Hindi hot pick in DU

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When everyone was busy writing, reading, sulking and worrying about commerce cut-offs touching the 100 per cent mark, the long forgotten Hindi (Hons) course was enjoying a revival of fortune. Surprisingly, there are hardly any vacant seats in the Hindi (Hons) category in most DU colleges (barring seats reserved for OBC candidates). In fact, most of the seats were filled before the second cut-off was annouced.
Educationists welcome the shift and say it’s here to stay, and trace the many reasons that has caused the change. Prof Gopeshwar Singh, head of the department, Hindi, Delhi University, says that students have realised the career prospects and opportunities that Hindi brings. “Till sometime back, there was this mindset among youngsters that studying Hindi is not cool. But it is changing now. After looking at the opportunities, students prefer to study Hindi than any other subject,” says Singh and adds that the growing prospects in the government sector and the assurance of a secure career has drawn many to this stream. “Opportunities in media has tremendously risen in the last few years. While many students choose to work as reporters, editors and translators in news channels, newspapers and magazines, some aim for advertising and television (as scriptwriters for the Hindi serials),” says Singh.
Students also think it’s easier to qualify in the administrative services exams if they have studied Hindi at the undergraduate level. “Earlier, students took up Hindi (Hons) because they were not able to meet other subjects’ cut-offs. But this time around, there’s a change in this mindset, for many students turned up with Hindi as their first preference. Some want to appear in the administrative services and some want to work as Hindi officers in different government departments,” remarks Dr Priti Prakash Prajapati, head of department, Hindi, Lady Sri Ram College. She also informs that 14 out of the 16 general-category seats in Hindi (Hons) in LSR were taken in the first round.
Other colleges second the claim. Dr Pratibha Jolly, principal, Miranda House, says that Hindi (Hons) seats in the college were mostly filled up when the first cut-off list was out. “In fact, Hindi has been popular among students since last few years. Other than English, this is the only language that students vie for as it has interesting future prospects,” says Dr Jolly and adds that other regional languages are still to get their due as most seats in other languages have remained vacant in the past few years.
However, Sanskrit has also got some takers. Dr Prajapati says some students have carved a good career after studying Sanskrit. “Some have gone into research work and others take up academics and teaching,” she says and adds, “This is just the beginning. In the coming years, the popularity of Hindi as well as Sanskrit will improve.”