Hindi as Official Language of UN

The issue rose during a debate in parliament wherein ruling party proposed to make Hindi as one of the official languages at UN whereas opposition party opposed this move asking the basis of the move  when it is not even national language of India. It is not for the first time that such demand has come to the fore. It was in 2007 when India for the first time demanded for inclusion of Hindi at the United Nations  when it was reported that the Government of India would “make immediate diplomatic moves to seek the status of an official language for Hindi at the United Nations.

What are the official languages of UN

There are six official languages of UN- Arabic, English, Russian, French, Spanish and Chinese. Out of these six official languages, only two — English and French — were working languages. A delegate can speak in any of the six official languages which is then translated into other official languages of UN. All the official documents are also translated into all the six languages of UN.

In order to accept a new language as the official language of UN, two-thirds of the 193 members of the organization — which comes to 129 — will have to vote in favor of making Hindi an official language. Also each member country has to make an expenditure towards it which is why sometimes many countries are shows reluctance towards the proposal.

Facts related to official languages’ in India

Part 17 of the constitution of India (Articles 343 to Article 351) makes elaborate provisions dealing with the official language of India. The crux of the Articles is provided as follows:

• According to the constitution Hindi written in Devanagari script is the Official Language of the Union. However, for a period of fifteen years from the commencement of the constitution the English language would be used for all official purposes of the union for which it was used before 1950.The constitution also made a provision where even after fifteen years parliament can provide for the continued use of English language. But before the parliament does so the president has to constitute a commission to make recommendations regarding the use of Hindi or English language in future.
• Accordingly, president constituted an official language commission in 1955 under B G Kher which submitted its recommendations regarding the official languages in India. On the basis of report the parliament enacted official language act 1963, according to which both Hindi and English are Official languages of Union.
• Hindi is not India’s National Language.
• The constitution does not specify official language of different states. The states legislature is free to adopt any language in use in state or Hindi as the official language. Therefore, Kerala has adopted malyalam, andhra pradesh has adopted telugu and many north Indian states like Uttar Pradesh, rajasthan etc have adopted Hindi as their official language. It is to be noted that the choice of the state is not limited to the languages enumerated in the eighth schedule of the constitution.
• English as well as Hindi are the link languages between Union and states or between various states. The official language act 1963 lays down that English should be used for purpose of communication between union and non Hindi states. Further, where Hindi is used for communication between a Hindi and non Hindi state, such communication in Hindi should be accompanied by an english translation.
• The Eighth Schedule to the Indian Constitution contains a list of 22 scheduled languages viz. Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkari, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, etc.

Arguments against the issue

• Inclusion of Hindi as an official language will have technical and procedural difficulties. It is because India is a multi lingual nation and if in future our Prime minister or external affairs minister will be from non Hindi speaking belt of the country, then he won’t be able to address UN platform in Hindi. It will cause much embarrassment at the international forum.
• Critics argue that the move is futile as the country is not lagging behind anywhere if Hindi is not made as the official language. It is important to understand that Our Constitution does not provide for a national language so there is no basis of the argument that Hindi should be promoted at the universal level. India’s official languages are Hindi and English, and English happened to be the official language at the UN also.
• There might be procedural challenges for UN to adopt Hindi as an official language as a language can be made official language if it is used by multiple countries as their official language. For example, Arabic is an official language at the UN, not because it has more speakers than Hindi but Arabic is the official language of 22 countries. Hindi is used as an official language by very few countries.

Why there is need for recognition Hindi as an official language in UN

Today Hindi has become very prevalent in different parts of the world. Besides South Asia, many other countries like Mauritius, the United Kingdom, the United States, Yemen, and Uganda etc have significant number of Hindi speaking population. According to the estimates around 340 million to 500 million speak, and as many as 800 million people understand Hindi language.

Moreover when India is one of the fastest economies in the world so it is high time that the country should project its culture in terms of its language at the international forum and get it recognized as an official language of United Nations.

Should Hindi be preferred over other languages?

India is a land of diversity where due respect is given to all the languages, cultures etc. of the people. It is because of this reason that the county is able to sustain its democracy in letter as well as spirit for more than 60 years.

In this backdrop promotion of a single language among a lot of other languages at the international forum has generated much debate in the country. Critics argue that before moving ahead with the decision the government should take in to account the concerns of more than 600 million (close to 60 per cent) non-Hindi speakers in the country(2001 Census data).Moreover, in 19 of the 29 states in India, Hindi does not even enjoy the status of first language.

Language is an emotive issue for many people. This is being witnessed since 1950s and until now. Even recently also when President Pranab Mukherjee accepted the recommendation of the Committee of Parliament on Official Language that all dignitaries including the president and ministers, especially those who can read and speak Hindi, may be requested to give their speech/statement in Hindi only created much hue and cry. So one can imagine the divisiveness the issue of promoting only Hindi can create in the society. There is already a feeling in the southern states that the government as well as the constitution does do enough to promote their language. For instance-As the constitution provides that if a member speaks in his regional languages in the parliament, the speeches will be translated into Hindi and English only and not in any other language.

Thus promoting country’s language and culture at the international level is a indeed a good move but we have to see figure out the cost it entails. Most importantly the law makers need to understand homogeneity is not India’s identity, we thrive in diversity.