 THE FEDERAL LANGUAGE

PROPAGATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF HINDI

In view of the reorganisation of States it has been decided to revise the composition of the Hindi Shiksha Samiti. The following action has been taken on the main recommendations made by the Samiti at its meetings held in November, 1955 and July, 1956:-

(i) The non-Hindi speaking States were requested to consider the question of instituting prizes etc., with a view to encouraging the non-Hindi knowing adults and State Government officials to learn Hindi and achieve a certain standard in that language.

(ii) The non-Hindi speaking State Governments have also been requested to appoint one Hindi Education Officer each to coordinate the work of propagating and promoting the cause of Hindi. The Planning Commission has agreed to the inclusion of the scheme in the State Governments' educational development programme and the grant of Central assistance at the prescribed rates, provided the over-all ceiling for education is not exceeded. The State Governments have been informed accordingly.

(iii) A tentative scheme has been drawn up for the establishment of one Hindi Teachers' Training College in each non-Hindi speaking State, the entire cost of which may be borne by the Central Government for the duration of the Second Five-Year Plan period.

(iv) A small Committee has been set up to consider the question of conducting research into the methods of teaching Hindi. The first meeting of the Committee was held at New Delhi on 21st March, 1957.

(v) It has been decided that the universities should be requested to open Hindi teaching Departments up to the M.A. standard if such facilities do not already exist. The matter has been referred to the University Grants Commission.

(vi) Two lists of Basic Hindi words, one of 2,000 words for use in Hindi Readers to be brought out for non-Hindi speaking areas and the other of 500 words to constitute the minimum standard of literacy in Hindi, have been finalised and printed.

Hindi Typewriter Key-Board.

-The Committee set up to evolve a Keyboard for the Hindi typewriter and teleprinter has submitted its final report, suggesting a standard keyboard for the Hindi typewriter, which has been approved by the Government of India. The report of the committee in regard to the keyboard for the Hindi teleprinter is still awaited.

Recognition of Hindi Examinations.

-The Committee set up to consider the question of recognition of Hindi Examinations being conducted by various Hindi organisations in the country has submitted its report. The report was considered by the Ministry and in order to elucidate some further points a committee of experts has been set up to consider the report.

English-Hindi Dictionary.

-The Hindustani Culture Society, that has been entrusted with the preparation of an English-Hindi Dictionary, has submitted letters A to G and J of the Dictionary.

Dictionary of Words Common to Hindi and other Regional Lan- guages.-

It has been decided to publish a Dictionary of words common to Hindi and other Regional Languages. To start with the provisional lists of terms common to Hindi and each regional language will be published and circulated for comments. Two lists viz. Hindi- Bengali and Hindi-Malayalam have already been published. The remaining lists are in press.

Prizes on Hindi Books.

-Under the Central scheme to encour- age the production of good literature in Hindi, prizes have been awarded to the authors of the following seven Hindi books published during the years 1953 and 1954:-

1. Shelley-Translation.

2. Pap Aur Prakash-Translation.

3. Tin Pirhi-Translation.

4. Khilji Kalin Bharat-Translation.

5. Panch Amrit-Translation.

6. Maila Anchal-Original.

7. Main Dharti Punjab Ki-Original.

A third contest for the award of prizes on Hindi books published in the year 1955 was announced in July, 1956, for which books have been received.

Grants to Institutions.

-The following grants have been sanctioned to various organisations for the propagation and develop- ment of Hindi during the year 1956-57:

        
                                               
        
             Name of the           Purpose of Grant       Amount         Remarks
             Organisation
        
                                          
        
        
                                         Rs.
        
        international Commer-    Preparation of Six-               Out of the total san-
        cial Information Ser-    Language  Dictionary              cion of Rs.24,000
        vice, Madras.            in English,Hindi,                 Rs. 6,000 remain
                                 French, Italian, Rus-   8,000     be paid.
                                 sian and Turkish.
        
