Role of Hindi for being India is an emerging super power
Professor Ram Lakhan Meena, Central University of
Rajasthan, Ajmer
The Indian Hindi Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry is a
sunrise sector for the economy and is making high growth strides. Proving its
resilience to the world, the Indian M&E industry is on the cusp of a strong
phase of growth, backed by rising consumer demand and improving advertising
revenues. The industry has been largely driven by increasing digitization and
higher internet usage over the last decade. Internet has almost become a
mainstream media for entertainment for most of the people. The Indian media
& Entertainment sector is expected to reach US$ 100 billion by 2025 and
Hindi media play a crucial role with highest, from its estimated size of US$
17.85 billion in 2015, due to its large capacity to consume new products and
businesses. In 2015, the overall Media and Entertainment industry grew 11.7 per
cent over 2014. The largest segment, India’s television industry, is expected
to maintain its strong growth momentum led by subscription revenues,
representing a year-on-year growth of about 13.2 per cent to reach Rs. 60,000
crore (US$ 9 billion) in 2015. Significantly, with the increased penetration of
smartphones and expansion of 3G/4G network in India, the country is likely to
see around nine billion mobile application (apps) downloads during 2015, which
is five times more than 1.56 billion in 2012.
This uptick in app-downloads is also expected to increase the
revenue from paid apps to an estimated over US$ 241.16 million as against US$
144.7 million in 2014. Industry estimates reveal that video games industry grew
at a record 22.4 per cent in 2014 over 2013; wherein its net worth rose to US$
392 million. The Indian animation industry was valued at US$ 748 million in 2014
and is forecasted to grow at 15-20 per cent per annum. The Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI) inflows in the information and broadcasting (I&B) sector
(including print media) in the period April 2000 – September 2015 stood at US$
4.28 billion, as per data released by Department of Industrial Policy and
Promotion (DIPP). The Indian luxury market is estimated to be worth US$ 18
billion by 2017 from the current level of US$ 14 billion with unprecedented
growth in luxury categories including fashion, automobiles and fine dining.
With increasing brand awareness and rising purchasing power amongst the youth,
especially in tier II and tier III cities, spending by Indian consumers is
expected to grow four times to US$ 4.2 trillion by 2017.
Indubitably the English has taken its position in the roots of the
community. And the people are following the trend "the brighter ,the
better". Even to have a foreign accent is considered to be a part of the
modernization or the symbol to commensurate coolness. But the fact is apart
from the cooperate life ,the immense pleasure can only be felt in using mother
tongue. As the language is something beyond the medium of communication and
that usually remain dissolved in the culture. Culture is the part of the life. Hence
because of being a chauvinist or believing in social contradiction ,i really
expect or hope a bright future of Hindi. With the growing influence of
Hindi, the increasing popularity of Bollywood and the sheer richness of Indian
culture across the globe, Hindi will soon overtake Chinese as the most spoken
language in the world. Do you think that someday in the far future it might
even break records and give English, the most global language of them all, a
run for its money? Is Hindi the new French?
Recent development/Investments
- Reliance Entertainment
(owned by Mr Anil Ambani) and DreamWorks (led by Mr Steven Spielberg),
along with Participant Media (led by Mr Jeff Skoll) and Entertainment One
(eOne) have formed a new film, television and digital content creation
company called ‘Amblin Partners’, and have raised US$ 500 million in debt
to develop and produce films.
- Scoop Whoop, an Indian
digital media and content start-up, has raised US$ 4 million from Kalaari
Capital and plans to use the funds for expansion of its video production
unit called Scoop Whoop Talkies.
- Mobvista International
Technology Ltd, a global mobile advertising and game publishing company,
plans to increase its investment in India by US$ 100 million over 2015-18,
with a view to capture a bigger share of the booming e-commerce and
ad-tech space.
- The digital arm of New
Delhi Television Limited (NDTV) namely NDTV Convergence, that owns and
operates the NDTV group's digital properties, has signed a deal worth US$
13-15 million with content discovery platform Taboola.
