Hindi Diwas Celebrations in Singapore with Two-Day Global Hindi Excellence Summit 2024
New Delhi [India] October 3: In a ground-breaking event celebrating the Hindi language, the Global Hindi Excellence Summit 2024 took place on September 28th and 29th at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre with the aim of “being the change”. It was organised by the Global Hindi Foundation, the summit was inaugurated Neil Parekh, Nominated MP and Chairman of the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Ms. Pooja Tillu, Deputy High Commissioner of India gave the opening speech on the occasion of Hindi Diwas celebrations.
This historic summit is the first-ever corporate gathering conducted in Hindi, coinciding with the celebrations of Hindi Diwas. The event focused on vital global issues such as Diversity and Inclusion, AI and Automation, and Sustainable Development, underscoring the significance of the Hindi language in the contemporary corporate landscape.
The summit was presented by NRI One, with Video Houze Singapore serving as the media and marketing partner, Dainik Jagran as the digital media partner, and supporting partners including We Travels, Channel PR, FIInews.com,A Sg Media Company “AANAMCARA” , Singapore Indian Chamber of commerce & industry and Krokio Products.
Day 1 Highlights (28th September)
The dignitaries present highlighted the significance of celebrating Hindi on a global stage. Aradhana Jha Shrivastava , Media professional the Emcee for the day set the day with her short introduction on importance of Hindi language vocabulary and pronunciation for career success.
Maneesh Tripathi, Director and CEO of Marble Rocks VCC Fund and Nominated Chairman of the SME Centre, highlighted the summit’s role as a platform for accessing the Indian market, noting that Hindi is the third most spoken language globally. The opening keynote was delivered by Vivek Kumar, CEO of WWF, who set the stage for subsequent discussions.
Ananya Mukherjee, VP Strategic Communications and Branding , Golden Agri resources highlighted the role Diversity and inclusion plays in the case of corporate communications .
Distinguished business leaders like Kishore Daryanani , B K Maheshwari and many scholars participated in the event, including Dhruv Jain, President of IIT Alumni Association Singapore, who stressed the need to leverage AI to make Hindi learning relevant for the next generation. Mehak Ankar, a prominent media and marketing consultant, addressed the challenges posed by language barriers in the workplace and suggested strategies to overcome them. Professor Umapati Dixit, HOD Central Hindi Directorate shared the changes in the standardised Hindi vocabulary and syntax rule .
Keynote addresses on AI and automation were presented by Sanjay Kumar, Associate Partner at IBM, followed by discussions from Gaurav Upadhyaya, Principal at Adobe South East Asia, and Shalabh Pandey, founder of Nourish Theory.com who explored AI’s transformative potential in marketing automation, Sanjay Kumar Suryavanshi of Panchsheel Abhinav Foundation spoke about innovations driving startup growth .Dr.Aradhana Sadashivam presented on AI and its legal implications and Ratnesh Pandey shared on AI in Data Visualisation, Subhash Chandra gave insights on AI in the insurance industry.
A panel discussion on Sustainable Development was moderated by Ruby Mathur, featuring industry leaders such as Sumita Ambasta, Dr. Pawan Sinha, Dr.Saurabh Srivastava, and Mayur Singh. They emphasized the pressing need for sustainability initiatives, while Hemanshu Parekh shared insights on how AI is aiding the fight against financial crimes.
The Diversity and Inclusion session led by Dr. Alka Bhargava featured contributions from notable speakers including Dr.Chhaya Dhar Sinha , Dr. Ankur Gupta and founder of Mathvision Mr. Divesh Shah who discussed the impact of diversity and inclusion on corporate policies of hiring and retaining the right talent .
Day 2 Highlights (29th September)
The second day of the summit celebrated the “Tapestry of Languages,” showcasing performances in various regional languages based on the Devanagari script. Esteemed poet Vineet Panchhi captivated the audience with his recitations, while cultural performances highlighted the richness of India’s linguistic heritage through dance, theatre, and music. Associate professor Gyanesh Chandra Pandey started the program with a Hindustani classical musical rendition of Ganesh Vandana.
The organizing team, including Chitra Gupta, Anjani Chaudhary, Sanjay Kumar and Kanad Mishra, Saurabh shrivastava, David Anil Sharma and Divya Dhar meticulously planned and executed over 50 presentations & performances.
Many individuals and community groups like Samskrutha Bharati , Uttarakhand Asscociation of Singapore , Kathakars, Gandharva academy of performing arts and Mardani sports presented Marathi , Sanskrit ,Kumaoni etc.
In line with the spirit of Diversity and Inclusion, Global Hindi Foundation advisor Shantha Ratii , a renowned Kuchipudi & Bharatanatyam artist presented a unique lecture demonstration that showcased the importance of gestures and signs in communication through dance movements.
