NEW YORK CITY (TIP): Bank of Baroda here have always taken a lead when it comes to recognizing Hindi as the language of India. The bank organized World Hindi Day celebrations for the second year in a row. The CEO of the bank Mr. Ashok Garg is himself well versed in Hindi and makes every effort to use the language in day to day business of the bank.
On January 20th, Mr. Garg had all members of the staff gathered to celebrate World Hindi Day with some of the best known scholars and lovers of Hindi language. They included Deputy Consul General Manoj Mohapatra, Dr. Gambhir, Mrs. Rana, Prof. Indrajit Saluja and Mrs. Purnima Desai.
In his welcome address Mr. Ashok Garg spoke about the Bank of Baroda being the second largest public sector bank. He dwelt upon the strengths of the bank. About Hindi he said it is the duty of all Indians wherever they are to promote Hindi by using it themselves and encouraging the younger generation to have love of Hindi. He said at the Bank of Baroda the staff makes it a conscious effort to make use of Hindi language.
In his keynote address Dr. Gambhir spoke about the growing popularity of Hindi abroad, particularly in the US where Hindi is being taught in many universities. Also, he spoke about various programs being conducted to teach and popularize Hindi.
Mrs. Rana said there are hundreds of languages spoken in India and pleaded for giving proper recognition to hem also.
Prof. Saluja expressed the fear that in the next 50 years or so there may not be many Indians Americans knowing Hindi. He said the present generation does not find it necessary to know Hindi. And the generation that follows the present one will naturally not know Hindi. Only those who would need to know Hindi for their professional and business needs will bother to learn Hindi.
Mrs. Purnima Desai spoke highly about Hindi, eulogizing it as a divine language and said it was the duty of every one with any linkage with India to learn and promote the language.
In his presidential comment Mr. Mohapatra spoke of the richness of Hindi language and said Hindi alone was a language which connected the entire people of the nation. He congratulated Mr. Garg for organizing the World Hindi Day celebrations in the bank.
Such celebrations may not instantly promote the cause of Hindi but they are a powerful reminder of the need to promote the language which is the national and official language of India.