After 54 years, Voice of America switches off its Hindi service:

New Delhi, September 13: It would appear Chacha Sam no longer needs his Hindi-speaking bhatijas to listen to him. Perhaps he’s now come to trust them, so the words are redundant. Or perhaps he’s now given up on them, so the words are wasted.

Fifty-four years after it started broadcasting, Voice of America (VoA) is switching off its Hindi service. VoA Hindi will broadcast its final programme on September 30, following which its six-member team — at the centre of over 1,200 fan clubs and catering to nearly 8 million listeners — will fall silent.

VoA Hindi crackled to life on July 1, 1954 when the war hero Dwight D Eisenhower was President of America, and Jawaharlal Nehru’s India was on the verge of presenting to the world its philosophy of non-alignment. Now, in a radically transformed world, the US Broadcasting Board of Governors has struck Hindi off the list of 45 languages that America uses to speak to the world. [From Internet]