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

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

To be adopted, the proposal will require two-thirds majority in the 192-member General Assembly.

Officials at the conference explained that the member States will weigh the proposal carefully as it will lead to an increase in their financial contribution to the UN to meet the expenses, including a team of interpreters and translators for all six languages -- English, Russian, Chinese, French, Spanish and Arabic.