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Tag: All India Radio

  • Prasar Bharati expresses helplessness in regularising contractual employees

    Prasar Bharati expresses helplessness in regularising contractual employees

    NEW DELHI: Despite major shortage of staff, Prasar Bharati has informed the Information and Broadcasting Ministry that it is not feasible to regularize services of contractual employees in All India Radio and Doordarshan.

     

    Ministry source told indiantelevision.com that the pubcaster had said that recruitment has to be done according to the Recruitment Rules and the contractuals of Prasar Bharati had not been engaged by following the Recruitment Rules concerned as most of them do not fulfill the prescribed educational and other qualifications.

     

    In view of this, their regularisation would be in violation of the Supreme Court judgment in the case of State of Karnataka Vs Uma Devi. 

    Further, Prasar Bharati has said that as some of the casuals/contractuals are booked for a maximum of six days in a month, their numbers in panels far exceed the number of posts for any particular job. 

     

    Prasar Bharati has informed that Doordarshan has engaged the following type of contractuals: 

     

    i.             Special Assignees –              18

    ii.            Contractual Engagees-         63

    iii.           Ex-BECIL Engagee –              166

    iv.           Retired Engagees –              211

    Moreover, 306 contractuals are engaged in DD News headquarters and 41 contractuals are working in the Regional News Units of Doordarshan Kendras. 

    Prasar Bharati has also informed that All India Radio (AIR) has engaged 125 retired officials, on short term contract basis. Moreover, AIR headquarters has engaged 116 Data Entry Operators and 38 casual workers through outsourcing agency. 

    Casual presenters/ announcers are being booked by AIR stations as talent on assignment basis. The number of such casual announcers varies from station to station as per their requirement. Since this is an ongoing process, there is no fixed number of casual presenters/ announcers. 

  • Broadband continues upward spiral as narrowband declines in June-Sept 2014

    Broadband continues upward spiral as narrowband declines in June-Sept 2014

    NEW DELHI: The number of narrowband Internet subscribers declined from 190.31 million at the end of June 2014 to 178.67 million at the end of September 2014, showing a quarterly decline of 6.12 per cent.

     

    However, the quarterly report of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) ending September 2014 shows the number of Broadband Internet subscribers increased from 68.83 million at the end of June to 75.73 million at the end of September with a quarterly growth of 10.03 per cent.

     

    The report says as at the end of September 2014, there were a total of 187 pay channels as reported by broadcasters for which the wholesale channels rates have been taken on record. During the quarter ending September 2014, the rate of Raj Music Kannada channel was taken on records.

     

    In non CAS areas, the maximum number of television channels being carried by any reporting multi-system operator was 400, whereas the maximum number of channels being carried by any reporting MSO was 100 in conventional analogue form.

     

    Apart from All India Radio, there were 243 private FM radio stations in operation at the quarter ending September 2014, according to information supplied to TRAI by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

     

    Apart from the free DTH service of Doordarshan, Freedish, there are six private DTH operators. All the six private DTH operators are offering pay DTH services.

     

    The total numbers of registered and active subscribers being served by these six private DTH operators as reported to TRAI were 70.33 million and 39.13 million respectively as on 30 September 2014.

  • ‘Mann ki Baat’ to feature Barrack Obama with Narendra Modi

    ‘Mann ki Baat’ to feature Barrack Obama with Narendra Modi

    NEW DELHI: This month’s edition of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Mann ki Baat’ on All India Radio (AIR) will have two special features: it will feature both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting American President Barrack Obama, and will carry many commercials.

     

    The broadcast at 8 pm on the evening of 27 January is expected to be a simulcast by all major television channels including DD News.

     

    It is also expected to be carried on CNN simultaneously.

     

    The recording for ‘Mann ki Baat’ was done at the high-profile Hyderabad House in New Delhi at 3 pm on 25 January.

     

    Confirming this, AIR sources told indiantelevision.com that regional versions of this broadcast at 9 pm on 28 January will be carried by regional kendras of AIR.

     

    AIR will also have several commercials before and after the broadcast.

