UN Department of Global Communication commits to use of Hindi for Target Audiences

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United Nations –  “India has a major role to play, and the Hindi language remains a key channel to communicate with millions who represent the next generation of leaders,” said Ian Phillips, Director of the UN Department of Global Communication (DGC). Phillips was speaking at the first Hindi Diwas Commemoration at the United Nations headquarters in New York, organized November 22, 2024, by the Permanent Mission of India to the UN.

Phillips emphasized the DGC’s commitment to promoting the priorities of the UN and communicating with target audiences in Hindi, on peace, human rights, sustainable development, climate or gender.

This is in the interest of promoting the Global Digital Compact adopted this year by the UN General Assembly, and also the principles of integrity and public information, he said.

Hindi is not new to the UN, said Phillips, adding, it was first spoken at the UN General Assembly in 1949.

DGC Initiatives towards Hindi – Phillips outlined the DGC’s initiatives towards its goal of communicating in Hindi language.

1. A future WhatsApp Hindi channel is among the DGC’s immediate plans. New distribution strategies and diversification are also in plans.
2. The DGC has signed over 50 content license agreements, with news agencies and platforms like Webdunia and Amar and radio stations targeting the Indian Diaspora.
3. UN news Hindi creates new content formats showcasing stories from the field, engaging audiences on issues like AI, youth empowerment and women’s rights.

India’s Contribution to Multi-Lingualism – India has been pushing for communication in regional languages, especially for peacekeepers deployed to different parts of the world. Phillips acknowledged India’s contribution to multi-lingualism and listed the DGC’s new initiatives in this direction in collaboration with India.

1. India co sponsored the resolution on multi-lingualism adopted this year by the General Assembly which mentioned Hindi for the first time.
2. India partnered with the DGC in 2018 to present global news and multimedia content in Hindi.
3. The UN news Hindi website was launched in January 2019, with related social media platforms, increasing the DGC’s outreach.
4. The DGC has posted 3600 Hindi posts on social media channels with over 160,000 engagements. Close to 80% of the site users are mobile devices, and 40% of active users are young, between the ages of 18 and 24 years.

Speaking at the celebration, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, P. Harish, said Hindi was an important language in India, bridging the gap between the diverse population of India with its 22 regional languages and more than a 1000 dialects.

There are 450 million native speakers of Hindi in India and it is the most widely spoken language.

“In a multi-lingual, multicultural and multi-ethnic nation like India, language plays a determining role in shaping the cultural and social identity of people,” Harish said.

Hindi’s Global Popularity – Hindi language has also become popular in the world due to the large Indian Diaspora, he said.

More than 600 million people speak Hindi globally, making it the third largest linguistic group in the world, after English and Mandarin, Harish said.

He acknowledged the contribution of classic Hindi literature as well as Bollywood’s Hindi films to the popularity of Hindi language.

Historic Significance – Hindi holds a historic significance due to the important part it played in India’s freedom struggle, carrying forward the spirit of the freedom struggle to all the parts of India and uniting the entire country during that time, Harish said. To acknowledge that impact, in 1949, India’s Constitution declared Hindi as an official language, he said.

Today, Hindi is not just a means of communication in India. It expresses people’s cultural heritage and unites them in a  culturally and linguistically diverse country, he said.

The Hindi Diwas celebration was attended by a group of visiting delegation of India’s Members of Parliament led by Birendra Prasad Baishya and diplomats from several countries that also have linguistic ties to India.

Mauritius – The Permanent Representative of Mauritius, Jagdish Dharamchand Koonjul, said Hindi holds a profoundly significant place in Mauritius, having been brought to Mauritius by the indentured laborers in the 19th century. Hindi language has become a means of communication and a bridge to preserve tradition in his country, he said.

Nepal – Permanent Representative of Nepal, Lok Bahadur Thapa, said Hindi is among the top 20 languages of the 140 languages spoken in Nepal, with more than 100,000 speaking it as mother tongue and close to 220,000 speaking it as second language. Both Nepali and Hindi languages are derived from the classic language Sanskrit, and Nepal and India have common culture, festivals and celebrations, he said.

Guyana – The Deputy Permanent Representative of Guyana, Trishala Persaud, said Hindi was among the languages brought to Guyana 186 years ago by the Indian immigrants who were primarily from North India, Eastern UP and Bihar. Although their descendants in Guyana cannot speak it, Hindi words and their local derivatives have been integrated into Guyana’s culture and language. Hindi words are used in everyday life in Guyana, especially for food, she said.

Suriname – First Secretary, Varsha Ramratan, of Suriname’s Permanent Mission to the UN, said Suriname has a significant Indian population and, although Dutch is the official language, Hindi is very well respected and popular. Many people in Suriname speak both Sarnami (Surinamese Hindustani) and Hindi and follow Indian cultural traditions, Ramratan said.

The Permanent Mission of India also gave away prizes won at several Hindi essay, poetry and recitation competitions it had organized through the year.