LANGUAGES
 

The work on the promotion and development of Hindi and other Indian languages and Sanskrit as well as English and other foreign languages, was continued during 1976-77, on the lines followed in the previous year. The activities and programmes undertaken in the field of languages can be broadly grouped as :

(i) Spread and development of Hindi ;

(ii) Promotion of Indian languages ;

(iii) Promotion of English and other foreign languages; and

(iv) Promotion of Sanskrit.

Apart from the schemes directly followed by the Ministry, the following offices/organisations set up by the Ministry pursued the implementation of the programmes in the field of languages. They are :

(i) Central Hindi Directorate,

(ii) Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology.

(iii) Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, Agra,

(iv) Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore,

(v) Central Institute of English and Foreign Language, Hyderabad,

(vi) Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, New Delhi.

A : SPREAD AND DEVELOPMENT OF HINDI

Teaching of Hindi in the Non-Hindi-speaking States.-The Ministry continued to provide facilities for the teaching of Hindi

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in non-Hindi-speaking States by : (i) providing financial assistance to the non-Hindi-speaking States for appointing Hindi teachers in their schools; (ii) providing assistance for the training of their Hindi teachers; (iii) awarding scholarships to students belonging to non-Hindi-speaking States for the study of Hindi beyond the stage of matriculation; (iv) assisting voluntary Hindi organisations financially to enable them to hold Hindi teaching classes and maintain libraries and reading rooms; (v) continuing and expanding the programme of Hindi correspondence courses conducted by the Central Hindi Directorate; (vi) providing books in Hindi to various organisations; and (vii) organising research on the methodology of teaching Hindi to different mother-tongue groups and allied matters through the Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, Agra.

Appointment of Hindi Teachers in Non-Hindi-Speaking States.- During the year, the budget provision of Rs. 190 lakh was fully utilised for giving grants to various non-Hindi-speaking States/Union Territories towards the expenditure on 2200 teachers appointed during 1974-75, 1300 teachers appointed during 1975-76 and 1350 teachers newly appointed during 1976-77. The scheme will continue in 1977-78.

Establishment of Hindi Teachers Training Colleges/Wings in Non- Hindi-Speaking States :-This scheme is being continued from the Fourth-Five Year Plan with some modifications. 16 Hindi teachers' training colleges/wings/centres are already in existence. Two more training colleges/in-service training centres at Warangal (AP) and Trivandrum approved during 1975-76, started functioning in 1976-77.

Prizes to Hindi Writers of Non-Hindi Speaking Areas.To encourage Hindi writers of non-Hindi speaking areas whose mother tongue is not Hindi, 16 prizes, each carrying a cash prize of Rs. 1500, were announced during them year.

Award of Scholarships for the Study of Hindi.-About 2300 scholarships were offered during the year for the study of Hindi

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at the post-matriculation, stage for students belonging to the non- Hindi States. By the end of Fifth Plan, it is proposed to increase the number of scholarships to 2500 per year.

Financial Assistance to Voluntary Hindi Organisations.During 1976-77, grants amounting to about Rs. 20 lakh were given to about 120 voluntary Hindi organisations for the spread and development of Hindi. These organisations have been running free Hindi teaching classes, Hindi typewriting classes, and holding conferences and seminars apart from bringing out Publications and running Hindi libraries.

Hindi-Medium Sections in Non-Hindi Speaking States.Designed to help start Hindi medium sections in existing colleges in non-Hindi speaking States by providing grants to meet deficits, the scheme was launched and announced to the different non-Hindi speaking State Governments.

Development of the Hindi Library of Nagari Pracharni Sabha, Varanasi.-A grant of Rs. 1 lakh for the purchase of steel racks, furniture, etc. was released to the Sabha during the year.

Encouragement and Guidance to Non-Hindi Speaking Students and Writers of Hindi.-4 worksops were planned to encourage Hindi writers of non-Hindi areas engaged in creative writing through intensive orientation and by acquainting them with the latest trends in literature. This programme which is being implemented by the Central Hindi Directorate, New Delhi, also affords opportunities to non-Hindi speaking Hindi writers to come into contact with their counterparts elsewhere in the country.

Besides this programme, the Directorate also planned 10 lecture tours of Hindi scholars. Of these 10, five scholars from the universities of non-Hindi areas would lecture in the Hindi-speaking areas and five from Hindi areas in universities in non-Hindi areas. The Central Hindi Directorate is also to arrange educational tours of those students who are studying Hindi in B.A. and M.A. in non-Hindi- speaking areas. Two such tours were planned during the year and about

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100 students from Non-Hindi-speaking areas were taken to the universities and voluntary Hindi organisations in Hindi-speaking areas.

Travel grants are given to scholars from non-Hindi-speaking areas pursuing postgraduate for research courses in Hindi in the universities in their areas to facilitate their contact with libraries and universities as also the scholars in the Hindi-speaking areas pursuing post-graduate or research courses in Hindi in given such grants.

