‘Aatmanirbharta’ announced Oxford Hindi Word of the year 2020

New Delhi: Oxford Languages named ‘Aatmannirbharta’ as its Hindi word of the year 2020 considering that the word has best corroborated the perilous lives of almost every Indian during the COVID-19 pandemic year.

An advisory panel of language experts including Kritika Agrawal, Poonam Nigam Sahay and Imogen Foxell selected the word under the respective category.

‘Aatmanirbharta’ meaning self-reliance, has been a majorly used term since the beginning of 2020 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation regarding ways to cope with COVID-19 adversities. The word has been used to convey ethos, mood, or preoccupations of the passing year and its lasting potential as a term of cultural significance stated Oxford languages.

This apart, COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing large-scale was made possible under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat campaign and an excerpt from its development process was showcased by the Department of Biotechnology during this year’s Republic Day Parade at Rajpath in New Delhi.

Oxford University Press India managing director Sivaramarkrishnan Venkateswaran narrated that the word ‘Aatmanirbharta’ found resonance with people as it was looked upon as an answer to the revival of a COVID impacted economy.

Penalist Kritika Agrawal was also quoted by the media saying that the word stood out as it validated the achievements of countless Indians on a daily basis as they dealt with the perils of the pandemic.

Worth mentioning,  some other Hindi words had made it to the list in the earlier years: ‘Aadhar’ (2017), ‘NARI Shakti’ (2018) and ‘Samvidhaan’ (2019).