Glimpses of NJ Community Outreach Event, Dec 22, 2019, organized by Yuva Hindi Sansthan and Hindi Sangam Foundation

Indian-American Community leaders unitedly supported formal Hindi education using the STARTALK learning model.

Hon. Sandeep Chakravorty, Consul- General of INDIA in New York joined in to preside over the meeting to discuss the proposed International Hindi Conference, 2020.
Report of the event: INDIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY FAVORS HINDI IN SCHOOLS

A wide range of New Jersey and New York based Indian American communities support Hindi education in local schools.
At a meeting, jointly organized by NJ based educational organizations, Yuva Hindi Sansthan and Hindi Sangam Foundation, held at Bharat Sevashram Sangha auditorium, Kendall Park, NJ, community leaders unanimously supported promoting Hindi as a heritage language through education. The attendees at the meeting unanimously decided to hold an International Hindi Conference in NY Metropolitan area in 2020. The Consul-General of India in New York, Sandeep Chakravorty, who also attended, supported the proposal.
“Such an event will help promote Hindi in USA”, commented Ashok Ojha, organizer of the meeting who serves as the president of Yuva Hindi Sansthan and Hindi Sangam Foundation. Ashok Ojha, program director of YHS and HSF STARTALK Hindi programs, spoke about importance of Hindi as a vehicle of Indian culture. “It is time to motivate the younger generation to learn Hindi”, he said. “There are multiple opportunities available for young learners to learn Hindi that could accelerate their professional career. United States encourages young people to graduate from college with knowledge of two languages.”
In the past four such conferences were held at NYU (2014); Rutgers (2015); The Consulate General of India, New York (2016) and GITAM University, Vishakhapatnam, India (2017).
Dr. Sudhir Parikh, an entrepreneur, philanthropist, medical professional, ‘PadmaShri’ awardee and Chairman-publisher, ParikhWorld wide Media, shared his views about the need of learning heritage languages, such as, Gujarati and Hindi. He said that he learned Hindi effortlessly lived during his youth when he lived in various cities in India.
The community leaders and professionals gathered at the event demonstrated a rare show of unity supporting Hindi through education in USA. The attendees represented various organizations and professionals from New Jersey and New York. They unanimously expressed their support to the idea of Hindi as a language of identity. “Hindi should be the language of expressing the identity, culture and traditions of the Indian-Americans in USA”, they suggested.
“Hindi was appropriately suited and recognized in USA as a competent language to express our heritage and culture”, said Upendra Chivukula, Commissioner of NJ Department of Utilities, who explained the importance of supporting Hindi. Narrating his own experience of how he learned Hindi, Chivukula gave credit to Bollywood movies for motivating him to learn Hindi during his youth. “I learning Hindi in Mumbai and Chennai simply because of my needs of watching movies”, he said.
Chivukula took over as the Chairman of Yuva Hindi Sansthan in early 2019. YHS has been conducting Summer intensive programs called STARTALK in collaboration with North Penn School District in PA since 2013 to teach Hindi to Primary, Middle and High School students.
Introducing YHS and HSF, Ojha pointed out that authentic materials about Indian heritage are carefully selected to teach at the STARTALK programs conducted by Yuva Hindi Sansthan and Hindi Sangam Foundation. “We choose interesting stories that inspire moral values among the young learners and make Hindi learning very meaningful. Our programs help students feel proud of their heritage and become life-long learners of Hindi”, he pointed out. Ojha said that his organizations needed financial support from individuals and philanthropist to build resources for language learning.
Purnima Desai, a leading proponent of Indian culture and languages from New York, extended her unconditional support to Hindi. She compared Hindi as an icon of Indian identity about which ‘we all should be very proud of’. Desai also serves on the board of trustees of Hindi Sangam Foundation.
Professor Indrajeet Saluja, editor, Indian Panorama, a NY weekly newspaper, appealed the audience to support Yuva Hindi Sansthan, and Hindi Sangam Foundation that are dedicated to teach Hindi to the younger generation. “Supporting these organization was like supporting your own efforts to teach your children about who they are!”, he said.
A number of speakers, such as, representative of Franklin Gujarati Samaj, Hemant Bhatt, Pradip Tandan, Akhil Vishva Hindi Samiti, Major Sher Bahadur Singh, International Hindi Association, Mamta Puri, West Windsor STARTALK, Mamta Tripathi, Education Society for the Heritage of India, also spoke in support of HSF and YHS. Jaideep, Head of Chancery, Consulate General of India expressed support of the Indian Mission to Hindi programs, such as, STARTALK programs conducted by YHS and HSF.
About YHS and HSF:
Yuva Hindi Sansthan (YHS), a NJ based non-profit educational organizations, strives to promote Hindi, as a heritage language, among the youths in the United States and other countries.

Hindi Sangam Foundation, a New Jersey based non-profit educational and cultural organization, complements the goals of promoting Hindi learning and cultural practices in the Indian Diaspora. HSF organizes International Hindi Conferences in collaboration with universities, educational organizations and institutions that support the idea of promoting Hindi language and culture globally.