        Hindustani Hindi Sabha,  Preparation of a Seven-           Out  of   the   total 
        Hyderabad.               language Dictionary               sanction of Rs.25,000
                                 in English, Hindi,                one instalment of
                                 Urdu, Tamil, Telugu,              Rs. 6,250 remains                                   
                                 Bengali and Marathi.    18,750    to be paid.
        
        Hindustani Culture       Preparation of English
        Society, Allahabad.      Hindi Dictionary.       20,000
        
        Hindi Bhawan, New        Purchase of books for
        Delhi.                   Hindi Library.          10,000
        
        Bhartiya Hindi Parishad, Publication of the History
        Allahabad.               of Hindi Literature and
                                 for general activities
                                 of the Parishad.        10,000
        
        Nagari Pracharini Sabha, Search of  Old Hindi               Out  of  the   total 
        Banaras.                 manuscripts in various             sanction   of    Rs. 
        25,000, four instal-
                                                                    ments of Rs. 5,000 
                                                                    each remain to be 
                                                                    paid.
         
        Deccan College Post-     Morpho-phonemic ana-               Out  of  the   total
        Graduate and Research    lysis of Hindi language  1,900     sanction of Rs. 
        Institute, Poona.                                           9,800, a sum of Rs.  
                                                                    Rs. 1,900 has been 
                                                                    released.
        
        Nagari Pracharini Sabha, (1) Extension of build-          Second instalment out
        Banaras.                 ings, Hindi library,             of the total grant of
                                 publication work,                Rs. 50,000. Out of
                                 mechanical appliances            the total sanction of
                                 etc.                    25,000   Rs, 1,25,000,  two
                                                                  instalments of Rs. 
                                 (2)  For bringing out a          25,000 each remain              
                                 revised edition                  to be paid.
                                 of standard Hindi        
                                 dictionary and for
                                 publishing Hindi
                                 classics.               25,000
        
        Dakshin Bharat Hindi     Propagation of Hindi    10,000  Third instalment, out
        Prachar Sabha, Madras    in the Southern States          of the total grant of
                                 of the Union.  Rs. 30,000.      Rs. 30,000.
        
        Sansadeeya Hindi Pari-   Propagation and develop- 2,500      ....
        shad, New Delhi.         ment of Hindi.
        
        Akhil Bhartiya Hindi     Training of Hindi tea-  19,480      ....
        Parishad, Agra.          chers from non-Hindi
                                 speaking States.

Grants to States.

- Grants on a percentage basis to the extent of Rs. 2,76,595 have been sanctioned during 1956-57 to the various nonHindi speaking State Governments for implementing their schemes or the promotion of Hindi. In addition, an expenditure of Rs. 23,560 has been sanctioned for the promotion of Hindi in Tripura and Manipur during the year 1956-57.

Appointment of Hindi Teachers in Non-Hindi Speaking States

. In the Second Five-Year Plan assistance is to be given under one of the Central Schemes for appointing Hindi teachers in Non-Hindi speaking States. The State Governments concerned were asked to make the neces- sary provisions in their budgets for this scheme. The pattern of central assistance has been fixed at 66 per cent. of the total expend- iture of this scheme during 1956-57. In accordance with the provi- sions made by the State Governments in their budgets, grants to, the following States (66 per cent. to States and 100 per cent. to central- ly administered areas) for the amount mentioned against each towards the salaries etc. of the teachers have been sanctioned: -

1. Orissa-Rs. 3,762 for 30 teachers.

2. Tripura-Rs. 3,355 for 11 teachers.

3. Andhra Pradesh-Rs. 17,800 for 77 teachers.

4. Bombay-Rs. 8,978 for 43 teachers.

5. Mysore-Rs. 6,000 for 29 teachers.

Teaching Hindi to non-Hindi knowing Central Government Employ- ees.

-In June, 1956, the Hindi-Prabodh and Hindi Praveen Examina- tions were held at New Delhi, in which out of 278 and 179 candidates respectively, 259 (51 gazetted and 208 non-gazetted) and 124 (29 gazetted and 95 non-gazetted) candidates were declared successful.

