Rashtrabhasha

Overview

Rashtrabhasha Prachar Samiti, Wardha is an all-India Hindi-promotion body founded on 4 July 1936 at Sevagram Ashram, Wardha, on Mahatma Gandhi's initiative. It followed a resolution passed at the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan's Nagpur session that year, which called for a dedicated organisation to spread Hindi in the parts of India outside the south (where the Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha had already been working for 18 years). Early supporters included Dr Rajendra Prasad, Jawaharlal Nehru, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Purushottamdas Tandon, Kaka Kalelkar and Seth Jamnalal Bajaj.

The Samiti runs a graded set of Hindi-proficiency examinations — one of which is at "Rashtrabhasha" level — under a model syllabus (Adarsh Paathyakram) that the Ministry of Education, Government of India approved by its letter no. F-12/66-H1 dated 24 April 1967. Today the Samiti operates through a central office in Wardha, 23 provincial samitis across the country, and a network the Samiti describes as over 7,800 examination centres and 17,000 pracharaks (Hindi teachers/promoters).

Who can apply

The Samiti's exams are open to the public and are not restricted to school-enrolled students; they are widely used by non-Hindi-speaking adults and students outside Hindi-medium schools who need a certified Hindi qualification, including for government job or teaching eligibility. Levels build on each other, so check the Samiti's current syllabus for the prerequisite level before registering for a given exam.

Important dates

The Samiti runs three examination sessions a year — September, February and April. For the cycles published on rashtrabhasha.org at the time of writing:

Dates change every cycle, so confirm the current session's schedule on rashtrabhasha.org before applying.

Fees

The Samiti charges separate fees for the application form, the per-candidate exam fee, the marksheet, and (for candidates in specified remote areas) an airmail fee, plus a late fee if you apply after the standard deadline. Once paid, fees are non-refundable and cannot be adjusted against a future session. Enrolment, marksheet, certificate, degree-certificate, duplicate-copy and re-evaluation fees were revised upward with effect from September 2023. Exact current amounts are published on rashtrabhasha.org's Examination page for each session and are not repeated here since they change between cycles.

How to apply

Applications are routed through a recognised examination centre by the centre-level deadline; a further, later deadline applies for applications reaching the Wardha central office directly, and a late fee applies after that. Check rashtrabhasha.org's Examination page for the current session's exact dates and the application procedure notes published there.

Preparation tips

• Use the current Adarsh Paathyakram (model syllabus) published by the Samiti, rather than an old edition, since it is periodically revised.

• Plan around the centre-level deadline, not just the later Wardha-office deadline, since most candidates apply through a centre.

• Confirm which lower level you need to have already cleared before registering for the Rashtrabhasha-level exam itself.