India has asked all member states of the United Nations to take immediate and strong steps for making Hindi, the second most spoken tongue in the world, an official language of the World body.
It also made a fervent and passionate appeal to all Indians settled abroad to put pressure on their respective governments for supporting the proposal.
The proposal would take time as the political leaders and diplomats would have to convince other nations to garner their support. But work in this direction would start immediately, Karan Singh, president of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) said at the sidelines of the 8th World Hindi Conference which concluded on Sunday.
Singh, a renowned Hindi and Sanskrit scholar, was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's special envoy for the conference.
To be adopted, the proposal would require two-thirds majority in the 192-member General Assembly.
Officials at the conference explained that the member States would weigh the proposal carefully as it would lead to an increase in their financial contribution to the UN to meet the expenses, including a team of interpreters and translators for all six languages English, Russian, Chinese, French, Spanish and Arabic.
The meeting also called for giving recognition to Hindi teachers in foreign educational institutions, taking steps to popularise the language and Devanagri script to ensure it the status of second language worldwide and drawing up syllabus for its teaching.
{{/usCountry}}The meeting also called for giving recognition to Hindi teachers in foreign educational institutions, taking steps to popularise the language and Devanagri script to ensure it the status of second language worldwide and drawing up syllabus for its teaching.
{{/usCountry}}