The summit concluded successfully with over 250 participants, including thought leaders, corporate executives, and scholars, engaging in discussions on the relevance of Hindi language skills in today’s corporate environment. Esteemed speakers included Rajesh Upadhyay, Editor-in-Chief of Dainik Jagran; Vineet Panchhi, founder of the Jai Hindi Project; Dr. Umapati Dixit, Head of the Central Hindi Directorate; and Dr. Sanjay Kumar Suryavanshi, founder of the Panchsheel Abhinav Foundation.
Mamta Mandal, founder and CEO of the Global Hindi Foundation, emphasized her mission to make Hindi skills essential in the corporate world, especially for businesses targeting the Indian market. Under her leadership, the foundation has impacted over 10,000 students and collaborated with more than 50 corporations globally since its inception in 2016.
The Global Hindi Excellence Summit 2024 signifies a crucial step in recognizing Hindi as an essential language in international business and corporate settings, ensuring its relevance for future generations.
ABOUT GLOBAL HINDI FOUNDATION
The Global Hindi Foundation was set up primarily to engage students and adults with literary arts and building a nationwide community driven platform for language engagement. We want to support government’s bilingual policy & promote language proficiency & literary skills in Singapore. The aim is to create awareness about the rich, cultural& literary heritage that we share as a community while showcasing the upcoming talents in the field of writing, public speaking and poetry in Singapore across all sections of the society irrespective of background or qualification.
Prerna Awards was introduced to motivate everyone to take pride in their own language & culture. It is also an alternative way to connect with the language beyond the academics and keep it relevant for the next generation. Along with giving them life skills such as Public Speaking, expression, creativity etc. via the medium of their mother language we integrate it with relevant issues like being a good citizen, environmental friendly, mindful living etc.
We initiated first such Hindi Language awards competition Prerna (Inspiration) Awards for public. It was conducted as Hindi public speaking, translation and writing competition in Singapore. The inaugural Hindi Prerna (Inspiration) competition & award ceremony was held on 9 Jan’16 at The Pod, National library Singapore which was a very successful event .The theme of competition was Singapore my home, land of dreams & pursuits, in conjunction with SG50.
In the second year the theme was My earth, My Responsibility, was again very well received with over 1000 audience spread over three languages Hindi, Tamil & Urdu and 4 days of final competitions. It all culminated on21 Jan at RELC auditorium as Sangam Ceremony a cultural & literary program where for the first time Hindi, Tamil & Urdu literary heritage was presented to an audience of 500 pax. We had H.E. Jawed Ahsraf, Honorable High Commissioner of India as our Guest of Honor and world renowned water conservationists Aabid Surti to give the prizes to the winners.
We had over 150 participants & 53 shortlisted across Poetry, Public Speaking & Story writing.
The award ceremony was themed Sangam – Confluence of indigenous cultures which had international award winning panellists Aabid Surti, Brhamanand Siingh & Dr. Coomar Arunodaya.The award ceremony was preceded by a panel discussion on Individual actions collective impacts which gave the participants a platform to evaluate their ideas for environmental conservation which they had submitted as poems, stories & scripts for public speaking. We have recently concluded a 4 day Prerna competition in Hindi, Urdu & Tamil on the theme of My Earth, My Responsibility.
There are about 21 million NRIs spread across the different parts of the world and many of the languages are amongst world’s largest spoken languages.
We are motivated to conserve and raise awareness about our heritage & literature, which is getting drowned under Western culture & literature. We wish that everyone would be familiar with writers such as Chanakya, Subramaniam Bharti, Umar Pulavar, Premchand, etc. alongside Shakespeare and Confucius. We aim to spark interest amongst them, in a way which is in line with today’s modern society. Most of the children living abroad acquire western traditions and culture as they perceive speaking in their own vernacular language to be not HEP enough; hence it is necessary to enrich the younger society with knowledge about mother tongue language and the Indian heritage.
While the outer environment is difficult to change, there are not many opportunities to showcase their language skills either. If parents insist speaking only in their mother tongue at least at home, perhaps we could address this issue to some extent. So the first challenge would be to gain recognition for the Indian languages which are amongst the largest spoken languages in the world. The second would be to create a platform where the language enthusiasts can come and showcase their talent and language Skill, slowly motivating others to partake in this movement as well. So literally it became Prerna ie. Inspiration in Hindi being organised at National level so that everyone will aspire to participate, hoping it becomes the global platform soon.
As Mahatma Gandhi said, “You must be the change you want to see in the world”. We strongly believe that the onus is on us to lead by example rather than expecting the next generation to follow without questioning, and as community it’s our responsibility to take steps to ensure the same. This will be the guiding path to ensure that the upcoming generation also connects with their mother language.
For more information, please contact: Global Hindi Foundation /+6598877117
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