World Hindi Day celebrated in Cairo

India today celebrated Vishwa Hindi Divas (World Hindi Day) and Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (Overseas Indian Day) in the Egyptian capital to make the language popular in the country.
The Indian Embassy in Cairo and its cultural wing the Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture (MACIC) organised cultural performances at Hanager Theatre in the Cairo Opera House.
During the celebration, India's Ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharyya awarded certificates and prizes to all the students who studied Hindi and Urdu classes in MACIC.
"This time we introduce the special trophy for the best Hindi student it called 'India Cup' it's a rolling trophy so every year the best student will be awarded this trophy," the ambassador said.

The celebration included cultural performances by Hindi and Urdu students of MACIC.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech was screened during the event.

"I was touched by cultural performances that were presented by the students. It shows their deep love and affection and attachment to the language and the bond between our two countries," Bhattacharyya said.
"I'm particularly excited that the young people of Egypt are building these relations with India," he added.
"We also look forward to the Hindi scholarships under which we provide an opportunity to the young people of Egypt to go to India and study the programmes at the Central University of Hindi in Agra," he explained.

"We have started the study of Devanagari and Hindi at Ain Shams University. We hope to establish a Hindi Chair sometime in the future," the Ambassador added.
In September, the first Indian Chair in Egypt at the Ain Shams University was operationalised with the arrival of Indian professor Naidu Subbarao.
The Chair, which is at the Faculty of Information and Communication Technology, is not only the first Indian Chair in Egypt but also in the Arab world.
Since 2006, to propagate the use of Hindi abroad, the World Hindi Day is celebrated by Indian Embassies the world over.