New York, July 17 (PTI): India has asked all member states of the United Nations to take immediate and strong steps for making Hindi, the second most spoken tongue in the world, an official language of the World body.

It also made a fervent and passionate appeal to all Indians settled abroad to put pressure on their respective governments for supporting the proposal.

The proposal would take time as the political leaders and diplomats would have to convince other nations to garner their support. But work in this direction would start immediately, Karan Singh, president of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) said at the sidelines of the 8th World Hindi Conference which concluded on Sunday.

Singh, a renowned Hindi and Sanskrit scholar, was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's special envoy for the conference.