World Hindi Day or Vishwa Hindi Divas is celebrated on 10th January every year to commemorate the first-ever World Hindi Conference in Nagpur in 1975. It is celebrated across the world to promote the use of Hindi, an official language of India. Besides spreading awareness about Hindi as an international language, the World Hindi Day also emphasizes creating a passion for the language. Hindi is the third most spoken language globally after English and Chinese Mandarin with more than 615 million speakers.
In Thailand, Hindi is taught in prestigious universities like Chulalongkorn University, Silpakorn University, Chiang Mai University, Mahachulalongkorn Buddhist University and Mahamakut Buddhist University. Since 2022, Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) in cooperation with Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and Central Hindi Directorate (CHD) offers a 3-month online Hindi Awareness Course for foreign nationals. 74 students from Thailand have subscribed for this course in 2022. In addition, every year, the Government of India allots 2-5 scholarships for Thai students to study Hindi Certificate Course at Central Institute of Hindi, Agra. So far, 97 Thai students availed this scholarship.
Embassy of India, Bangkok will organize an event to celebrate World Hindi Day from 17.30 – 18.30 hrs on 10 Jan 2023 at the Embassy premises. The event will also include remarks by Mr. Nagesh Singh, Ambassador of India to Thailand and cultural performances.