Sydney: In order to protect Indian culture and the traditions of the people of Indian origin in Fiji, Hindi Day will be celebrated next week in that Pacific Ocean island-nation.The programme will be held Sep 14 at the University of Fiji campus in Lautoka, the second largest city in Fiji, the Fiji Times reported on Friday.

Coordinator of Hindi studies in the university Suklesh Bali said that every year around 200 students turn up at the university campus to celebrate the event. “There is a lot of interest shown by these young people to learn the language and they are also spreading the word about the importance of learning Hindi,” the report quoted Bali as saying. Ethnic Indians comprise 37 percent of Fiji's total population of nearly 870,000. Most of them are descendants of indentured labourers who were bought in from India between 1879 and 1916 to work in the country's sugarcane plantations.