NEW DELHI. Hindi may still have some way to go before it become one of the official languages of the UN but it is starting to make waves for sure. The UN, on the occasion of world Hindi Day last week, launched its first news service website in hindi, providing some traction to India’s soft global outreach.
With the launch of the website, Hindi becomes the first non-UNAsian language to have that honour. The UN is currently also using Hindi on social media platforms like facebook, Twitter and instagram to enhance its reach.
The inauguration of the Hindi news website is said to be part of a UN pilot programme to promote global rules and values using languages other than the six official ones –English, Arabic, Spanish, French, Chinese and Rusian.
The UN had last Year launched a weekly news bulletin in Hindi.
The launch of the Hindi website is expected to provide a fillip to India’s efforts to make Hindi one of the official UN languages. India needs suppot from two-thirds of the 193-member UNGA to get Hindi the status.
While the government is confident of getting that kind of support for Hindi, the rules make it mandatory for countries supporting a resolution to give any language official status to also together bear expenses for it .As foreign minister Sushma Swaraj had said last year, this prevents small and developing countries from supporting any such resolution. India alone ,even if it wants to, can’t take responsibility for the financial cost involved in making Hindi an official UN language.
The UN had erlier started broadcasting its programmes on the UN Radio website in Hindi language in what swaraj had described as. A significant achievement in ensuring acceptance of Hindi as an official UN language.