     

    Indians all over the world had been asked to give suggestions or questions for a special edition of the monthly ‘Mann ki Baat’ on All India Radio this month. Questions or suggestions can be sent on mygov.nic.in. 

     

  • Major initiatives of the I&B Ministry in 2014

    Major initiatives of the I&B Ministry in 2014

    The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (I&B) has undertaken key initiatives in the different sectors aimed at enhancing the outreach of policies and programmes across platforms. Some of the initiatives undertaken have been innovative, involving people’s participation, enhancing government’s presence on the social media platforms and strengthening communication at the grassroots. Some of the key initiatives are as under:

     

    Initiatives under Swachh Bharat Mission

    As part of the Swachh Bharat Mission, the Ministry initiated a 360 degree multimedia campaign to enhance the outreach and impact of the Mission. All media units were involved in outlining audience specific content, tools and action plan. Intensive discussions were held with key stakeholders of the mission and innovative strategies were incorporated across media platforms for greater visibility and impact. Some of the key initiatives undertaken by the Ministry are as follows:
     

    Three Day Rashtriya Bal Film Mela on the theme “Swachhta”

    Organized by the Children’s Film Society of India (CSFI) on the occasion of National Children’s Day celebrations, the three day festival provided an opportunity for children to appreciate high-quality film content, experience value-based entertainment, and to trigger their imagination about environment conservation and cleanliness. The festival showcased a bunch of internationally acclaimed children’s films on the theme of cleanliness.

    The Festival featured interactive workshops on film-making, film appreciation, animation, Charlie Chaplin’s Mimes and storytelling. Live dance performances, magic act, sand act, and puppetry along with various competitions such as painting on the theme, ‘Swachhta’, and digital collage on the theme ‘Clean India’ and the craft of making utility items from waste materials, were being organized on the sidelines of the festival.

     

    1. Creation of Audio-Visual Spots on Swachh Bharat Mission.
    2. Animation / short video competition (less than three minute duration) organized on the digital volunteer platform of the Ministry with 15 October as deadline.
    3. Launch of Photo-Competition depicting “before and after pictures of cleanliness” on the digital volunteer platform with 15 October as deadline.
    4. Creation of an animation film by New Media Wing
    5. Crowd sourcing for the design of print advertisements
    6. Developing platform specific content on social media
    7. Creation of banners, logos and e-mailers for spreading of the message through social media
    8. Jingles on All India Radio
    9. Community Radio Mobilization to effectively reach the grass root communities
    10. Advisory to private TV & FM channels to become part of the campaign so as to enhance impact and outreach of the mission
    11. Anchor based and in-house serials on DD & AIR
    12. News bulletins through special success stories on DD & AIR
    13. Interactive programmes on DD & AIR
    14. Public Information Campaigns to focus on the core issues of the mission.
    15. Interpersonal communication strategies through field units of the Ministry.

     

    Launch of the DAVP Calendar, “Clean India, Green India”: The year 2015 calendar has been developed on the theme of “Clean India Green India” with focus on “Swachhta” and environment issues. The January page of the Calendar displayed the launch of the “Swachh Bharat Mission by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. While the February page carried the message of ‘Swachh Vidyalaya’ and ‘Bal Swachhta Abhiyan’, the March page was designed on the theme, ‘Rejuvenating Rivers.’ The April Page of the Calendar portrayed “Clean Hospitals: A Healthy India,” May depicted the cleanliness drive of Railways, June focused on Rejuvenation of the River Ganges, ‘Namami Gange’, and July on people’s participation in Swachh Bharat Movement. The August page was on the theme of Clean Villages; the month of September highlighted Solar Energy as clean and renewable source of energy; October depicted Wind Power as pollution free source of energy and November emphasized the need to preserve Himalayan Ranges. Wildlife conservation was the theme for December.

     

    For the first time ever, a mobile app of the calendar has been developed. The mobile App would provide access to the latest tweets from the PMO, the YouTube channel of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and the press releases on the PIB website. In addition to being a window for all websites of Government of India, this informative application would serve as a planner to the users bringing news updates from AIR and DD News. The mobile app was developed for Android platforms initially, which would be made available on other mobile platforms also in due course of time.

