NEW DELHI: Noting that mobile phones acted as a tool of empowerment to all sections of society, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar suggested that All India Radio could consider customised news and related information to varied sections of the society.

Javadekar said the Government has initiated innovative approaches in reaching out to the people through multiple media platforms.

The endeavour was to address the communication needs to enter into a dialogue with different cross-sections of society and address the aspirations of young people.

The Minister stated this while launching the free News SMS service of All India Radio News Services Division in four Indian languages - Assamese, Gujarati, Tamil and Malayalam – thus bringing the total number of languages covered by this service to fourteen.

Javadekar said the SMS services of AIR intended to provide instant communication to the public in a language and form understood by them. The service reiterated the richness and reach of each of the languages introduced by AIR.

AIR had launched SMS service in English on 9 September last year and in five other languages on 19 September this year – Hindi, Marathi, Dogri, Sanskrit and Nepali – to provide AIR News on mobile sets to its subscribers free of cost. The Service has already touched the database of over three lakh subscribers.