ITV

Category: I&B Ministry

  • Ashok Parmar appointed MIB joint secretary

    NEW DELHI: Ashok K R Parmar is taking over as joint secretary in the information and broadcasting ministry in place of Mihir Kumar Singh. 

    Parmar, a 1992 batch Indian Administrative Service officer of the Jammu and Kashmir cadre, will take charge for a period of five years from the date of assumption of the position. 

    Singh, a 1993 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre, will take charge as the special secretary in the department of animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries on lateral shift basis. He will assume charge for a period of five-year central deputation tenure up to 21 January 2020 or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

    Singh is taking charge from Adhithela J V Prasad, a 1986 batch IAS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre.

    Earlier, in a separate development, Prasar Bharati chairman Surya Prakash wrote to the government to expedite the selection of a new CEO and member (personnel) in the pubcaster. Prakash told the indiantelevision.com that he had sought from the government to ensure the vacancies are filled soon to facilitate decision-making. A high-level committee headed by India’s vice-president Hamid Ansari is needed to meet as stipulated in the Prasar Bharati Act 1990 to select a new CEO and other members. Meanwhile, member (finance) Rajeev Singh was scheduled to take over as the interim chief executive officer of the pubcaster from 6 February. He succeeds Suresh C Panda who was the member (personnel) and is due to retire on 4 February.

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  • MIB taking up EMMC contractual workers issues on top priority

    MUMBAI: Several hundreds contractual workers of the Electronic Media Monitoring Centre (EMMC), which falls under the ministry of information and broadcasting yesterday protested in New Delhi. They were demanding increase in the duration of their contract period as well as wage hike.

    However, a ministry official said the demands raised by EMMC employees were “not new, and they are being taken up with top priority” by the ministry.

    In a memorandum to the information and broadcasting minister Venkaiah Naidu, the employees demanded raise in their salaries alleging that they had not got any hike in the last three years while the Central government employees were getting wages as per 7th Pay Commission recommendations. They also claimed that a majority of them had working there for around 7-8 years.

    The protesters, demonstrating outside the Shastri Bhawan, said that they were employed on contractual basis for three months. For the last three times, they claimed, that they were assessed on the basis of a written test while, earlier it was done on the basis of work. The employees said the workers in similar media organisations such as Doordarshan News were employed on a year’s contract, and were judged on the basis of work.

  • MIB: Check permission of ads using emblems & important names, Paytm, Jio apologise

    MUMBAI: The Department of Consumer Affairs sought clarification from Paytm and Reliance Jio regarding use of the photograph of the prime minister in their respective full page advertisement contravening the ‘prior permission’ stipulation in such cases under ‘The Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950’.

    Paytm and Reliance Jio apologised for their inadvertent mistake. Further, based on a request from the Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has issued an advisory to print medium to check-up the permission/authority from Competent Authority before issuing any advertisement wherein the Emblem and Names Specified under the act are mentioned.

    Section 3 of ‘The Emblems and Name (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950’ stipulates that ‘no person shall, except in such cases and under such conditions as may be prescribed by the Central Government, use, or continue to use, for the purpose of any trade, business, calling or profession or in the title of any patent, or in any trade mark or design, any name or emblem specified in the Schedule or any colourable imitation thereof without the previous permission of the Central Government or of such officer of Government as may be authorized in this behalf by the Central Government.’ A committee is in existence in Department of Consumer Affairs for inter-alia examining proposals regarding prior approval stipulation under ‘ the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950’.

    This information was given by the minister of state for consumer affairs, food & public distribution C.R. Chaudhary in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.

  • Transponder rentals: Prior MIB approval not needed for EEFC forex payments

    MUMBAI: India’s ministry of information & broadcasting (MIB) has eased rules for broadcasters and teleport owners making foreign currency payments for transponder rentals for uplinking to foreign satellites. It has issued a notice that allows them to make payments from their Exchange Earners’ Foreign Currency (EEFC) accounts to them without approaching it for approval.

