The 'Azad Hind Radio', which broadcast nationalist programmes to India as part of the German radio service, was started in:

The "Azad Hind Radio" was started in Germany in January 1942, under the leadership of Subhas Chandra Bose, as part of the German radio service.

About the Azad Hind Radio:

• It was set up to broadcast nationalist programmes and propaganda to the people of India, to encourage them to fight for freedom from British rule.
• It broadcast in several Indian languages, including English, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Persian and Pashto.
• Bose himself spoke on the radio; his first broadcast from Germany was made in February 1942, which revealed to the people of India that he was in Germany.
• The broadcasts included news, speeches, songs, and talks on the freedom struggle.
• It was based in Berlin, and later moved to the Netherlands and then elsewhere, because of the Allied bombing of Germany.

Bose's radio broadcasts:

• After Bose moved to South-East Asia in 1943, he also broadcast from Singapore and Rangoon.
• In one broadcast from Singapore on 6 July 1944, he addressed Gandhi as the "Father of the Nation".
• The British government tried to jam the broadcasts and prevented people from listening to them.

Bose in Germany:

• Bose met Adolf Hitler in May 1942, but did not get the clear support he wanted for India's independence.
• He also set up the Free India Centre in Berlin, and recruited Indian prisoners of war.
• In February 1943, he left Germany by submarine for South-East Asia.

Other secret radio stations:

During the Quit India Movement, Usha Mehta ran the underground "Congress Radio" from Bombay (1942).

Why not the other options?

• ✗1939 was the year the Second World War began.
• ✗1945 was the year the war ended.
• ✗1947 was the year of Independence.