Rotary International considers Hindi as official language

The council of resolutions of Rotary International has adopted a resolution to consider Hindi as one of its officially recognised languages. If the resolution is approved by the Rotary International Board of Directors, Hindi will join English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish as an official language for communications and correspondence within the organisation, which has a presence in over 200 countries.

Ghanshyam Kansal, immediate past district governor (IPDG) and convener of the campaign to include Hindi, said the resolution was passed through an online vote held between October 15 and October 31. He said 271 out of 449 council representatives voted in favour, with the resolution receiving strong support.

The campaign to include Hindi as an official language was launched following calls from organisers of World Hindi Day (January 10) and National Hindi Day (September 14) earlier this year. The theme for both events in 2024, “Hindi: Bridging Traditional Knowledge and Artificial Intelligence,” emphasised the growing global importance of the language.

Rotary Clubs in the region noted the organisation has approximately 1.9 million volunteers worldwide, working through 46,000 clubs in over 200 nations.