Sixth International Hindi Conference held at Indian Consulate, NY

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“Artificial Intelligence may enhance the quality of education but it must be used with caution,” a number of US  based Hindi language instructors attending the Sixth International Hindi Conference advised last weekend. The conference was organized jointly by the Hindi Sangam Foundation, a New Jersey-based non-profit educational and advocacy organization, and the Indian Consulate.

“‘Artificial Intelligence’ is in its infancy and going through a training process before it could help human beings in professional ways”, Dr. Rakesh Ranjan of Columbia University, in his keynote address, at the inaugural event of the two day conference that concluded on Saturday, October 26. “AI doesn’t understand many things as yet including gender differences. That is why it should be used with caution”, he pointed out, according to a press release from Hindi Sangam Foundation.

‘Technological innovations including the role of Artificial Intelligence in Language teaching’ was the main theme of the conference, which was inaugurated by Consul General of India at New York Binaya Shrikant Pradhan.

Complimenting US based Hindi professionals for promoting Hindi learning in the US and other parts of the world, Pradhan said the Government of India was giving Hindi top priority. “Hindi enjoyed a unique status of being the lingua franca of the country where more than two dozen languages were spoken. We consider our duty to increase the usages of Hindi for official purposes,” he said.

Dozens of Hindi instructors who work at leading US and Indian universities attended the conference. They included Associate Professor, Linguistics, Languages and Asian Studies Dept, Michigan State University Rajiv Ranjan, who spoke on Saturday, Oct 26.

Others who presented their work were Prof. Mansi Bajaj, Yale University, Professors Kusum Knapczyk, Duke  University, Nilakshi Phukan, North Carolina State University, Ritu Jayakar, Penn State univ, Divya Chaudhary, Vanderbilt University, Harshbala Sharma, I.P. College, Delhi University, and Gayatree Mishra, Presidency College, Bengaluru, India.

Expressing her deep gratitude to the Consul General for cosponsoring the conference, Purnima Desai, chairperson, Hindi Sangam Foundation, said considerable work had gone into organizing the conference. She appealed to the Indian community to support the activities undertaken by Hindi Sangam Foundation and help promote Hindi.

Neena Sarin, Jersey City School District, conducted the proceedings.

Dr. Bijoy Mehta, a noted Hindi poet presided over a Kavi Sammelan as part of the inauguration. More than a dozen poets took part in the Kavi Sammelan.

Ameeya Mehta of ‘Prayog Theater Group’ presented a stage play named ‘Na Nahaye Bahadur’ on the concluding night.

An academic committee headed by Professor Gabriela Nik Ilieve of New York University, had selected the panels and presentations. Details about the conference may be viewed at

https://21stcenturyhindi.com/ihc-2024