The fifteen days ‘Hindi Pakhwada’ organised by the Rajbhasha Cell of the Central University of Kashmir (CUK) began at the varsity’s Green Campus here on Tuesday.

Inaugurating the Pakhwada, Director Research and Development and former I/c Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Farooq Ahmad Shah appreciated the administrative staff of the university for evincing keen interest in learning Rajbhasha Hindi and said that majority of them have passed all three programmes i.e. Prabodh, Praveen and Pragya courses, with flying colours. He said the staff was now trying to use Hindi in official work and in correspondence with other government institutions. Prof. Shah said the people should learn other languages in addition to their mother tongue as it would prove beneficial for them while communicating with individuals belonging to different places.

Speaking on the occasion, Registrar, Prof. M Afzal Zargar said, the language does not belong to any particular religion or community and underscored the need of learning Hindi along with other languages of the country. He said the primary objective of observing the Pakhwada is to acquaint the staff with the Hindi language and its usage in the official communication. He asked the employees to actively participate in the events organised to observe the Pakhwada. He further said the Parliamentary Committee on implementation of Hindi in the Government institutions is soon conducting an inspection about usage of the language in the varsity and the employees must gear up for the same.

Hindi Adhikari, Dr. Sakina Akhter conducted the programme proceedings and informed the participants about the competitive events including dictation, letter writing, translation and Hindi noting, to be held during the period. She further detailed the steps taken by the Rajbhasha Cell for promotion of Hindi in the university.

The administrative staff from different departments was present during the inaugural event.