in collaboration with the UN Department of Public Information, played a pivotal role in enhancing the United Nations’ communication efforts in Hindi language.
Its primary goal was to engage the vast Hindi-speaking population worldwide and raise awareness about global issues through various platforms, including UN News, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. An additional weekly audio bulletin, UN News-Hindi, was introduced to ensure seamless information dissemination to the audience.