    The notice reiterates that “all broadcast companies and teleport operators, as per MIB’s advisory dated 25 June 2014, are advised to strictly follow the guidelines under provisions of the FEMA Act 1999 read with Master Circular No. 6/2014-15 dated 1 July 2014 along with Schedule II thereof issued by RBI. Proposals seeking prior approval would require to be sent to this Ministry only if the proposed remittance is from other than EEFC accounts.”

    According to the provisions, it requires prior approval of the MIB for making remittance of foreign exchange towards availing transponder services on foreign satellite for up-linking of TV Channels/Teleport services/DSNG Operations/Temporary events. Rule 4 of Master Circular provides that, “No person shall draw foreign exchange for a transaction included in the Schedule II without prior approval of the Government of India.

    However, a specific exemption is provided for EEFC account holders. Rule 6 (l) of Master Circular states that, “Nothing contained in the Rule 4 or Rule 5 shall ‘apply to drawl made out’ of funds held in Exchange Earners’ Foreign Currency (EEFC) account of the remitter,” according to the notice signed by under-secretary to the government of India Manmeet Kaur.

    In the past, the ministry had been entertaining such cases where payments (usually, part payments) were being made from this account, and then issuing approval for remittances proposed to be made from other than EEFC Account.

  • Naidu meets MIB women officers to establish empowerment, emancipation & equality within society

    NEW DELHI: On a day when Women are taking centre-stage in every field. Information and Broadcasting Minister M.Venkaiah Naidu took time off to just meet the women officers in his Ministry to assure them that he appreciated the efforts made by them to mainstream the vision of Reform, Perform and Transform.

    He said he was hopeful of political empowerment of women becoming a reality soon under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    This is for the first time that such an interface with women personnel was organized on the occasion of International Women’s Day by the Ministry. Women staff from all sections and ranks participated in the interaction with Naidu.

    The Minister also interacted with the staff on their experiences in working in the Ministry.

    On the issue of reservation for women, Naidu said a strong political will and change in mind sets were critical elements in addressing the larger issues related to women. It was also critical to firmly establish the 3Es – Women Empowerment, Emancipation and Equality – within the institutional framework of society and this should be facilitated by all stakeholders.

    Naidu said it was time to celebrate all the women in our lives – our Mothers, Sisters, Daughters and Wives. Each and every woman is gentle, caring and kind. He said that woman is synonymous to perfection, hard work, efficient, multi- tasker and compassion that have made this world more humane. It was imperative that we must appreciate and respect their beautiful hearts. He urged all to acknowledge and celebrate all the things they have achieved. Although Women’s Day was celebrated today, but Celebrating women and girl child should be an everyday ritual.

    He said women who are referred to as the ‘better half’ in a relation were actually the ‘best half’ in any relation. They have always been Friend, Philosopher and Guide in each and every aspect of life. Mentioning the importance of woman in our lives, the Minister also quoted Brigham Young that, “You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation”.

  • 892 pvt TV channels against 1500 targeted in 12th Plan

    NEW DELHI: India has a total of 892 functional private television channels as on 28 February 2017 despite a claim made last year that the country will have 1500 channels by the end of this month. A master list issued by the Government includes in the 892 eleven channels whose permission has been “cancelled by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry due to security denial by Home Ministry However stay order given by Court.”

    While permission was accorded to a total of 1061 TV channels, the licences of 169 were cancelled. (This does not include the eleven whose cases were stayed by Courts.)

    Of the 892, 391 are news channels while 501 are general entertainment channels. Of these, 782 channels including 369 news channels are permitted to uplink from and downlink in India. Another 90 including 15 news channels are uplinked from overseas but permitted to downlink into India.

    In comparison, the country has only twenty channels including seven news channels which are uplinked from India but permitted to downlinked in other countries.

    Interestingly, the number of total channels has grown from 869 in February-end 2016 to 892 in February-end this year. This number had risen to 899 by the end of December 2016 when the total cancellations were 155. By January-end this year, the number had fallen to 889 of which twelve banned channels had received stay orders from Courts.

    Channels permitted in February this year are: History TV18 HD uplinking and the Telugu Hindu Dharmam which only uplinking permission and Sony BBC Earth HD which has downlinking permission.

    The list of the channels permitted as on 28 February 2017 along with their area and language of operation and the names of owning companies has been placed on the ministry site.

