BHOPAL: The 10th Vishwa Hindi Conference underway here stressed on maximum use of Hindi in the country's foreign policy and urged Indian leaders and diplomats to promote and spread its usage.Chairing a session, Rajya Sabha MP, Satyavrat Chaturvedi yesterday said, "There is a general perception that Hindi has nothing to do with foreign policy. Hindi has been given status of national language in the Constitution. Maximum work should be done in Hindi."
"The use of Hindi has considerably increased in Ministry of External Affairs during last one year. Original writing is also being done in Hindi in the Ministry," noted journalist Qurban Ali said.
He also stressed on the need to increase original writings on Foreign Ministry's website and also suggested to provide information about regional languages on this website.
Ali said that both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj speak in chaste Hindi but ministry's officials still prefer to speak in English. Often, meanings are distorted in translation.
He said that as many as 177 countries supported proposal for World Yoga Day and this has raised hopes for Hindi to become an authorised language of UN too, if supported by 129 countries.
Speaking on the role of diplomats in spreading Hindi, New York-based Consul General of India, Gyneshwar Mule said, "We can articulate interests of our country in our own language in a far better way."
He said that diplomats should talk to each other in Hindi. "The state of Hindi language will not improve unless our leaders, High Commissioners, Ambassadors and other higher officers speak in Hindi," Mule said.
He also suggested launching a Hindi campaign in Foreign Service and chalk out Global Hindi Policy.
Eminent Hindi scholar Prof Girishwar Mishra while deliberating on shortage of interpreters and translators in foreign languages said, "India is a sovereign republic. When we talk about foreign countries, we mean Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and other countries where large number of Indians live."
He said that only superpowers are not taking all decisions, but small countries are also cooperating with each other. "In such a condition, we should express our views in Hindi on a greater scale."