LS Debate 

HINDI AS OFFICIAL LANGUAGE IN UN
March 14, 2018

LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 3064
TO BE ANSWERED ON 14.03.2018

HINDI AS OFFICIAL LANGUAGE IN UN

3064. SHRI JAGDAMBIKA PAL:

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

(a) whether Hindi has not been included amongst the official languages of the United Nations for lack of clear guidelines of the United Nations Organisation (UNO) in the matter;

(b) if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government in this regard;

(c) the steps taken by the Government in adopting/passing of a resolution in this direction so far; and

(d) the extent to which the Government has achieved success as a result thereof?

ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
(SHRI M.J. AKBAR)

(a) to (d) The United Nations (UN) has a specific procedure for a language to be recognized as an official language of UN. According to that procedure, getting Hindi accepted as an official language of the UN will involve adoption of a Resolution by the UN General Assembly with a minimum two-third majority, as the additional expenditure, according to UN rules have to be contributed by all member states.

Government continues to take measures for the acceptance of Hindi as one of the Official languages of the UN and to popularize Hindi worldwide. On several occasions Indian leaders have delivered statements at the UN in Hindi, including Prime Minister’s statement at the 69th UNGA in September 2014, the address of Prime Minister to the UN Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015, and the addresses to the UNGA by External Affairs Minister during its 70th, 71st and 72nd sessions in 2015, 2016 and 2017 respectively. Necessary special arrangements were made for simultaneous interpretation of these statements into English by the Permanent Mission of India in New York.

A World Hindi Secretariat has also been set up in Mauritius in February 2008 to promote Hindi as an international language. Efforts to propagate Hindi worldwide are also being made by our Diplomatic Missions/Posts abroad; in the current financial year Rs 5 crores has been allocated for this purpose.

Government continues to make such efforts towards securing due recognition for Hindi at the UN.