AlR’s year-long celebrations to mark 80 years of External Services

asiaradiotoday.com,Thursday 04 October, 2018

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India’s national broadcaster All India Radio (AIR) plans to mark 80 years of its External Services with year-long celebrations, which began with a cultural evening in New Delhi.

The celebrations will culminate next year on the 80th anniversary of its first broadcast for foreign listeners.

The first external broadcast from AIR was a Pashto service started by the then British rulers to counter the Nazi Germany propaganda during World War II on the October 1, 1939.

All Indian missions abroad will observe the External Broadcasting Day in recognition of the cardinal role played by the External Services Division as a tool of public diplomacy and projecting India's image in the global arena.

The theme of the event is - Gandhi's Vision of Global Peace.

AIR's External Services Division broadcasts programmes have a reach of over 150 countries through short and medium wave.

It offers news bulletins and other programmes in 28 languages, out of which 14 are for the immediate neighbourhood.

The foreign language services include Arabic, Baluchi, Burmese, Chinese, Dari, French, Indonesian, Persian and Baloch, while plans are underway to start services in Japanese and Bhutanese.