Regional Hindi Conference held in Moscow
A regional Hindi conference involving scholars from Russia, Eurasian countries and India was organised in Moscow from 13-15 October 2014. The Conference, which is supported by the Ministry of External Affairs of India, has been arranged by the Jawaharlal Nehru Cultural Centre (JNCC) of the Embassy of India in association with the Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow (RSUH). Apart from scores of Russian Hindi scholars from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Vladivostok and other cities, ten scholars from Central Asia, Caucasian region and East European countries and over 10 scholars from institutions in India attended the Conference.
At the inaugural ceremony, Prof. Alexander Bezborodov, Pro-Rector, RSUH, highlighted the interest of Russian scholars, students and people in India, about India, its culture and languages. Ambassador of India to Russia, Mr. P.S. Raghavan highlighted the interest in Hindi language and literature in Russia and countries in the region. Ambassador Raghavan drew attention to the Russian translations of large body of Hindi literature, research in Hindi philology and the study of socio-cultural life depicted in Hindi literature. Ambassador Raghavan also commended the keenness of the young generation of the region to learn Hindi language and to study the literature.
Eminent speakers were Mr. Aleksyi Drozhin, Deputy Director, House of Nationalities; Padamshree Academician Evgeny Chelyshev; Prof. Boris Zakhryin of the Moscow State University; Prof Girishwar Mishra, Vice-Chancellor, Mahatma Gandhi International University, Vardha; Prof. Alexander Stolyarov of the Russian State University for the Humanities; and Ms. Suniti Sharma, Deputy Secretary (Hindi) of the Ministry of External Affairs.
\Russian edition of the poet Kunwar Narain’s poetry book “Neem ka ped”, translated by Prof. Guzel Strelkova and Dr. Anastasia Guriya; “Jashn-e-Bahara”, a book of poems by Bhupinder Singh Kajla; “Khyyam ki Sangeet Yatra”, a documentary film by Dr. Suresh Sharma on the famous Hindi film music composer; and “Sahyatra”, a magazine souvenir brought out by JNCC on the occasion of the Conference.
The three day Conference deliberated on the trends in Hindi language teaching, its interface with culture, society, cinema and technology, issues of translation and ideas for promoting the Hindi language in Russia and Eurasian countries. The Conference concluded with an evening of Hindi poetry (Kavi Sammelan) on 15 October 2014 at the Embassy of India in Moscow.
On the sidelines of the Conference, Mahatma Gandhi International University, Wardha (India) and Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow signed an Agreement between the two Universities on cooperation in the field of Indian studies.