     

     

    Organising Press Conferences to highlight achievements and initiatives of the Government:The strategy adopted has been extremely successful in positioning the visibility of Government’s initiatives across media platforms.

     

    Multimedia Exhibition on Former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee:The Ministry of I&B has mounted a multimedia exhibition under the aegis of DAVP on the former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The exhibition would serve as an inspiration and learning to the people in understanding the life and contributions of Shri Vajpayee as a politician, statesman, and poet. The exhibition was inaugurated by Union Minister of Finance, Corporate Affairs, and Information & Broadcasting Shri Arun Jaitley on 20 December, 2014.

     

    The exhibition portrays the life of Shri Vajpayee, through a display of around 250 photographs, which reflect his vibrant personality. These rare pictures not only take the visitors through the political journey of this visionary leader, but also provide a glimpse into the diverse phases of his life – as a poet and a great thinker. At this event, different facets of his life will be showcased through photo and electronic exhibition. Scrollers, translites, LED walls, large fascia and title boards are the major attractions of the exhibition. The exhibition was open to public from 20 – 25 December, 2014.

     

    Establishment of Social Media Presence of Government of India: In order to facilitate Ministries/Departments in registering their presence on social media by utilizing the services of the Communications Hub established by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, the ministry organized a half day training workshop on 11 July, 2014 at the National Media Centre. The response was very encouraging as about 150 officers representing 59 Ministries/Departments attended the workshop. An interactive Q&A session was also held before concluding the workshop and induction material including a handbook on social media was also distributed to all the participants.

     

    Third and fourth phase of digitization: A Task Force has been constituted with the approval of MIB to steer the remaining two phases i.e., Phase III and Phase IV of digitization in India. The Task Force is headed by the Additional Secretary of the Ministry and comprises stakeholders from various ministries, departments and industry representatives. The constitution of the Task Force paves the way for implementation of digitization initiative in India, which will see digitization of about 8 crores cable TV homes in India. This will bring India in the league of developed nations. It is also a step towards the Prime Minister’s dream of a Digital India, as digitization will enable quick penetration of broadband connectivity in India.

     

    Government of India vide Notification dated 11 September, 2014 has revised the timeframe for digitization for Phase-III and IV of the Cable TV. As per revised guidelines, Phase-III and IV of Cable TV would be completed by December 2015 and December 2016 respectively.

     

    Third phase of FM radio auction: The Cabinet Note on third phase of FM has been moved for cabinet approval. This decision of the Ministry of I&B will pave the way for e-auction of FM Phase-III channels.

     

    Goa declared the permanent destination for International Films Festival of India: In order to develop the “Brand IFFI” on the lines of other international film festivals, Goa has been declared as the permanent destination for International Films Festival of India (IFFI). The IFFI platform propagated the theme “Green India, Clean India” at all the major events organized under its banner.

     

    North East Film Festival: For the first time, a three-day North East Film Festival was held in Delhi (Siri Fort Complex) on a grand scale. It will henceforth be an annual feature, a prominent event in the film festival calendar of the Directorate of Film Festivals. The Festival concluded on 24 August, 2014.

     

    FTII, SRFTII to be institutes of national importance: In order to provide statutory backing through an act of Parliament to declare both the institutes as Institutes of National Importance the government has proposed a Bill. The proposed Bill would enable both the institutes to award its own degrees and diplomas and start new activities on the lines of IITs and IIMs. Cabinet Note has been moved.

     

    Meeting with stakeholders related to Set-Top-Boxes to promote indigenization of digitization: Efforts were taken to fulfill the long pending demand of domestic manufacturers of Set-Top-Boxes (STBs) to get tax concession (C Form benefit) in order to compete with imported STBs. A letter was written by Hon’ble MIB to Hon’ble Finance Minister to resolve the issue of C-Form concession to domestic manufacturers. This was followed by a meeting by Hon’ble MIB with senior officials from Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Department of Telecom, Bureau of Indian Standards etc., and other industry stakeholders like indigenous STB manufacturers, DTH Association and MSO Associations etc. As a result of continuous follow up, Department of Telecom has confirmed Set Top Box as “Telecom Network Equipment”. The proposal has also been approved by the Ministry of Finance and a letter has already been issued to all the State Governments, Commissioners of Taxes and other concerned that STB will get the facility of ‘Form C’.