    The Parliamentary Standing Committee for Information Technology which goes into issues relating to Information and Broadcasting had last year noted that the State Finance Commission while drafting its proposals for the 12th Plan (2012-17) had assumed that the number of permitted TV channels would rise to 1500.

    The Committee was informed that during the year 2015-16, 11 cases were found where TV channels were in violation of content guidelines (Programme Code and Advertisement Code).

    While there is no provision of pre-censorship of the content telecast on private TV channels, all programmes/ advertisements telecast on such TV channels are required to adhere to the Programme and Advertising Codes prescribed under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and the rules framed thereunder. Action is taken whenever any violation of the Codes is noticed or brought to the notice of the Ministry.

    Meanwhile, the Committee was told that the present set up of Electronic Media Monitoring Centre had developed logging and recording facility for 900 TV channels and is thus fully equipped to start monitoring of all permitted channels available on public domain.

    The Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd. (BECIL) is configuring all available free to air channels in the content monitoring system of the EMMC.

    However, configuration of pay channels requires broadcasters to provide necessary equipment for downloading and decryption of the content/signal and this is expected to be completed within four months’ time.

    By the end of Fiscal Year 2014-15, EMMC successfully achieved the Plan target of content acquisition facility of 600 TV channels. Under the 12th Plan, Rs.563.7 million had been utilized as of 31 March 2016 out of the total outlay of Rs.900 million.

    The Committee was told that the budget estimate for 2016-17 had been reduced to Rs 120 million as compared to Rs 210 million in 2015-16, out of which Rs 197.6 million had been spent by 3 March 2016. The budget for EMMC for 2017-18 has again been retained at Rs 120 million, same as in the previous year.

    The Ministry said its target under the Machinery and Equipment head was to develop content acquisition facility for additional 300 TV channels by the end of FY 2016-17.

  • Govt committed to self-regulation on issues of freedom of press: Rathore

    NEW DELHI: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore today said the Government believes in the philosophy of Self Regulation regarding to the issues related to freedom of Press.

    The Minister was speaking with a UNESCO delegation led by its Assistant Director General for Communication & Information today in New Delhi Frank La Rue.

    The delegation apprised the Minister about the varied activities of UNESCO in the field of Media and Communication. Possible areas of collaboration with the Government were also highlighted by the delegation.

    The Minister said Community Radio will address the information needs at the grassroot level, providing updates on different local and relevant issues in their own language and dialect.

    He said the Government stood committed in its objective to provide the last mile connectivity through various communication platforms including Community Radio which has been provided a big push through various initiatives.

    He said the Ministry has increased the subsidy for setting up CRS from 50 per cent to 90 per cent in the North Eastern States and 75 per cent in other states subject to a maximum limit of Rs 7,50,000. In order to make it more participatory, varied set of participants including Universities and NGOs have been permitted to set up CR stations in the country.

  • Naidu concerned over stereotypical portrayal of women

    NEW DELHI: Information and broadcasting minster M Venkaiah Naidu expressed concern over the stereotypical portrayal of women in movies which led to increased objectification.

    The minister said media should play a greater role in informing women about their rights and Nari Shakti programmes should be encouraged across media platforms. It was imperative to draw from the valuable contributions and examples set by great women leaders and intellectuals who have adorned the history of our nation.

    Speaking at the celebration of the 100th episode of the DD News programme Tejaswani devoted to women empowerment at which Minister of State Rajyavardhan Rathore was also present, Naidu said gave another example of media playing a positive role when he said the #SelfieWithDaughters campaign launched by Prime Minister through his Mann ki Baat on All India Radio became a worldwide phenomenon trending among top five across the world.

    Naidu also felicitated 14 Tejasvini from different walks of life on the occasion. The Minister also inaugurated the Tejaswini YouTube link on the occasion.

    He urged Prasar Bharati to play a vital role in spreading the message of the numerous schemes the government for the girl child, adolescent girl and women. Creating and developing programmes which carried the message, preferably in a subtle manner, of the latent talent and strength women possessed.