- Cinepolis India Private
Limited, the Indian movie exhibition arm of Mexican chain Cinepolis, has
plans to add 60 screens to take its total count to over 250 screens by the
end of 2015.
- Turner International India
has announced the expansion of its television bouquet for children with
the launch of Toonami, a channel dedicated to animated action. This is the
American company’s third children’s channel in India after Cartoon Network
and POGO. Toonami joins an assortment of over 15 channels in the kids’
genre, which attracts close to Rs 500 crore (US$ 75.32 million) in
advertising.
- San Francisco-based
Twitter Inc. plans to set up a research and design (R&D) centre in Bengaluru
to grow faster in emerging markets. This will be Twitter’s first such
facility outside the US.
- STAR India, a unit of 21st
Century Fox, acquired the entire broadcast business of MAA Television
Network Limited for an undisclosed amount.
- Carnival Films Private
Limited acquired Stargaze Entertainment Private Limited, a multiplex
company, from a unit of Mukesh Ambani-controlled Network18 Media and
Investments Limited.
Government Initiatives
The Government of India has supported Media and Entertainment industry’s
growth by taking various initiatives such as digitizing the cable distribution
sector to attract greater institutional funding, increasing FDI limit from 74
per cent to 100 per cent in cable and DTH satellite platforms, and granting
industry status to the film industry for easy access to institutional finance.
Recently, the Indian and Canadian governments have signed an audio-visual
co-production deal that would help producers from both countries to explore
their technical, creative, artistic, financial and marketing resources for
co-productions and, subsequently, lead to exchange of culture and art amongst
them. Furthermore, the Centre has given the go-ahead for licences to 45 new
news and entertainment channels in India. Among those who have secured the
licenses include established names such as Star, Sony, Viacom and Zee.
Presently, there are 350 broadcasters which cater to 780 channels. “We want
more competition and we wanted to open it up for the public. So far, we have
approved the licenses of 45 new channels. It’s a mix of both news and non-news
channels,” said Secretary, Ministry of I&B, Government of India.
The radio industry is expected to witness growth opportunities
after the Phase III auction of 839 radio channels in 294 cities, expected to
complete later this year. The Phase III auction, which started in July 2015, is
expected to bring in an estimated US$ 390 million in revenue to the government.
With over 800 frequencies up for auction in third- and fourth-tier towns, radio
is likely to match the reach of print. The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime
Minister has given its approval for entering into an Audio-Visual Co-Production
Agreement between India and the Republic of Korea (RoK) and to complete
internal ratification procedure, to enable the agreement to come into force.
Cooperation between the film industries of the two countries will not only
promote export of Indian films but would also act as a catalyst towards
creating awareness about India and its culture.
The Indian Media and Entertainment industry is on an impressive
growth path. The revenue from advertising is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13
per cent and will exceed Rs 81,600 crore (US$ 12.29 billion) in 2019 from Rs
41,400 crore (US$ 6.24 billion) in 2014. Internet access has surpassed the
print segment as the second-largest segment contributing to the overall pie of
M&E industry revenues. Television and print are expected to remain the
largest contributors to the advertising pie in 2018 as well. Internet
advertising will emerge as the third-largest segment, with a share of about 16
per cent in the total M&E advertising pie. The film segment which
contributed Rs 12,640 crore (US$ 1.90 billion) in 2014 is projected to grow
steadily at a CAGR of 10 per cent on the back of higher domestic and overseas
box-office collections as well as cable and satellite rights. Digital
advertising is expected to lead the CAGR with 30.2 per cent, followed by radio
with 18.1 per cent. Animation and VFX, and television are expected to register
a CAGR of 16.3 per cent and 15.5 per cent respectively, followed by growth
rates of gaming (14.3 per cent), music (14.0 per cent), films (10 per cent) and
OOH with 9.8 per cent expected CAGR. Within TV, subscription revenues are
expected to be three times more than advertising revenues, by 2018. Growth in
the regional reach of print and radio shall provide opportunities to further
improve the advertisement revenue.
