- Veteran Akashvani news reader Venkataraman passed away at the age of 102.
- On 4 February, Venkatraman passed away in Chennai.
- He was the first person to convey the important news of India’s independence in Tamil from Delhi on the morning of 15 August 1947.
- The news was first broadcast in Tamil language on Radio Ceylon at 5.45 am.
- Venkataraman worked with All India Radio for 64 years as a regular and casual artiste.
- When he entered radio, he was a scriptwriter but later joined the Tamil news section in New Delhi.
