UN starts weekly news bulletin with India’s Rashtra Bhasha ‘Hindi”

New Delhi, August 11: Swaying India’s Rashtra Bhasha on the international platform, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday said that the United Nations had started a weekly news bulletin in Hindi last month as part of a pilot project.

A Twitter account of the United Nations in Hindi was also launched in July to give people access to programmes and news from the global body. The UNHindi now has over 3,500 followers.

The 10-minute Hindi news bulletin on United Nations Radio started on July 22, she said. The Indian government is facilitating the bulletin and is bearing its expenses.

The government is making efforts to make Hindi one of the official languages at the United Nations, Swaraj said. Getting the support of 129 countries out of 193 member nations is not difficult, but the rules require that countries that support such a resolution must contribute financially to make it an official language, she said. This gets in the way of getting the support of small and developing countries, the minister said.

However, India has made it clear that it is ready to bear all expenses to make Hindi an official language at the UN, she added. She said Germany and Japan have also said that they are willing to bear all expenses to make their respective languages -- German and Japanese-- official languages of the UN.