     

    e-initiatives: The Office of Registrar of Newspapers for India, M/o I&B has streamlined its Single Window Public dealing mechanism at its office. The RNI has achieved 100% success in online e-filing of Annual statements by publishers for 2013-14. The software module has been finalized for online filing of title verification application. It has also started sending automatic SMS intimation about status of title and registration application to publishers.

     

    Boost to Community Radio movement in the Country:Hon’ble MIB has been given a lot of emphasis on reaching out to the people especially in rural and marginalized areas with effective development communication. Community Radios are one of the best tools to touch the lives of millions of people as it is the platform, which provides an opportunity to community to not only receive messages from Government but also provide its feedback, which ensures two-way communication. An announcement has been made by Hon’ble Finance Minister in his budget speech allocating an amount of Rs 100 crores for “Supporting Community Radio Movement in India.” This would enable setting up of 600 community radio stations across the country in the 12th Five Year Plan. The resources would also be utilized for enhancing awareness, building capacities of community radio operators and promoting innovations in the sector. Funds would also be provided to various CR operators as a matching grant for setting up /upgrading community radio stations. At present 170 community radios are operating in various parts of India and about 200 are in the pipeline. This major initiative of the new government will strengthen the connect with the population living in rural and marginalized areas.

     

    A monitoring mechanism is also being set up to monitor community radio stations live at Electronic Media Monitoring Centre.

     

     

    Simplification of Procedures for granting Television licenses for starting additional television channels: Ministry of I&B grants permission to private television channels in India. At present about 800 TV channels have already been permitted by the Ministry of I&B. India has a huge broadcasting industry, thanks to the large number of television channels providing news and entertainment in various languages both at the national and regional level. Many companies desirous of starting new television channels have been approaching the Ministry to simplify procedures for launch of additional television channels. The issue of grant of additional television channels had become complicated as previously it was decided that for starting every additional TV channel security clearance would be required even for the same company and same set of Directors, who had been security cleared earlier, within the period of validity of such security clearance.

     

    Proposal cleared for Rs 600 crore National Film Heritage Mission (NFHM) to preserve India’s film legacy: The revised EFC proposal for a Rs 600 crore National Film Heritage Mission project to preserve India’s filmic legacy was cleared by the Expenditure Finance Committee in the Ministry of Finance on 3 July, 2014. The modalities are being worked out to launch it at the earliest.

     

    Peoples’ participation in Government Advertising through Crowd-Sourcing of Advertisements: The advertisement for the important events being designed on the crowd-sourcing model. Independence Day advertisement designed on these lines and DAVP has invited suggestions for the proposed advertisement to be brought out on 5 September to observe “Teachers Day”.

     

    Adopting 360 degree approach to information dissemination: Designing integrated campaigns based on the 360 degree approach, the core theme touching all tools including the contemporary as well as new media. For Independence Day, the advertisements were crowd-sourced for the first time and coverage was extended to all media platforms.

     

    Transparency Steps have also been taken by the Ministry to enhance transparency and expedite approvals for which Open House Meetings have been started for Community Radio applicants on the first of every month. For Multi System Operators (MSOs), Open House meetings are held every week on Tuesday. For television applicants, Open House meetings are held every fortnight i.e., on 5th and 20th of every month. This provides an opportunity to applicants to have a direct interaction with the Ministry officials and clarify their doubts as well as to get the status of their pending applications. This has enhanced transparency and accountability in the grant of various permissions to applicants of Community Radios, television channels, MSO permissions etc.

