External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Friday that the United Nations had started a weekly news bulletin in Hindi last month as part of a pilot project, PTI reported.
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, she said. The Twitter account 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, unidentified officials told PTI.
The government is making efforts to make Hindi one of the official languages at the United Nations, Swaraj said. Getting 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.
