Hindi Belt
This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2015) |
Hindi Belt | |
---|---|
Region | |
Country | India |
Major urban agglomerations (2011 census) | |
States and Union Territories | |
Area Hindi–Urdu, Maithili |
The Hindi Belt, also known as the Hindi Heartland, is a linguistic region encompassing parts of
The term "Hindi belt" is sometimes also used to refer to the nine Indian states whose official language is
It is also sometimes broadly referred to as the "
Hindi as a dialect continuum
This section needs additional citations for verification. (February 2021) |
Hindi is part of the Indo-Aryan dialect continuum that lies within the cultural Hindi Belt in the northern plains of India. Hindi in this broad sense is a sociolinguistic rather than an ethnic concept.[citation needed]
This definition of Hindi is one of the ones used in the
The broad sense covers a number of
In a middle sense, Hindi is equated with the
In many states like Himachal Pradesh, Hindi is the official language despite large resistance due to the region being part of the Western Pahari linguistic belt which also includes Jammu areas of the Jammu and Kashmir (princely state) further extending to Pakistan's Pothohar Plateau.[14][15]
Number of speakers
Population data from 2011 Indian Census is as follows:
- Central Indo-Aryan
- Western Hindi languages
- 240 M Hindi
- 9.8 M Haryanvi
- 1.5 M Braj Bhasha
- 9.5 M Kanauji
- 5.6 M Bundeli
- Eastern Hindi languages
- 4.5 M Awadhi
- 18.2 M Chhattisgarhi
- 2.6 M Bagheli
- 1.7 M Surgujia
- Western Hindi languages
- Bihari languages apart from Maithili
- Rajasthani languages
- 7.8 M Marwari-Merwari
- 5.2 M Malvi
- 2.3 M Nimadi
- 4.8M Lambadi
- 2.9 M Harauti
- 3 M Godwari
- 2 M Bagri
According to the 2001 Indian census,[16] 258 million people in India (25% of the population) regarded their native language to be "Hindi", however, including other languages considered by the census as Hindi, this figure becomes 422 million Hindi speakers (41% of the population). These figures do not count 52 million Indians who considered their mother tongue to be "Urdu", which is mutually intelligible with Hindi. The numbers are also not directly comparable to the table above; for example, while independent estimates in 2001 counted 37 million speakers of Awadhi,[17] in the 2001 census only 2½ million of these identified their language as "Awadhi" rather than as "Hindi".
There have been demands to include
Outside the Indian subcontinent
This section needs additional citations for verification. (February 2021) |
Much of the Hindi spoken outside of the subcontinent is distinct from the Indian standard language.
Geography and demography
The highly fertile, flat, alluvial Gangetic plain occupies the northern portion of the Hindi Heartland, the Vindhyas in Madhya Pradesh demarcate the southern boundary and the hills and dense forests of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh lie in the east. The region has a predominantly subtropical climate, with cool winters, hot summers and moderate monsoons. The climate does vary with latitude somewhat, with winters getting cooler and rainfall decreasing. It can vary significantly with altitude, especially in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
The Hindi Heartland supports about a third of India's population and occupies about a quarter of its geographical area. The population is concentrated along the fertile Ganges plain in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar.
Although the vast majority of the population is rural, significant urban cities include
Political sphere
Over the years political development in some of these states has been dominated by caste-based politics, but this has changed somewhat in recent years with the BJP national victory in 2014 and state victory in Uttar Pradesh in 2017.[24] In 2019 election, 226 members from the Hindi belt states had been elected to the Lok Sabha.[25][26]
See also
Bibliography
- ISBN 81-85395-27-6
- ISBN 978-0-521-29944-2.
- Shapiro, Michael C. (2003), "Hindi", in Cardona, George; Jain, Dhanesh (eds.), The Indo-Aryan Languages, Routledge, pp. 250–285, ISBN 978-0-415-77294-5.
Notes
- ^ Some languages may be over- or underrepresented as the census data used is at the state-level. For example, while Urdu has 52 million speakers (2001), in no state is it a majority as the language itself is primarily limited to Indian Muslims.
References
- ^ "Largest State in India 2022: Check the list of all states by area and population". 16 February 2022.
- ^ "A-1 No of Villages, Towns, Households, Population and Area". Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
- ^ "Report of the Commissioner for linguistic minorities: 50th report (July 2012 to June 2013)" (PDF). Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 July 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
- ISBN 9780865906082,
... In the Hindi heartland ...
- ISBN 0-415-33998-7,
... located in what is called the "Hindi heartland" or the "Hindi belt" of north and central India ...
- ISBN 81-237-2120-X
- ^ "Battle for the Hindi heartland: Will it favour the BJP again?". www.orfonline.org.
- ^ a b "Congress' revival in Hindi patti". www.nationalheraldindia.com. 8 February 2019.
- ^ "How languages intersect in India". Hindustan Times. 22 November 2018.
- ^ "How many Indians can you talk to?". www.hindustantimes.com. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
- ^ "Hindi and the North-South divide". 9 October 2018.
- ^ Pillalamarri, Akhilesh. "India's Evolving Linguistic Landscape". thediplomat.com. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
- ISBN 9780875864389.
In the 'Hindi-Urdu belt' also these variations are visible
- ^ Sharma, Vishal (14 September 2018). "Hindi Belt's Imposition Sparks Resistance in Himachal Pradesh". TheQuint. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
- ^ Sharma, Vishal (7 June 2019). "Dreaming of Peace Dividends: Revival of Shimla-Murree Linkages". The Wire. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
- ^ "Census of India: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues –2001". censusindia.gov.in. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
- ^ USCWM
- ^ "38 languages stake claim to be in Eighth schedule". www.dailyexcelsior.com. 15 August 2013.
- ^ Pathak, Vikas (20 January 2017). "Don't add Hindi dialects in Eighth Schedule, say academics". The Hindu.
- ^ "Linguists divided over inclusion of Bhojpuri in 8th Schedule". www.indiatoday.in.
- ^ "Housing and Population Census of Mauritius 1972" (PDF). Ministry of Economic Planning and Development. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
- ^ "2022 Population Census - Main Results" (PDF). Government of Mauritius. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
- ^ Murdan, Anjani (10 June 2022). "Is the Bhojpuri language spoken by only 5.3% of the Mauritian population, as stated by the 2011 Census report?". Mauritius Times. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
- S2CID 162845558.
- ^ "2019 elections may have no precedent in terms of past elections". @businessline. 10 February 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
- ^ "Why BJP is staring at a loss of nearly 100 seats from 2014 tally". 9 November 2018.
External links
- On The Problems Of The Hindi Belt: A Seminar Archived 18 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- Bhatele, Abhinav: Introduction To Hindi (Archived 1 June 2012)