17-Sep-2018: President of India graces event to felicitate Indian Scholars of 11th World Hindi Conference

The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, graced a function organised to felicitate Indian scholars who were acknowledged at the 11th World Hindi Conference – held recently in Mauritius – in New Delhi.

Speaking on the occasion, the President said that Hindi has a strong presence on the world map. Outside India, more than one crore people speak Hindi and it is being taught in universities of major countries. The 11th World Hindi Conference saw the participation of more than 2,000 representatives from 45 countries.

The President said that to enhance its presence, Hindi has to adapt to science and technology – both in content and dissemination. We live in the age of technology, the President said. Smart-phones are eroding distances between languages and technology could similarly be used in the propagation of Hindi. The President also praised the role played by Hindi cinema in popularising the language in India and abroad.

19-Aug-2018: 11th World Hindi Conference, Mauritius

The 11th World Hindi Conference (WHC) is being organized from 18-20 August 2018 in Mauritius by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India in association with the Government of Mauritius. The decision to organize the 11th edition of the Conference in Mauritius was taken at the 10th World Hindi Conference held in Bhopal, India in September 2015.

Details of the previous ten  World Hindi Conferences held so far are as follows:

Conference

Location

Year

First

Nagpur, India

1975

Second

Port Louis, Mauritius

1976

Third

New Delhi, India

1983

Fourth

Port Louis, Mauritius

1993

Fifth

Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

1996

Sixth

London, U.K.

1999

Seventh

Paramaribo, Suriname

2003

Eighth

New York, America

2007

Ninth

Johannesburg, South Africa

2012

Tenth

Bhopal, India

2015

The main theme of the Conference is "Hindi Vishwa Aur Bharatiya Sanskriti". The venue of the Conference is "Swami Vivekanand International Convention Centre", Pailles Mauritius.

A number of exhibitions focusing on the developments of Hindi language will be organised at the conference venue. During the conference, evening cultural programmes and a Kavi Sammelan will be organized by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, New Delhi.

The Hindi language is written in Devanagari script and influenced by one of the most important and studied languages in history, Sanskrit. Hindi is considered to be the official language of the government of India and one of the 22 recognized languages of India. Around 545 million people speak Hindi in India, 425 million consider it their first language and 120 million consider it their second language. It is the fourth most widely spoken language in the world.

This conference provides a great platform to learn not only Hindi Language but also to learn, understand our Indian Culture and Traditions closely.

8-Jul-2018: 17th World Sanskrit Conference in Vancouver, Canada

Human Resource Development Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar will inaugurate the 17th World Sanskrit Conference to be held at Vancouver, Canada from 9th July to 13th July, 2018.

More than 500 scholars and delegates from over 40 countries will be participating in this conference and exchange their knowledge by presenting papers on various subjects followed by discussions from amongst the members.

There will be a special panel discussion on over a dozen topics like; History & Education of Women in Vedic Literature; Sanskrit Buddhist Manuscripts; Mimamsa Beyond the Yagasala; The Yuktidipika Forging a Place for Sankhya; Introducing Bhagavata Purana Commentaries; Research on the Gargiyajyotisa. Over 500 papers on various themes are likely to be presented during the 5-day conference. The purpose of this conference is to promote, preserve and practice the Sanskrit language all over the world by the people. The World Sanskrit Conference is being held in various countries across the globe once in every three years and so far it has been held thrice in India.

Besides the Minister, 10 scholars and two officers are part of the Indian delegation participating in the 17th World Sanskrit Conference.

12-Dec-2017: Second UNWTO/UNESCO World Conference on Tourism and Culture at Muscat

The Minister of State for Culture (Independent Charge) Dr. Mahesh Sharma led the Indian delegation to the second UN World Tourism Organization/UNESCO World Conference on Tourism and Culture, with focus on sustainable development, which was held in Muscat, Capital city of Oman, during 11-12th December, 2017.

Dr. Mahesh Sharma highlighted India’s approach to sustainable development, while preserving nature and India’s cultural heritage. The Conference had also on its agenda themes such as culture and tourism as a factor of peace and prosperity; tourism development and protection of cultural heritage; culture and tourism and urban development and creativity; and exploring cultural land escapes in tourism. The conference also finalized the 2030 Agenda.

Bilateral discussions were held on cooperation with Turkey and Oman in fields of culture and tourism. There is a huge potential expanding tourism exchanges between the two countries.

People of Oman, due to their familiarity with India, visit India, including for medical treatment. There is a large Indian Community in Oman, numbering around 0.8 million.