Just finished reading a somewhat alarmist article in the Indian
national newspaper, The Times of India, entitled Does Hindi have a future? In that article, the fate of Hindi in the
Indian urban landscape is considered precarious; the writer, Mohammed
Wajihuddin, asserts that “An unsettling reality of metros and towns of
India is that Hindi is slowly becoming an alien language.” That, in the
writer’s words, is the “unkind truth” of our day. Wajihuddin next goes on to “show” how academic interest in Hindi has declined
over the years, quoting a former Mumbai University (in a region not a part of
the “Hindi belt”) teacher who notes that the number of students enrolling in
graduate programs in Hindi there has halved since the 90s. The decline of Hindi
is bemoaned in other settings as well; an anecdote the writer provides as a
case in point
The
under development of Web in Indian regional languages is one of the important
reasons behind the limited growth of Internet in India. This fact is now being
realized by many CEOs of established Internet companies here. Sanjeev
Beekchandani of Naukri.com has started the Hindi version of his matrimonial
portal Jeevansathi.com. Microsoft is going to launch the Hindi version of MSN
and hotmail. MSN`s programming head Krishna Prasad says, `80 percent of Indians
don`t understand English. So, it is a must for us to enter in this
medium.` Microsoft has many
plans for Hindi. A recent survey by a Delhi based research organisation - Juxt
Consult - says that 44 % of existing Internet users in India prefers Hindi to
English, if made available. Similarly 25% existing Internet users prefer other
regional languages. Internet Companies understand this attitude of Indian
users. Microsoft`s Bhasha India is doing lot of job in Indian regional
languages. Delhi based Indic is also doing small but very promising effort in
developing Hindi on the web. The company has started a Hindi search engine and
is going to develop it in other regional languages. Many big companies like
Google, Yahoo and Sify are also taking big steps in Hindi and other regional
languages.
Not everyone
believes the language is dying, however, as Wajihuddin notes;
a Hindi “optimist,” Prasoon
Joshi, thinks all is not lost, that there is hope to salvage the language,
saying: “Yes, Sanskritised Hindi of Doordarshan [the government-run national
television channel] is dying and it should die.” His point is clearly directed
at the increasing popularity in the last decades of “Hinglish,” and the
increase in less formal structures in Hindi popularspeak. The language, if it
is able to adapt to an increasingly Anglicized world, and rid itself of the
rigors of Sanskritic formality, will not only survive but flourish. The overall
tone of the article, however, indicates that Hindi is endangered.
There are too many
comments I am tempted to make here, but for the sake of brevity, I am going to
address only a few. Let me start with a Forbes article published two days ago,
entitled the Bleak Future of English, asserting that the increased thrust in education
across India will result in greater Hindi usage, and diminish the number of
English speakers there. The article goes on to note that since English is the
second language of many speakers across the globe, the first languages are not
endangered, a point that Wajihuddin totally
misses.One count puts the number of first language speakers of Hindi at a
reasonably respectable 180 million people, a fact Wajihuddin neglects
to mention as well. He is not
alone in his beliefs that Hindi is endangered; politicians and scholars are
commonly quoted in the news media lamenting the rapid decline in Hindi usage.
However, the alarm bells are rung regarding its usage in towns and cities,
where people have become increasingly bilingual in Hindi and English, not monolingual
in English. Hindi continues to thrive in the heavily populated rural areas of
the “Hindi belt” and beyond.
My own observations
lead me to believe that there is a popular decline in “Sanskritised”
Hindi use, but that doesn’t automatically mean that English (that dreaded colonial inheritance!)
is being increasingly incorporated into the language; popular Hindi has adopted
a lot of Urdu vocabulary as well. The adaptability and elasticity of the
language, as Joshi notes, will help it survive. I think scaremongers are
generally more troubled about the survival of “pure” Hindi than about the
survival of Hindi. There is plenty to comment about the question of “purity,”
but I will have to reserve detailed comments for another posting: as a Native
Speaker and former teacher of Hindi (I taught it over five semesters at Cal), I
have many mixed feelings on the issue. Briefly, I believe linguistic purism is
principally rooted in nostalgia, and while I totally understand that sentiment,
I also feel that it sometimes leads to blinkered perspectives (e.g. failing to
recognize recognizing popular varieties as legitimate), that is, resistive
linguistic snobbery. I have no doubt Hindi will survive. It may not remain the
literary Hindi of yore, but it’ll be a Hindi of the people. Let’s not ring the
death knell for Hindi yet. Details of existing and new items (schemes) proposed
to be indicated below:-
i)
Development
and promotion of Modem Indian Languages through research, training, material
production etc.
