The Consulate General of India, New York organized a function to celebrate the Viswa Hindi Divas on Saturday, February 20, 1010, at the New India House. Around 100 guests including academicians, litterateurs, representatives of ethnic media and people interested in Hindi language and literature attended the event.

On the occasion, the message of Hon’ble Prime Minister of India was read out by Consul General of India, Mr Prabhu Dayal. In his welcome remarks, Consul General laid emphasis on the need for popularization of Hindi language and exhorted the audience to begin the process by using Hindi at home.

The first session, moderated by Prof. Surindra Gambhir, brought out the efforts for ‘promotion of Hindi’ in USA’. Following presentations were made:

(i) Promotion of Hindi in schools by Mrs Sushma Malhotra, Assistant Principal

of New York City Department of Education,

(ii) Status of Hindi teaching in Universities by Dr. Bindeswari Aggarwal of New

York University, and

(iii) Popularization of Hindi in USA by Dr Ved Chaudhary, President of Educator’s Society for the Heritage of India.

In the second session, moderated by Prof. Susham Bedi, patriotic poems in Hindi were recited with a preface of their historical context by the following:

a) Mathilisharan Gupta by Mr Anoop Bhargava,

b) Ram Naresh Tripathi by Dr B K Mehta, and

c) Subhadra Kumari Chauhan and Makhanlal Chaturvedi by Dr P Jayaraman.

Lively discussions followed after each session. There was unanimity amongst the audience for concerted action to promote Hindi teaching in schools and universities.

The event concluded with a vote of thanks by Mr. PK Mohanty, Consul(Education).