Sushma Swaraj, Union Minister for External Affairs, hailed the growing interest for learning Hindi in South India.
Delivering the 82nd convocation address at the Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha, she noted that in Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, the number of students appearing for the Rashtra Bhasha Praveen exam had increased to 22,000.
She pointed out that there was a time when people did not learn Hindi, complaining there were not enough job opportunities. But things had changed now and there was an increase in demand for people who could speak Hindi in the media and advertising field, she said. The Minister said companies like Twitter, Facebook and Google were focusing on Hindi language content. She said the Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha was promoting South Indian languages too, in addition to Hindi.
She recalled the services of leaders who laid the foundation for propagation of Hindi and highlighted steps taken by the government for promotion of the language. She requested the pracharaks to read Hindi and be part of national integration.
Book released
Shubha Prabhat, the Hindi version of the book Good Morning 365, written by Justice Shivraj V. Patil, president of Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha, was released by Dr. Ram Mohan Pathak, educator and journalist, and the first copy was received by Ms. Swaraj.
She gave away medals to graduates and post-graduates and honoured litterateurs and senior pracharaks.