ii)
Scheme
of Regional Languages Centres for training the
iii)
Scheme
of finacical assistance to NGO and individuals for selected promotional
activities including publications and purchase of books for the promotion of
Indian languages other than Hindi, Urdu and Sindhi.
iv)
Scheme
of setting up of National Centre for Translation and simultaneous
interpretation.
v)
Scheme
of development of common core grammar of Indian languages for MT system.
vi)
Scheme
of development of tribal languages etc.
With the immense popularity and international
importance of our national language, there is also a growing vista of
employment in the field of Hindi language. In different departments of the
Central government, State governments (in Hindi speaking States), it is
mandatory to work in Hindi language. So there are various posts like Hindi
Officer, Hindi Translator, Hindi Assistant, Manager (Official language) in
different departments and units of Central / State governments. The opportunities
have increased manifold with the advent of private TV and Radio channels and
launch of Hindi versions of established magazines / newspapers. In the field of
Hindi media, there is a need for Editors, Reporters, Correspondents, Sub
Editors, Proof Readers, Radio Jockey, Anchors etc. A Degree / Diploma in
Journalism / Mass Communication along with academic qualification in Hindi is
an added advantage for job seekers. One can serve the mediums of Radio / TV /
Cinema as a Script Writer / Dialogue Writer / Lyricist. This field necessitates
a natural and artistic mastery of creative writing. But a degree / diploma in
creative writing will enhance one’s style of writing. This includes translation
of the works of eminent International writers into Hindi and also those of
Hindi writers into English and other foreign languages. There is also the work
of translating scripts of films / advertisements into Hindi/ English. But
bi-lingual efficiency is the essence of this field. One can earn one’s
livelihood as a freelance translator and can also set up one’s translation
firms. Such firms take up assignments on contract basis and provide employment
to many professional translators. There are also opportunities of translation
projects from foreign agencies. The task can be easily done through internet.
There is a job opportunity in foreign countries for
the Post Graduates in Hindi language, especially those who have completed their
Ph.D. Scope of teaching Hindi language and linguistics in foreign universities
is increasing tremendously after it has been recognized as a language of
business by some foreign countries. One can always choose the traditional
option of teaching Hindi at schools, colleges & universities as teacher and
professor in India Field in which employment opportunities can be
explored in Hindi. Candidates with degree or PG in Hindi with
working knowledge of Hindi can find the following job opportunities in
different capabilities:
·
Academics
·
Media
·
Creative writing
·
Foreign jobs/interpreter in embassies
·
Translation jobs in media and other sectors
·
Administrative positions in public or government
sector organizations
This is worth mentioning that there is a growing
interest among our foreign counterparts to understand the rich Indian culture.
That is why many foreign countries have established centres of learning to
promote Indian studies. Apart from offering courses on Indian Religion, History
and Culture, these centres also offer courses in several Indian languages like
Hindi, Urdu and Sanskrit. In the globalisation and privatisation scenario,
growing business relations of India with other countries have been
necessitating the need of cross-learning of the languages of the concerned
business partner countries. This development has added to the popularity of
Hindi as a popular and easy to learn Indian language in other countries. Some
schools in US have decided to introduce Hindi as a foreign language along
with French, Spanish and German. Hindi has earned a global recognition for
itself in linguistic arena. India offers huge business potential for online
advertising industry with rising population, growing income level and changing
lifestyle. With increasing number of educated people and migration to urban
areas, increase adoption in Internet and online advertising is being witnessed.
Despite the growth, many challenges continue to plague the industry such as
underdeveloped infrastructure and lack of faith of both advertisers and
audiences, hence, Hindi being a most scientific language in the world have
bright future.
