Hindi as
Official Language in UN
The Government has been
actively taking necessary measures for the introduction of Hindi as one of the
Official Languages of the UN. A High level Committee under the Chairmanship of
the External Affairs Minister was constituted on 26 February, 2003 followed by a
sub-Committee under the Chairmanship of the Minister of State for External
Affairs in August, 2003 to look into the matter and take necessary measures.
Keeping in view this objective, the 8th World Hindi Conference was organized in
New York on 13 July 2007 and its inaugural session was held at the UN
Headquarters, which was attended by the UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-moon (10
World Hindi Conferences have been held till date all over the world; 10th World
Hindi Conference was organised from 10 to 12 Sep 2015 in Bhopal). One of the
recommendations of the session on “Hindi in Foreign Policy” (Videsh Neeti Mein
Hindi) at the 10th World Hindi Conference was also that Hindi should be made a
UN language. A Committee has been established under the Chairmanship of External
Affairs Minister for compliance with this and other recommendations. In
addition, a World Hindi Secretariat has been set up in Mauritius since 11
February 2008 to promote Hindi as an international language. On several
occasions, Indian leaders have delivered statements at the UN in Hindi. On 27
September 2014, Prime Minister addressed the 69th UN General Assembly Session at
New York in Hindi. He also addressed the United Nations Sustainable Development
Summit at New York in Hindi on 25 September, 2015. On 01 October 2015, External
Affairs Minister delivered her statement at the General Debate of the 70th UN
General Assembly Session at New York in Hindi. Necessary arrangements were made
for simultaneous interpretation of these statements in English by the Permanent
Mission of India in New York. The Government of India's sustained efforts have
also ensured that the United Nations offers its programmes on the UN Radio
Website in Hindi also. The Government continues to work steadfastly in
popularizing Hindi and for the objective of Hindi being designated as a UN
language.
The total cost provisioned by UN on providing services in all the current UN official languages (6 Languages) is approximately US$ 492 million for the current biennium 2014-2015. Given that this cost is for six official languages for two years, the cost for provision of services in one UN language is approximately US$ 41 million per annum. This cost is for provision of overall services including documentation, translation, interpretation, verbatim reporting, printing etc. in all the four UN Offices viz. New York, Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi. In case of including Hindi as an official language, there would be additional cost for providing infrastructure/equipment and space for additional interpreters. Expenditure incurred towards introduction of a new official language would have to be borne by Member States based on the scale of assessment.
The total cost provisioned by UN on providing services in all the current UN official languages (6 Languages) is approximately US$ 492 million for the current biennium 2014-2015. Given that this cost is for six official languages for two years, the cost for provision of services in one UN language is approximately US$ 41 million per annum. This cost is for provision of overall services including documentation, translation, interpretation, verbatim reporting, printing etc. in all the four UN Offices viz. New York, Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi. In case of including Hindi as an official language, there would be additional cost for providing infrastructure/equipment and space for additional interpreters. Expenditure incurred towards introduction of a new official language would have to be borne by Member States based on the scale of assessment.
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