Firstly, many thanks for standing tall for the cause of the Hindi Language program at La Trobe. Our support was solely on the following reasons: 1. for supporting the largest spoken language of India, 2. to make stakeholders understand the importance of soft-cultural power and diplomacy through language (in this case Hindi, but our passion, is and will remain the same for any language group, or sub-group from India, and we must add that we also support and respect all other languages, thus we made sure that we also include saving Greek and Indonesian languages at La Trobe in our communications), 3. Due importance to language courses at University level must be given, 4. The community must work together to take forward the Australia-India relations beyond Bollywood and Cricket, and finally, 5. Indian being a key partner of Australia, and Indian diaspora forming the third largest migrant group, it is high time that we acknowledge that partnership, and move beyond tokenism. We are really grateful to various Member of Parliament, Federal, State and Council level politicians for lending their support to the cause of Hindi and writing to the La Trobe University. We acknowledge the phenomenal response from the community, the online petition on Change.org http://chng.it/bhP4JBWb received the signatures of almost 2500 people in just a week’s time, which is commendable, and also showcases how passionate are people for Hindi, and would certainly like to see its continuation at the university level, at this instance at La Trobe. We would also like to add that the international community also provided their support for this cause, people from the USA, UK, India, and other countries expressed concern and have sent letters to La Trobe for the reconsideration of their decision to close the Hindi Programme. Some of the suggestions that have been made to the University are: 1. Alternatives that allow the university to maintain a Hindi program for less cost, while also attracting more students. 2. The university must take into account the overwhelming support that the Hindi program has received from the public, politicians, and community groups. 3. Since multiple federal ministers have indicated a willingness to explore funding options, thus, it would be premature to close the Hindi Program before the Vice Chancellor’s office has a chance to engage directly with these ministers. 4. The Review Committee at La Trobe must request the Vice Chancellor’s office to do engage with politicians, and the community to understand their sentiment/response, and how best they can utilize the support offered. 5. We hope that some arrangement can be made for 3 years of support for the Hindi Language Programme at La Trobe, to help is get through the crisis. 6. We would support any University campaign to raise awareness of the Hindi program among students from India. 7. If immediate commitment cannot be obtained from the government, in that case, one year delay on any decision, so that we continue to explore various possibilities. 8. In case if it is decided that the Hindi major must be eliminated, we would like to urge the University to keep a core number of Hindi subjects operating. These would be electives that operate as “service subjects” to other programs and departments in the university. Thank you & we look forward to your support in future as well to promote second languages in this country.