KADAPA: Inspired by his father’s love for Hindi language, KS Farhathulla of Kadapa has been promoting Hindi language and imparting free training to students in Hindi Prathamik to Praveen. (Hindi Parichaya, Prathamik, Madhyama, Rashtrabhasha, Praveshika, Rashtrabhasha Visharad, and Rashtrabhasha Praveen are the courses offered by Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha.) As many as 250 people, who were trained by him, are now working as Hindi Pandits. With help of the State and Centre, he has been promoting Hindi in foreign countries such as Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Nepal also.
Farhathulla’s father KS Kamal Saheb, a postmaster, used to say that learning Hindi is a must for any person to go unhindered across the country and interact with people. He also felt that mastering Hindi would be an added advantage in securing government jobs. After his retirement, his pension was only Rs 150 per month, which was barely sufficient to support his family.
To make his children get trained in Hindi, Kamal Saheb worked Rs 4 per hour overtime in the postal department post retirement. In 1991, he admitted Farhathulla to Dakshin Bharath Hindi Prachar Sabha to be trained as a Hindi Pandit. After completing his training, Farhathulla worked as a Hindi teacher with Kendriya Vidyalaya and Navodaya on contract basis. He cleared DSC in 1994 and secured a job as a Hindi Pandit (Grade 2) and is presently working in Zilla Parishad High School in Alamkhanpalle.
While working, he completed his degree from BR Ambedkar Open University and MA from Osmania University.From the day 1, Farhathulla, now 53, has been providing free training in Prathamika to Praveen to the students interested in learning Hindi by setting up ‘Hindi Vidyalaya’. In 1998, after his father Kamal Saheb passed away, Farhathulla named the Hindi Vidyalaya after his father. From the same year, he started providing training for DSC. Thousands of students have learned Hindi from him in the past three decades.
When he met Chandamama magazine editor (Hindi) Dr Y Balasouri Reddy, he was advised to go to Delhi to take forward his works for promoting Hindi. He submitted a report on his efforts to promote Hindi to the Central Hindi directorate in Delhi, which provided him with Rs 50,000 financial assistance.
“After that, Andhra Pradesh Hindi Academy extended financial assistance to me twice and in 2015-16, I received Rs 2 lakh as financial assistance from the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and Rs 60,000 from Kendriya Hindi Sansthan. With this amount, I conducted several national-level seminars for promotion of Hindi and sponsored several students training for Hindi Pandit course in Chennai,” he said.
Besides spending from his own pocket, Farhathulla used the assistance he received to take up awareness programmes on Hindi language and literature. With financial assistance from both the State and Centre, he published several books on Hindi language and literature and literary giants, and established Dr Balasouri Hindi Puraskar.
Farhathulla said, on invitation, he trained employees of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), airport staff and also gave lectures in All India Radio. Any programme related to Hindi organised in Kadapa must have his presence. He was felicitated not fewer than 150 times for his efforts and contribution to Hindi promotion.
Not just in the country, he gave lectures in Sri Lanka on invitation of Sri Lanka Hindi Sansthan for five days in 2021 and in Kathmandu of Nepal in 2014. In 2016, he was lauded for his efforts during a programme in Rajya Sabha TV.
Farhathulla represented Rayalaseema region in the World Hindi Language convention held in Mauritius in 2018. The Union Government had taken 250 Hindi pandits from the country to Mauritius at that time. In 2021, he received the silver medal from Viswa Hindu Sahtiya Seva Samstha based in Maharashtra.
INCREASE HINDI HOURS IN SCHOOLS
Vowing to continue his efforts till his last breath, Farhathulla said the number of periods taught in Hindi in schools should be increased and learning Hindi should be encouraged.