Popular Books in Hindi.-The Central Hindi Directorate has been implementing a scheme of preparation, translation and publication of popular Hindi books in collaboration with private publishers. This scheme is intended to foster the values of national integration, secularism and humanism, besides dissemination of scientific knowledge and promotion of a scientific temper. The books published under this scheme are also intended to improve the general knowledge of laymen particularly in the context of modern knowledge. During the year, 6 books were published, 8 publications printed and 10 others were at different stages of production.

Hindi books and magazines worth about Rs. 3.75 lakh were purchased under the Bulk and Ad hoc Purchase Scheme during the year for distribution in non-Hindi speaking areas of the country.

Hindi through Correspondence Courses.-During the year the Central Hindi Directorate continued to provide the facility of learning Hindi through correspondence courses. Over 14,000 Students were enrolled for two-year general courses, Hindi. Pravesh and Hindi Parichaya. The courses are intended for non-Hindi-speaking Indians and foreigners. It has met with notable success. Besides the two general courses, the Directorate also offers special courses like Prabodh, Praveen and Pragya for the benefit of those Central Government employees who cannot take advantage of the facilities offered by the Hindi teaching scheme of the Department of Official Language.

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As part of the correspondence courses, the Directorate undertakes personal contact programmes in different parts of the country to train students in correct pronunciation, conversation, etc. The Directorate prepared lingua-records of a set of 32 lessons made up of 16 discs which proved very popular both in the country and abroad. Help books like 'Bilingual Conversational Guides' and 'Hindi Primer' were published to help students and tourists in their day-to-day conversation in Hindi.

The Directorate introduced teaching of Hindi through Tamil on an experimental basis with encouraging results. The other regional languages are likely to be introduced as media of instruction in due course.

Propagation of Hindi Abroad.--Second World Hindi Convention was held in Mauritius on August 28-30, 1976. The Convention was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of Mauritius and was presided over by Dr. Karan Singh. Delegates from foreign countries, besides India, such as Sweden, GDR, France, the UK, Hungary and Japan took part in its deliberations. An official delegation from India sponsored by the Department of Official Language and lead by Dr. Karan Singh, Union Minister of Health and Family Planning, attended it. Shri D. P. Yadav, Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Education and Social Welfare, was the deputy leader. Two officials from this Ministry were included in the delegation.

An exhibition of about 4000 Hindi books meant to highlight Hindi as vehicle of modern knowledge was held on the occasion. The books were donated on the conclusion of the Convention, to the Mahatma Gandhi Institute, Mauritius. The books included those published under different programmes of this Ministry, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and other Ministries, besides books contributed by private publishers. Two Hindi typewriters were also presented to the Institute on behalf of the Government of India. Sets of prints, of Paintings prepared from the selections available in the National Museum, National Gallery of Modern Art and the Lalit Kala Academy were presented to the delegates who had come to attend the Convention. The

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Ministry of Education and Social Welfare financed the visit of 10 Hindi scholars to attend the Convention and also deputed some officials for providing secretarial assistance.

The Convention enabled scholars and writers from different countries to exchange ideas on the place of Hindi in the international context. It underlined the need for developing Hindi as an international language and urged upon the participating nations to take steps to develop it.

Under the scheme for Propagation of Hindi Abroad, scholarships are awarded to foreign nationals to study Hindi at the New Delhi branch of the Central Institute of Hindi. During the year scholarships were granted to 17 foreign scholars from Fiji, Sri Lanka. West Germany and Republic of Korea. The Ministry continues to maintain 3 Hindi lecturers working in the Caribbean countries and two part-time Hindi teachers in Sri Lanka.

To provide reading material to those who have already learnt Hindi, Hindi books are supplied to the Indian Missions abroad for setting up Hindi libraries. A Hindi library is functioning in Kathmandu under the charge of a full-time liberarian working under the control of the Indian Embassy in Nepal. The proposal for appointment of a librarian in a few other Indian Missions is under consideration. Apart from books, Hindi Typewriters and other equipment are also supplied under the scheme, for promotion of Hindi abroad. The accessories of printing machine, such as paper-cutting machine, wire- stitching machine, composition machine, type cases, etc., of the value of about Rs. 40,000 were supplied to the High Commission of India, Port Louis, for the setting up of the Hindi printing press presented earlier by the Government of India, as a free gift to the Mahatma Gandhi Institute, Mauritius.

A working group of three experts was sent to the GDR for a period of 2 months in connection with the compilation of Hindi-German and German-Hindi dictionaries under the Indo-GDR Cultural Exchange Programme. A project for the preparation of

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Hindi-Czech and Czech-Hindi dictionaries In cooperation with the Czechoslovak Government was finalised under the Indo-Czech Cultural Exchange Programme.

To create an atmosphere for learning Hindi in foreign countries, particularly in European and African countries, it is proposed to launch a vigorous programme for the popularisation and teaching of Hindi in those countries. For this purpose, it is proposed to send leading Hindi scholars to foreign countries for two to four weeks for delivering lectures, conducting seminars, etc. under the Cultural Exchange Programmes with foreign countries. Similarly, senior scholars of Hindi in foreign countries may be invited to India for the study of advanced Hindi in the Indian institutes. A study team of 2-3 scholars/officials is proposed to be sent to the Caribbean countries to review the programme undertaken under the scheme, 'Propagation of Hindi Abroad'.

