Ninth World Hindi Conference in Johannesburg - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

The ninth World Hindi Conference, seeking to promote and widen the reach of Hindi language, begins here on Saturday. Secretary West (Ministry of External Affairs) M. Ganapathi earlier on Friday said the main aim of the conference is to increase the reach of Hindi language in different parts of the world. "The main aim of the ninth World Hindi Conference, which is being held in Johannesburg , South Africa , is to promote Hindi language and widen its reach. Other than this, use of Hindi in information technology, making Hindi as a language of knowledge, science and employment and to attract and encourage the youth to learn Hindi language," he said. Ganpathi further said that the proposal to make Hindi an official language in the United Nations might be presented in this conference. "We would want Hindi to be the seventh official language in the United Nations and for that a special meeting will be held, which would be titled 'Bhasha Ki Asmita Aur Hindi Ka Vaishvik Sandarbh'," he said The programme of the three-day conference includes nine academic sessions, cultural programmes and exhibitions on various aspects of Hindi including IT applications in the field of Hindi. Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, New Delhi will also put up an exhibition on the life and works of Mahatma Gandhi. In view of Mahatma Gandhi's long association with South Africa , the main venue of the conference has been named as Gandhigram, plenary hall as Nelson Mandela Sabhagar and other halls for academic sessions have been named as Shanti, Satya, Ahimsa, Neeti and Nyaya. In all, eight World Hindi Conferences have been held so far in different countries such as India (1975 and 1983), Mauritius (1976 and 1993), Trinidad and Tobago (1996), U.K. (1999), Suriname (2003) and USA (2007).

Ninth World Hindi Conference begins in Johannesburg