Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh while addressing the Hindi Divas and Rajbhasha Awards Ceremony at Gaiety Theatre, here today, said that the core objective of the celebration was to bring awareness pertaining to teaching and learning of Hindi language. He said that Hindi makes us feel proud of being Indian and this was not only the National language but also Constitutional language too, as in the year 1949 the Constitutional Body for Self-Governance adopted Hindi as ‘Rajbhasha’.Shri Virbhadra Singh said Himachal Pradesh was Hindi speaking State and the State Government had issued directions in February, 1976 to make use of Hindi language in day-to-day official working. The State Government had been honouring those employees who were using Hindi language in their day to day working, he added.
He said that the Department of Language, Art and Culture was playing a pivotal role in encouraging the use of Hindi and had been organising workshops, symposiums, seminars, etc in educational institutions of the State for promotion of Hindi language. Besides, department was also promoting Hindi language and literature by conducting competitions in Hindi right from the secretariat level down to schools and colleges including government offices all over the State.He emphasised the importance of Hindi language and said the students should be proud of their National language and should enrich their vocabulary by learning good words from the language. He called upon the students to make united efforts for the progress and promotion of Hindi so that unity of the country can be strengthened.
He said that the countries which do not have their own language and own culture can never prosper. “We are proud to be ‘Hindi Rashtra’ and together we
are also proud of all other regional languages spoken and adopted by the different states in our country, but above all Hindi remains an official language of our country, he said.The Chief Minister also distributed Hindi Rajbhasha Prizes on the occasion to the students and others government employees. He also released a souvenir and different books on the occasion. Irrigation & Public Health and Horticulture Minister, Smt Vidya Stokes was also present on the occasion and she also distributed prizes.Earlier, Secretary, Art, Language and Culture, Smt Anuradha Thakur detailed about the importance of Hindi Divas and other activities of the department besides initiatives being taken to promote Hindi.Director, Art, Language and Culture, Smt Shashi Thakur welcomed and honoured the Chief Minister on the occasion. She briefed about the importance of this day. She also detailed about the programmes conducted during the ‘Hindi Pakhwara’, which began from 2nd September and concluded today to mark and promote Hindi language.