‘Aadhaar’ is Oxford’s first Hindi word of the year

♦ On January 27th, 2018, the word ‘AADHAAR’ was announced by Oxford Dictionaries as the “word of the year 2017” at the Jaipur Literature Festival.

♦ ‘Aadhaar’ is a word long established in the Hindi language. However, it gained a new sense in 2010 as the shorthand name for the Aadhaar Card i.e. Unique Identification Numbers (UIN) introduced by the then government of India under Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.

♦ But this year this word came into discussion due to Aadhaar card being made mandatory by the government.

♦ This word now has another meaning-the 12-digit unique identification number issued by the government to all Indians.

♦ It is important to remember that Oxford Hindi Word of the Year was suggested by the Hindi-speaking people from all over the world including India.

♦ The accompanying shortlisted words include Notebandi, Swachh, Vikaas, Yoga and Bahubali, reflect the social, cultural, political and economic trends and events that have been part of 2017