In January, 1957 the Hindi Pragya Examination and the Hindi Prabodh Examination were, for the first time, held on an all-India basis at Delhi, Bangalore, Calcutta, Madras, Simla and Bombay and 397 (18 gazetted and 379 non-gazetted) and 938 (62 gazetted and 876 non- gazetted) candidates respectively appeared in both the examinations. The results of these examinations are under consideration.

The programme of organising Hindi classes outside office hours for the benefit of Central Government employees residing at Delhi and New Delhi will be continued in 1957-58.

Hindi Library.

-The Library attached to the Hindi Division has added 2,867 books during the year 1956-57 and is subscribing to 69 journals.

Preparation of Bilingual Alphabet Char

.-A scheme for the preparation of Bilingual Alphabet Charts in Hindi and 12 other region- al languages of the country has been introduced in order to enable Hindi learners in non-Hindi speaking areas to learn Hindi easily through the medium of their mother tongue. A Press Note inviting model charts from various sources in the country was issued in June, 1956. The last date for receipt of the charts was 31st December, 1956. It has been decided to award prizes of Rs. 500, Rs. 200 and Rs. 100 respectively to the best three charts of each language. The charts received in response to the above Press Note did not come up to the required standard. Another Press Note has, therefore, been issued extending the date to 30th June, 1957.

Scientific Terminology in Hindi.

-(a) Under the Board of Scientific Terminology there are at present 20 Expert Committees functioning in as many different subjects. The constitution of two more Expert Committees in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering has also been finalized.

(b) A finalized list of Technical Terms up to the Secondary stage in Agriculture has been published. Four more lists pertaining to Defence, Transport (Highway Enginerring) Railways (Letters A-H) and Posts' and Telegraphs (Letters A to M) are expected to be finalised shortly.

(c) Revised lists of Technical Terms in Hindi pertaining to Zoology, Posts and Telegraphs (Letters N to Z), Tourism, Economics, Engineering, General Administration (Designational Terms) have been submitted to the Government for final approval.

(d) Provisional lists of technical terms in Hindi relating to Defence If (Air-Force Drill and Parade, Navy-Daily Winter Routine Coning and steering, Words of Cammand, Soundings by lead and Line), Defence III (General Army Terms), Defence IV, Defence V, Defence VI, Transport (Highway Engineering), Mathematics (Intermediate Standard), Transport (Shipping), Railways, Medicine, Diplomacy, Commerce, General Administration (General Terms), Information and Broadcasting, Botany 11, Physical Geography, Posts and Telegraphs (Designations), Overseas Communication Service and Chemistry (Intermediate Standard) have also been brought out during the year and have been circulated to various Ministries, State Governments, Universities and other organisations and individuals for their comments. It is expected that the terms contained in these lists will be finalised during the course of the next year.

Over 85,000 technical terms have so far been evolved by the Ministry.

Preparation of Standard Manuals

.-Three Standard Manuals on the basis of terminology evolved by the Board of Scientific Terminolo- gy, viz., in Botany, Chemistry and Physics, have been prepared. The manuscripts of these Manuals are under consideration. Work on two more Manuals viz., in Mathematics, and Civics is in progress.

Hindi Encyclopaedia.

-The scheme of preparing a Hindi Ency- clopaedia in ten volumes of 500 pages each at a cost of Rs. 6.5 lakhs has been entrusted to the Nagari Pracharini Sabha, Banaras for imple- mentation. The first and second instalments of Rs. 25,000 and Rs. 10,000 respectively have been released to the Sabha to start the work.

Standard System of Roman Transliteration.

-A system of Roman Transliteration for all Indian languages has been standardised and published,

New Schemes.

-A number of new Central schemes for the propagation and development of Hindi involving an expenditure of Rs. 46.02 lakhs have been included in the Second Five-Year Plan with the approval of the Planning Commission. The necessary details of these schemes are expected to be finalised shortly and they are likely to be taken up for implementation during 1957-58.