    Some iof the Tejasvinis honoured are:  

    1.  Deepa Malik, Paralympic 2017 Silver Medalist

    2.  Pandita Anuradha Pal, World’s First Woman Professional Tabla Player

    3.  Sonal Mansigh, Bharatnatyam Artiste

    4.  Pragya Ghildiyal, Best Sports person with disabilities

    5.  Santosh Yadav, Mountaineer

  • Industry surprised on Deepak’s transfer from DoT, Jio connection refuted

    NEW DELHI: Senior Indian Services officer J.S Deepak, who is to take charge as the next Indian ambassador to the World Trade Organisation in June this year, has been removed from his post of telecom secretary in the Department of Telecommunications.

    He has been temporarily moved to the Department of Commerce as Officer on Special Duty (OSD).

    A telecom ministry official, when contacted by indiantelevision.com, sought to play down the change, saying it was a routine transfer. However, he declined to answer questions on why this was not announced the way other transfers are announced through the personnel ministry.

    Although the official denied any connection with the Jio controversy, industry experts expressed surprised at the abrupt transfer and said it appeared a very clearly motivated act.

    Interestingly, Deepak was moved shortly after he wrote to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India asking it to restrict the period of promotional packs offered by telcos, which is currently has a maximum validity of 90 days. He added that the Reliance Jio’s free offers have cost the government almost Rs 8 billion and that has affected the telecom industry. He pointed out to TRAI’s regulation which mentions that any kind of pack which is “promotional in nature” cannot be offered beyond 90 days.

    Deepak has earlier played the role of chief negotiator (India) at the WTO while signing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement, a global free trade agreement. Deepak also held an administerial position at DoT when it first introduced e-auctions during the 2010 spectrum auctions.

    Deepak joined the DoT first in 2008 as Joint Secretary and has also worked with various government departments overlooking policy. He earlier served as the chairman and managing director of State Trading Corporation (STC) of India, member of the board of directors of state-owned telcos BSNL, and MTNL.

    Deepak also holds a board position at the Board of India Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO), Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) and the Governing Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).

    He has also worked as a consultant with The Policy Project, a group of US-based institutes that looked into framing population and health policies. He holds an MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

  • Diktat on coverage of anti-terrorism efforts & sharing sports feed with DD reiterated

    NEW DELHI: In an effort to remind television news channels about avoiding incorrect or provoking news, the Government repeated notifications issued by it earlier in regard to coverage of anti-terrorist activities, depiction of cruelty to animals, and coverage of sports events.

    The most recent notification of 17 January this year is a change under the Mandatory Sharing of Sporting signals by private channels with Doordarshan relating to sports of national importance.

    It seeks to cover other sports like Summer Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, Special Olympics, Paralympics and events relating to tennis, Davis Cup-All matches featuring India; Grand Slam Tournaments (Finals of Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles and all matches featuring Indian player from quarter-finals onwards); and Grand Slam Tournaments (All such matches featuring Indian Player in men’s doubles, Women’s doubles or Mixed doubles from quarter-finals onwards), Hockey, World Cup (All matches featuring India and semi-finals and finals), Champions Trophy (All matches featuring India and finals); and Indira Gandhi Gold Cup for Women-Semi-finals and finals; Football; World Cup – Opening match, semi-finals and finals; Asia Cup – All matches featuring India and semi-finals and finals; and Santosh Trophy – Semi-finals and finals.

    http://mib.nic.in/writereaddata/documents/Notification_dated_27.1.2017.pdf

    The notification about depiction of cruelty to animals is dated 19 August last year: http://mib.nic.in/writereaddata/documents/Notification_dated_19.8.2016.pdf

    The recent events in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka relating to traditional folk sports relating to animals has made this repetition necessary, a Ministry source told indiantelevision.com.

    The third is about coverage of anti-terrorist activities and is dated 21 March 2015: http://mib.nic.in/writereaddata/documents/Notification_dated_21.03.2015.pdf

    After the Mumbai terrorist attacks of 25 November 2008, both the government and self-regulatory bodies had issued guidelines about coverage of anti-terrorist activities in the wake of public outcry.

    The recent events in Kashmir with stoning of police forces have led to further outcry in other parts of the country.