'Aadhaar’ is Oxford Dictionaries' 'Hindi Word of the Year'

World Monday 29/January/2018 13:35 PM
By: Times News Service
'Aadhaar’ is Oxford Dictionaries' 'Hindi Word of the Year'

Muscat: The word 'Aadhaar' has been chosen by Oxford Dictionaries as its first 'Hindi Word of the Year'.
In November, 2017, Oxford Dictionaries announced its search for ‘Hindi Word of The Year’.
The organisation invited speakers of the language to help choose a Hindi word that that captured prevailing ideas, attitudes, and concerns of 2017.
And now, weeks after researching, reviewing and consulting a panel of language experts, Oxford Dictionaries has chosen its first ever 'Hindi Word of the Year': Aadhaar.
In modern Hindi, aadhaar means ‘base’ or ‘foundation’, but the decision to use this word as the name of India’s new identification initiative put it at the centre of a social and political debate in India that also attracted the attention of the rest of the world in 2017. Aadhaar is a 12-digit identification number assigned to all residents of India. The idea was to eliminate duplicate and fake identities, and to facilitate the delivery of social benefits and services to Indian s. However, this lead to a lot of controversy regarding privacy issues and security breaches and thus it became one of the most common words in India.
But, it wasn’t the only word that was popular. Here are four other words that were favoured.
Baahubali: A word that originally referred to a person capable of accomplishing any task through a combination of courage and physical strength. 'Baahubali' gained national prominence in India in 2017 with the release of a fantasy-action film 'Baahubali 2'.
Vikaas: The word that means development or growth, became a key term in the current government’s growth and improvement-focused agenda. But it also figured heavily in the year’s most widely shared memes and slogans criticising the government.
Swachh: Which means clean and orderly is the operative word in Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission).
Yoga: Is a physical, mental and spiritual practice originating from India.