Evolution of Scientific and Technical Terminology and Preparation of Dictionaries.-The Standing Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology was reconstituted in August, 1975. After this reconstitution, the Commission took stock of the work already done in the field of preparation and dissemination of terminology in scientific and technical subjects and formulated its future programmes. The Commission embarked upon a programme of publication of definitional dictionaries relating to science, social sciences and humanities, the production of digests, review journals and monographs in various subjects, compilation of trilingual dictionaries, the publication of bilingual pocket dictionaries as also a dictionary containing meanings in all Indian languages. The project for the preparation of bilingual pocket dictionaries of Hindi and each Indian language was undertaken in pursuance of a decision taken by the Kendriya Hindi Samiti. 16,000 Hindi words were selected out of which 10,000 would be finally chosen by the experts. The Directorate was also working on the publication of Hindi-English administrative glossary containing 8,000 entries to suit the users in Government offices. The press copy of 45,000 words of civil, mechanical and electrical engineering was prepared which is under print.

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Work on the evolution and finalisation of the terminology of architectural engineering, chemical engineering, mining engineering, metallurgical engineering and textile technology went on a pace.

A Hindi-English glossary of terms pertaining to medicine and a definitional dictionary on surgical terms were under preparation. One issue each of Medical Journal and Chikitsa Seva (Hindi were published.

Definitional dictionaries of psychology and philosophy were printed and the work of preparing definitional dictionaries on other social sciences made considerable progress.

3 trilingual dictionaries, namely, Hindi-Gujarati-English, Hindi- Marathi-English and Hindi-Malayalam-English were ready. Work on other dictionaries Hindi-Kashmiri-English and Hindi-Sindhi-English has made progress.

Work on the preparation of Hindi-German and German-Hindi dictionaries progressed during the year and 21,000 entries for the Hindi-German dictionary were selected and sent to the GDR. Work on the compilation of definitional dictionaries, a revised and enlarged edition of Hindi-English dictionary, as also revised and enlarged glossaries of words common to Hindi and other Indian languages registered further progress during the year.

Departmental Terminology, and Administrative Translation-During the period under report, about 70 terms regarding defence organisations were finalised and final approval was given to 1200 terms received from the D.A.V.P. About 40 forms/proformas were translated into Hindi and about 100 telegraphic addresses in Hindi were approved.

About 1000 terms received from the Insurance Corporation and 1500 terms received from the Planning Commission, Statistical Department besides numerous telegraphic addresses and translation work, were expected to be finalised by March, 1977.

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Kendriya Hindi Sansthan (Central Institute of Hindi.), Agra.The Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, established in 1961, was recognised as a centre of advanced study in teaching methods, applied linguistics and basic research as also a centre for Hindi teaching and training as a second or a foreign language. Apart from the main campus located at Agra and a branch campus functioning at New Delhi, two more centres were opened at Hyderabad and Shillong this year to cater to the growing demands of the southern and eastern regions of the country respectively. During the year, the Sansthan devoted its attention mainly to the eastern States, namely, Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya to raise the Hindi teaching standards of these areas to the level of other non-Hindi-speaking States. The Sansthan also prepared a special programme to provide oral and written teaching in the Hindi commercialese suitable for people engaged in diverse economic activities. A brief account of the main activities under- taken by the Sansthan during the year is given below.

Training Programmes.-During the year 596 persons underwent various Hindi teaching and training courses conducted by the Sansthan. At the headquarters, 12 scholars carried on their research for Ph.D. degrees of the Universities of Agra and Mysore under the guidance of the Sansthan. Twelve teachers took the Nishnat (equivalent to M.Ed.) examination of the Institute. Besides, 42 Hindi teachers from non- Hindi-speaking areas attended the Parangat (equivalent to B.Ed.) course of the Sansthan. The Sansthan started a four-year general Hindi training course for 10 students of the Hindi Training Sansthan, Dinapur. Eight foreign nationals attended the certificate/diploma courses for proficiency in Hindi. A Hindi training course was also organised for 15 bank officials. A training workshop was organised for 65 Hindi teachers working under the Hindi teaching scheme of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Short-term orientation course was also organised for 50 Hindi teachers deputed by the non-Hindi-speaking States.

At the New Delhi campus, 69 non-Hindi-speaking Central Government officials were given intensive Hindi training. 112

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probationers deputed by the Institute of Secretariat Training and Management, New Delhi, underwent one month's intensive course conducted by the Sansthan. Twenty-eight foreigners, including 17 who were granted scholarships under the Scheme, 'Propagation of Hindi Abroad', attended the 'Hindi course specially designed for them. Nine persons attended a basic course in Hindi devised for non-Hindi-knowing Indians and foreigners. The Sansthan organised a summer language programme (the improved, course for Hindi learners) in which 37 persons participated. 29 scholars attended the post-graduate diploma course in applied linguistics.

The regional centres, at Shillong and Hyderabad started functioning during the year. While 33 Hindi teachers from the eastern parts of the country were trained at the Shillong centre, 77 Hindi teachers from Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka availed themselves of the short-term orientation course organised at the Hyderabad centre.