eNews

BBC Studios to launch ad-free streamer BBC Select

Published

5 years ago

December 17, 2020

MUMBAI: BBC Studios is foraying into the global streaming market with BBC Select, an ad-free subscription channel launching in early 2021 in the US and Canada.

BBC Select will be available on Amazon Prime Video and the Apple TV app and offer a diverse range of programs about culture, politics and ideas. Most of the shows will be exclusive premieres for audiences in the US and Canada.

“For nearly a century, the BBC has been synonymous with extraordinary television programs – full stop. Name any genre, the BBC is best in class at identifying talent and providing them a platform for expression,” said Americas BBC Studios president Rebecca Glashow. “As we shift our business focus to engaging our fans direct, the digital space offers us the opportunity to bring audiences a portfolio of shows that bring new ideas and perspectives into the conversation. Our research has shown that audiences are looking for an alternative to what is already out there. BBC Select is it.”

“BBC Select is for those who crave knowledge, new perspectives, and programs that are not your standard fare,” added general manager and launch director Louise la Grange. “BBC Select will combine a rich line up of never-before-seen shows in the US and Canada with a prized portfolio of thought-provoking, eye-opening programmes that provide context and colour to the world we all share – all in one place.”

Some of programmes being shown exclusively on BBC Select are:

Shock of the Nude, hosted by professor of classics Mary Beard, gives a personal take on the nude in western art, right from ancient Greece to the present, and asks why artists seem so obsessed by nudity;

Reggie Yates in China sees actor, DJ, and presenter Reggie Yates travel to four very different cities in China to discover the new fault-lines in society and how they affect a generation who have grown up with seemingly more freedom than that of any other in the last 70 years;

In Search of Frida Kahlo follows musician Emeli Sandé – who was inspired by the paintings of Kahlo when writing her album – as she visits Mexico City to tell the story of one of Mexico’s most famous artists.

Fall of an Icon explores the life of Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi, who after 15 years of house arrest was celebrated as an icon of democracy. But years on, she is now seen by many as an international pariah.

Mystery of the Missing Princess tells the story of Princess Latifa, the daughter of Dubai’s ruler, who attempted to escape from torture and imprisonment at the hands of her father.

Putin – A Russian Spy Story is the portrait of a politician who modelled himself on the Russian James Bond and whose presidency reads like a spy thriller.

The Last Igloo follows a lone Inuit as he hunts, fishes, and constructs an igloo. It tells the story of skills that are disappearing and of how climate change is affecting the lives of Greenland's indigenous people.

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Food for thought Feeding India serves 23 crore meals and counting

Published

1 week ago

January 29, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Hunger may be stubborn, but Feeding India is proving it is not unbeatable. The not-for-profit has served more than 23 crore meals over the past seven years, turning nourishment into a nationwide movement that now spans over 150 cities, according to its Annual Report for FY 2024–25.

Titled A Year of Nourishing Dreams, the report captures a year in which the organisation sharpened its focus from simply filling plates to shaping futures. At the heart of its work is the fight against child malnutrition, with Feeding India now supporting over 1.4 lakh children every day through its partner network.

Its daily feeding programme has grown into a vast ecosystem, covering 1,097 partner schools and 726 Anganwadi centres. These include 275 formal schools, 720 informal learning centres, 58 schools for children with disabilities, and 32 orphan homes. Menus are tailored to local tastes, from rajma chawal in the North to idli sambhar in the South, ensuring meals are nutritious, culturally familiar and widely accepted. Food is provided through a mix of on-site kitchens and centralised cooking facilities.

Recognising that malnutrition often begins long before children enter classrooms, Feeding India has stepped deeper into early childhood care. Across districts such as Gurugram, Kushinagar and Varanasi, the organisation has worked with 726 Anganwadi centres, impacting around 27,000 children aged 0–6 years. More than 30 Anganwadis have been upgraded using Building as Learning Aid concepts, creating brighter, safer and more child-friendly spaces. In Varanasi, a pilot programme now provides full breakfast and lunch meals, a significant shift from the usual supplementary snacks.

The year also tested the organisation’s ability to respond in crisis. During 2024–25, Feeding India distributed nearly 2,000 ration kits following floods in Assam and landslides in Kerala, and served over 1.9 lakh hot meals after the Uttarakhand cloudburst. Relief operations extended to Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the wake of Cyclone Fengal.

Community participation remains central to the model. Events such as the Zomato Feeding India Concert, featuring Dua Lipa, brought together 28,000 people in 2024, while initiatives like Poshan Potli nutrition kits supported tuberculosis patients during recovery in Varanasi.

Funding patterns underline the power of platforms. Zomato users contributed nearly 80 per cent of total funds, amounting to Rs 74 crore, while Blinkit customers added 15 per cent, or Rs 14 crore. The remaining around 5 per cent came from institutional donors, employees and direct website contributions. Donors can track their impact directly via the Zomato or Blinkit apps, seeing how many meals they have funded and where those meals were served.

The report also highlights tangible outcomes. At the Malvi Educational and Charitable Trust in Gujarat, students recorded an average BMI improvement of 9.50 per cent after daily nutritious meals were introduced.

