With history of success, Hindi@UN Project extended for five more years

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United Nations – Officials from the government of India and the United Nations Department of Global Communication (UNDGC) met on February 26, 2025 to sign on the renewal of the Hindi@UN Project Memorandum of Understanding.

India’s Ambassador P. Harish and Under-Secretary General for UNDGC Melissa Fleming signed the Memorandum of Understanding at a ceremony attended by UN officials and Indian diplomats. Harish spoke of the renewal of the MoU as India’s commitment to promoting Hindi at the UN while Fleming spoke about the importance of disseminating information in Hindi through social media.

The Voluntary Financial Contribution Agreement was first signed in 2018 by the UN and the Government of India to promote Hindi within the UN system for a two-year term. This was extended by another 5 years in 2019 till March 31, 2025. The new MoU will extend the project for five more years from April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2030.

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The Hindi@UN Project was also launched in 2018 in collaboration with the UN Department of Public Information to make Hindi mainstream and to promote its widespread usage. Since then, India has been partnering with the UNDGC by providing an extra-budgetary contribution totaling to $7 million to mainstream and consolidate news and multimedia content of UNDGC in Hindi language.

Pursuant to this 2018 Agreement, the UN has launched:

1. Hindi social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well as a Hindi website of UN News and has been broadcasting News in Hindi on these and on the UN Facebook Hindi page since 2018.

The Hindi@UN project and various social media updates have been bringing activities of the United Nations closer to the vital Hindi speaker base of 600 million according to Fleming.

2) The UN also broadcasts a Hindi audio bulletin of UN News on UN Radio every week. Its weblink is available at the UN Hindi News website, as well as at the Soundcloud UN News-Hindi.

With 50,000 current followers on Twitter, 29,000 on Instagram, and 15,000 on Facebook, the UN Hindi social media accounts publish nearly 1,000 posts every year.

3) The UN also publishes a UN blog in Hindi. It has provided a Hindi extension of the UN News Reader mobile application for both Android and iOS mobile phone operating systems.

4) Hindi was established as one of the nine working languages at UNESCO. At the 2022 World Hindi Day, UNESCO agreed to publish descriptions of India’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Hindi on its website.

Other than the Hindi@UN Project, India’s efforts to promote Hindi also include:

i) Co-sponsoring a landmark UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/76/268 on ‘Multilingualism’ which was unanimously adopted on 10 June 2022. This Resolution mentioned Hindi language, encouraging the UNDGC to continue disseminating important communications and messages in official as well as in non-official languages, including in Hindi which has been added to the UN’s non-official languages.

ii) As part of Indian government’s continuing efforts to promote Hindi at the UN, Indian leaders have been delivering statements in Hindi at the UN. India’s Prime Minister addressed the UN General Assembly Sessions in Hindi in 2014, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

iii) The Permanent Mission of India and the Consulate General of India in New York have been holding celebratory events on the occasion of the World Hindi Day. The World Hindi Day was adopted by a UN General Assembly Resolution in 2006 when former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh proposed it. Since then, the World Hindi Day is celebrated every year on January 10.

In November of last year, the 75^th anniversary of Hindi’s adoption as an official language of India on September 14, 1949 was celebrated in New York. The rapid growth of Hindi and its increasing role in international diplomacy and politics were the highlights of the event’s discussions. India attributed the growth in Hindi usage around the world to Indian Diaspora, Hindi classical literature and to Bollywood films.

At the 2024 celebration, the Director of UNDGC stated that the UN was committed to communicating with Hindi audiences on peace, human rights, sustainable development, climate or gender, and plans to launch a WhatsApp channel in the language.

This year, the Permanent Mission of India celebrated the World Hindi Day on 13 February 2025. The event with the theme of Multilingualism and the Promotion of Hindi abroad with Guest of Honor Savitri Thakur, Minister of State for Women and Child Development, was attended by international diplomats and UN officials.

 iv) The government of India continues to promote Hindi language in foreign countries by holding the World Hindi Conference, presenting Hindi Samman Awards to international scholars and institutions, providing Hindi teaching materials to libraries of Indian Missions and foreign educational institutions, encourages and facilitating political clearance and visas to foreign students to study Hindi at the Kendriya Hindi Sansthan.

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