The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur is observing September as Hindi Month 2026, with a series of competitions and activities aimed at encouraging the use of Hindi and promoting the implementation of the official language on campus.
According to a post shared by IIT Kanpur, the celebrations were formally inaugurated on September 1 by Prof Braj Bhushan, Deputy Director, IIT Kanpur, with senior institute officials and members of the Rajbhasha Prakoshtha in attendance.
The programme has been structured across three broad groups — school students, institute students, and employees, officers and faculty members — giving participants an opportunity to engage with Hindi through writing, speaking, poetry and quiz-based activities.
School students will participate in four competitions scheduled for September 20. These include a drawing and colouring competition for Classes I to III, a 10-sentence Hindi writing competition for Classes IV and V, and a Hindi essay writing competition for Classes VI to VIII.
Students of Classes VI to VIII will be required to write essays of 200 to 250 words. A separate original poetry writing competition has also been planned for students of Classes IX to XII.
The inclusion of school students gives the programme an outreach component beyond the IIT Kanpur campus, bringing younger learners into the institute's Hindi Month activities.
For students enrolled at IIT Kanpur, three competitions have been scheduled.
A Tark Competition will be held on September 22, followed by a Kirdar Competition on September 24. The institute will conclude this set of student competitions with a Kavyaanjali Competition on September 26.
The events are intended to provide students with different platforms to engage with Hindi, moving beyond conventional writing exercises to include debate, performance and poetry.
A separate set of events has been planned for employees, officers and faculty members.
The schedule begins with a dictation competition for non-Hindi-speaking employees on September 17. This will be followed by Hindi essay writing on September 18 and story writing on September 21.
Participants will also compete in an extempore speech competition on September 22 and a quiz on Official Language and General Knowledge on September 23.
Two speech competitions focusing on “Unforgettable Moments of Life” are scheduled for September 24 and 25, with the latter specifically meant for senior citizens.
The celebrations will culminate with a Grand Hindi Diwas Celebration on September 30, during which winners across the three categories will be felicitated.
The programme reflects the institute's effort to promote Hindi through a wider range of activities rather than limiting Hindi Month observances to formal language-related programmes. With competitions spanning creative writing, public speaking, poetry, general knowledge and even drawing, IIT Kanpur has sought to involve different age groups and sections of its campus community.
