As the name suggests, Hindi Diwas or Hindi Day is celebrated on September 14 every year to observe the adoption of Hindi as one of the official languages of India. On this day in 1949, Hindi written in Devanagari script was first recognized by the constituent assembly of the Republic of India.

Hindi, an Indo-Aryan language, is one of the two official languages of the central government, the second being English. It is also one of the 22 scheduled languages in India.

However, the struggle to get the language into consideration was not easy. Many political leaders adopted Hindi during the struggle of India’s independence as a symbol of their national identity. With their notable efforts, Hindi was added as an official language under Article 343 of the Indian Constitution.

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These stalwarts included Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, Kaka Kalelkar, Maithili Sharan Gupt and Seth Govind Das, along with the prominent leader Beohar Rajendra Simha, coincidentally whose 50th birthday was on the same day. 

To promote the language and importance of this day, Hindi Diwas is celebrated in schools, colleges, offices and organizations all across the country. The President of India honours people for their contribution to the language in Delhi’s Vigyan Bhawan.

Hindi, a language used since the 12th century, has nearly 341 million native speakers and is the fourth most spoken language in the world natively, after Mandarin, Spanish and English.