Postby eskandar » 2015-03-28, 18:00
Google Translate gives the Sanskrit transliteration for Hindi words like this. As far as I understand it's a word of Sanskrit origin that would have been pronounced with a terminal vowel in Sanskrit (vikāsa) and without one in Hindi (vikās). I could be wrong - I don't know Sanskrit and don't really know Hindi, but that's my understanding.
The spelling of the word in Hindi is विकास. There isn't one standard way to write it in English; different people may spell it differently according to various systems. You could write it as vikās, vikas, or vikaas. Most ordinary Indians would not use the macron (the dash over the 'a', which is straight, not angled) nor even know how to produce it with a keyboard; they would probably write 'vikas' or 'vikaas'. However it's generally used by academics and other specialists.
If you have Indian partners you're working with in your NGO, I'm sure they can advise you better. If not, I might advise you to choose an English name instead. English is considered by many Indians (especially from non-Hindi-speaking areas) to be a more neutral language. Keep in mind that Hindi is the mother tongue of only 41% of Indians, at most. In most of the south, for example, people are far more comfortable in English than Hindi and many don't know Hindi at all. However if you're going to be operating in the 'Hindi belt' then there's probably no problem with using a Hindi name.
Hope that helps.
Please correct my mistakes in any language.