New Delhi
July 11, 2007

The 8th World Hindi Conference is being held from 13-15 July 2007 in New York, USA. About 800 delegates are expected to attend the conference including Hindi scholars, litterateurs, and teachers from across the world. Official delegation comprising eminent Hindi writers, journalists, and representatives of Hindi Organizations including those from non-Hindi speaking regions will attend the Conference. Minister of State for External Affairs Shri Anand Sharma will lead the delegation. Official delegation from Mauritius, Nepal and other counties will also participate in the Conference. The Mauritian delegation is being led by Shri D. Gokhool, Minister of Education and Human Resource and the Nepalese Delegation is being led by Shri R. Mahato.

The inauguration of the Conference will take placed at the Headquarters of the United Nations followed by the first academic session on ' Hindi in the United Nations' at the same venue. Dr. Girija Vyas Chair person, National Conference for Woman will chair the session. These will be academic sessions on diverse aspects of Hindi language and literature such as Hindi teaching in India and abroad; problems and solutions; Hindi writing abroad (Pravesi Sahitya); Role of IT in promotion of Hindi, Globalization, Media and Hindi; Role of Hindi films in promotion of Hindi; Hindi, Youth and Science, Hindi language and literature: various dimensions; Role of translation in Literature; Children’s Hindi Literature and Devnagari Lipi.

Three exhibitions - on ancient Hindi manuscripts, Hindi Books and Hindi and IT - will be held. There will be two parallel academic sessions every day from 10- 12.30 PM and 2.30 – 5.00 PM followed by cultural programme from 8 – 9.30 PM. The cultural programme will include Kavi Sammelan, Bharat Natyam by Sudha Chandran and group Sitar recital by Shujat Khan and Ghazals by Pankaj Udhas.

Forty scholars will be honoured during the Conference in recognition of their valuable contribution. These will include 20 Foreign and 20 Indian scholars.

An all India Hindi Essay Competition on 'Hindi Ka Bhavishya' was held for the youth between 10 – 25 years in the run up to the conference. There were two prizes - one each for Hindi speaking and non-Hindi speaking contestant. The two winners, Ms. Swarnima from Delhi and Ms. Sonia Sonal from Punjab will also be attending the 8th World Hindi Conference.