NZ-based journalist Rohit Kumar 'Happy' is being conferred with the National Nirmal Verma Award for contribution to the development of the Hindi language.
The award announced by the Madhya Pradesh Government will take place in Bhopal at a function to be organised on Hindi Diwas on September 14.
Giving more details about the same, Kumar, who edits Bharat-Darshan, the world's first online Hindi literary magazine since 1996, said, “I am delighted to be conferred with such an honour. I am travelling to India on September 9. I endeavour to keep working towards the promotion of Hindi in New Zealand.”
The 54-year-old, who stays in Auckland, has already published books such as New Zealand Ki Hindi Patrakarita Ka Itihas (2020), New Zealand Ki Hindi Yatra (Published by Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, Agra, India, 2021) as well as Prashant Ki Lok Kathayein (Published by Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, Agra, India, 2021). He has been relentlessly working to promote Hindi literature in New Zealand.
He even won first prize in the Hindi Essay Contest held by the High Commission of India and Wellington Hindi School. He was awarded recently in a function held recently at Mahatma Gandhi Centre.
It may be noted that earlier this year, Kumar’s two books, New Zealand Ki Hindi Yatra and Prashant Ki Lok Kathayein, were released by Union Minister of State for External Affairs & Culture, Meenakshi Lekhi in Delhi, India.
Before coming to NZ three decades ago, he had a bachelor's degree from Kurukshetra Uni and a diploma in journalism, too. Kumar, who hails from Kaithal in Haryana, believes there is a need to promote Hindi in NZ, especially among youngsters. He believes parents should start speaking Hindi with their young kids at home to preserve the Hindi language abroad.
He says, “I believe parents have an integral role in ensuring that any language is preserved and passed on to our next generation. I am doing my bit to promote Hindi, especially among the young generation, in various ways, including writing and encouraging them to converse in Hindi. I also believe that we must make sure that learning Hindi is fun and interactive for our kids in NZ. I am running portals such as (https://hindi.org.nz) and https://www.kahatkabir.com/, among others, to promote the Hindi language.”
Lastly, Kumar, who has done his journalism at Massey University, reveals that he is working on his next Hindi book based on folk tales and historical stories of NZ these days.
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