“Every meal represents hope, dignity and opportunity for a child who might otherwise go hungry,” a Feeding India spokesperson said, adding that the focus remains on nourishing potential through nutrition, infrastructure and care.

As the numbers grow, the message is simple but powerful, feeding a child today is an investment in tomorrow, and Feeding India is determined to keep that promise alive, one meal at a time.

eNews

AI goes to class as MSDE, Google Cloud pilot smart skills framework

Published

1 week ago

January 29, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: If skills are the engine of Viksit Bharat, artificial intelligence is being fitted firmly under the bonnet. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has announced a collaboration with Google Cloud and Chaudhary Charan Singh University to build a national framework for modernising India’s vocational and higher education ecosystem using cloud and AI technologies.

Unveiled at Google’s AI for Learning Forum in Delhi, the initiative positions CCSU, Meerut as a national pilot institution that will test how AI can be embedded into everyday teaching, administration and skill development. The announcement was made in the presence of Jayant Chaudhary, alongside senior officials from the Ministries of Skill Development and Education.

At the heart of the pilot is the use of Google Cloud’s Gemini Enterprise platform to address real-world challenges faced by universities. These include automating administrative workflows, improving staff efficiency, supporting research, and enabling personalised learning through AI tutors and skill-gap analysis. The aim is to make learning more adaptive, efficient and aligned with evolving workforce needs.

The programme is designed to act as an equaliser. By enabling vernacular language support and personalised AI-driven mentorship, it seeks to extend access to high-quality learning tools to students in regional institutions who are often constrained by geography, language or resources. Faculty members will also be supported with AI tools to design curriculum content, simulations and multilingual teaching aids tailored to different learning speeds.

Beyond classrooms, the initiative focuses on operational reform. Intelligent document processing and automated workflows are expected to reduce administrative load, allowing institutions to function more efficiently while improving service delivery to students.

Crucially, the CCSU pilot will feed into a larger ambition. Insights from the project will be used by MSDE to develop a National Best Practice Framework that can guide more than 50,000 colleges and over 1,200 universities in adopting AI responsibly and self-certifying as “AI-enabled universities”.

As a designated Centre of Excellence, CCSU will also host knowledge-sharing sessions to demonstrate how AI can be scaled across India’s diverse education landscape. The goal is clear: ensure that future-ready skills are not confined to elite campuses, but become part of the everyday learning experience for students across the country.

eNews

Stop feeding the machine: Why Data Privacy Day 2026 is your wake-up call

Published

1 week ago

January 28, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: It is January 28, 2026. Today, the world observes Data Privacy Day. But let’s be honest: for the other 364 days of the year, we are usually too busy scrolling to care. We click “Accept All Cookies” to read an article. We trade our email addresses for 10% off a pair of sneakers. We spill our deepest thoughts to AI chatbots without wondering where that data goes.

The result? You are leaving a trail of “digital exhaust” that is being vacuumed up, packaged, and sold to the highest bidder.

Today is the day we hit the brakes. Privacy is no longer a luxury for the paranoid; it is a necessity for the free. Here is why this matters right now, and how you can fix it fast.

The New Threat: It’s not just hackers anymore
In the past, we worried about criminals stealing our credit card numbers. In 2026, the game has changed. The entity hungry for your data isn’t just a hoodie-wearing hacker in a basement—it’s the legitimate apps on your phone and the algorithms training on your behavior.

• The AI Mirror: Every prompt you type into a public AI model can theoretically become part of its brain. Your distinct writing style, your problems, and your ideas are the fuel.
• Biometric Overload: We pay with our faces and unlock doors with our fingerprints. If a password gets stolen, you change it. If your biometric data gets stolen, you can’t change your face.
• The “Free” Trap: If an app is free, you aren’t the customer; you are the product. Your location history, health stats, and spending habits are the inventory.

The 15-minute privacy sprint
You don’t need to go off the grid or move to a cabin in the woods. You just need to tighten the bolts. Here is your rapid-fire action plan for today:

1. Kill the zombies
We all have “zombie accounts”—old logins for fitness apps we used once in 2021 or shopping sites we forgot about. These are security holes waiting to happen.

The Fix: If you haven’t logged in for 12 months, delete the account. Not the app—the account.

2. Starve the chatbot
AI is useful, but it doesn’t need to know your secrets.

The Fix: Turn off “Chat History” in your AI settings where possible. Never enter financial details, legal documents, or medical info into a public Generative AI tool.

3. The “location” audit
Does your flashlight app need to know you are in a coffee shop? Does your calculator need your contact list? Absolutely not.

The Fix: Go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services (on iOS or Android). Change permissions from “Always Allow” to “While Using” or, even better, “Never” for non-essential apps.

4. Ditch the SMS two-factor
Hackers can swap SIM cards easier than they can crack passwords. Receiving your 2FA codes via text message is the weak link in 2026.

The Fix: Switch to an Authenticator App or use a physical security key (like a YubiKey). It takes five minutes to set up and multiplies your security by ten.

The bottom line
Data Privacy Day isn’t about fear; it’s about agency.

Your data is an extension of your physical self. It is your identity, your history, and your future. By taking control of it, you aren’t just securing a device; you are reclaiming your right to be a person, rather than a data point.

Don’t wait for next January. Make privacy a habit, starting now.