Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha was started in Madras by Mahatma Gandhi in the year 1918. The proceedings were inaugurated by Dr. Annie Besant. It was the beginning of a movement to spread Hindi in South India. Along with the spread of Hindi, the activities of the Sabha spurred the movement for national freedom. Pracharaks and students of the Sabha were in the forefront of the freedom struggl
e. Gandhiji served as President of the Sabha till his death in Jan, 1948. In 1946, he stayed in the Sabha campus in Madras for ten days to lead the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the organisation. Mahatma Gandhi was succeeded as President by Babu Rajendra Prasad. After him a host of distinguished Indians led by Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, P.V.Narasimha Rao, B.D. Jatti and R.Venkataraman etc were Presidents of the Sabha. Sri.V.Muraleedharan, Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs is President of the Sabha since Nov 2019. Post-Independence, as the mandate of Article 351 of the Constitution of India and the object of the Sabha were in harmony, the Sabha speeded up its efforts to spread Hindi. Lakhs of people from the Southern states received their initial learning in Hindi either through the Vidyalayas maintained by the Sabha or indirectly, through Vidyalayas managed by thousands of Pracharaks trained by the Sabha and who are registered with the Sabha. In 1964, the Government of India enacted through Parliament, the Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha Act 1964, declaring the Sabha an ‘Institution of National Importance’ under Entry 63 in the Union List of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. This law empowered the Sabha ‘to hold such examinations and grant such degrees, diplomas and certificates for proficiency in Hindi or in teaching of Hindi as may be determined by the Sabha from time to time’.
