On Saturday, in a session at the Jaipur Literature Festival, Oxford Dictionaries (India) chose the Hindi word “Nari Shakti” as the word of the year 2018. The term means “women empowerment” and has been derived from the ancient Sanskrit language. It is used today to symbolize women “taking charge of their lives”.
Further, they mentioned that last year in March, a huge spike was recorded in the use of “Nari Shakti” as discussion began around Indian government’s Nari Shakti Puraskar (Women Power Award) given by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
A panelist of language experts also helped them in the selection of this powerful word. In 2017, the term “Aadhar” was chosen the word of the year.
According to the PTI report, Namita Gokhale, director of the Jaipur Literary Festival said, “Nari Shakti encapsulates the spirit of our times, with all its struggles, challenges, and triumphs.”