     

    Screening of rare archival footage: A half an hour film, “Road To Freedom,” was produced by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, based solely on rare archival footage. It was screened on DD (National) on 15 August, 2014. More such films will be produced and screened on days like 2nd October, 26th January and such like.

     

    Organisation of One Day Workshop on ‘Crisis Communication’:  In pursuance of the decision taken in Committee of Secretaries (CoS) meeting held on 1 July 2014 to consider measures to upgrade the efficacy of control and response system of Government in crisis situation, Ministry of Information organized a one day training session for senior officers of various Ministries/ Departments on ‘Communicating with Media’ through Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) on 22 September, 2014 at National Media Centre.

     

    (These are purely personal views of I&B Ministry secretary Bimal Julka and indiantelevision.com does not necessarily subscribe to these views.)

  • Prasar Bharati: A ‘successful’ year gone by

    Prasar Bharati: A ‘successful’ year gone by

    Since 1995, Doordarshan has been trying to build bridges of communication with Indians living abroad and also to showcase its diverse culture, values and rich heritage to the world by launching its international channel.

    From March 2011, Doordarshan started availing of the service of ISRO’s INSAT-4B in both KU band and C band. However, the inadequacy of not being able to locate any significant global partners to distribute and connect DD to homes overseas continued. Doordarshan did make renewed efforts through Indian Missions to distribute its international channel abroad, but it could make little progress in this last mile distribution, because of several reasons. On the other hand, countries like Japan, Germany, China, Russia and France, invested heavily to ensure a global reach for their international channels.

    Over the last one year, concerted efforts made by Prasar Bharati to locate viable global distribution platform to DD India has resulted in an agreement with Deutsche Welle (DW), the international broadcasting arm of the German public broadcaster for a slot on the DTH platform of EUTEL SAT Hotbird 13 B. It is an extremely popular DTH platform and in Europe it was the logical choice for DD India to launch its overseas services afresh. Hotbird 13B has a total number of 1543 TV channels of which 1117 TV channels are free-to-air. A total of 124 English channels are available on this satellite, prominent amongst which are BBC, CNN, CCTV, RT, France24, VOA TV, Euromans, Sky News, Bloomberg TV, Al Jazeera, etc.  DD India will be in the basic package of the DTH service. The projection of India’s viewpoint to the global audience being  a dire necessity, Prasar Bharati has found a suitable platform with DW on extremely favourable terms on reciprocal basis which is no mean achievement.Placing DD on Hotbird DTH platform will also give it full access to the Middle Eastern GCC countries, where Indians work and reside in large numbers. The telecast trials are likely in a few days and formal launching is expected shortly.

    It was a feather in its cap and moment of honour for India when the Prasar Bharati CEO, Jawhar Sircar, was elected as vice president of the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) in 2014 with its presence in 63 countries, boosting its international presence.

    Doordarshan team has come up with new serials in the current year attracting more eye balls in the afternoon session of DD National creating a new record heralding resurgence of the public broadcaster towards fulfilling its mandate with renewed vigour away from market driven commercial initiatives. Meeting the aspirations of the people of Telengana, dedicated DD Yadagiri from Hyderabad and DD Saptagiri channels from Vijayawada for Seemandhra have become fully operational. Other major initiative was upgradation of  four Hindi channels as 24 hours channels as DD Rajasthan, DD Madhya Pradesh, DD Bihar and DD Uttar Pradesh  from the respective capital DD Kendras giving local look and feel enriching  the telecast with regional flavour.  The basic infrastructure to operationalise DD Kisan channel has been put in place by Doordarshan.  Concerted efforts are on to enrich the channel in the coming year meeting the aspirations of all the agro-economic zones with due importance to related fields and provide wholesome content to the agrarian population of the nation.  

    A major decision in 2014 was to optimise the huge advantage of Digital Terrestrial Transmitters from the four metros which are ready and from other important state capitals in cluster with ability to provide a bouquet of 20 attractive TV channels along with a combination of audio channels from each location with perfect digital output reaching the hand held smart devices equipped with tiny dongles or chips which are under field trials already. The technology is capable of live streaming content without buffering and circumventing ‘server down’ possibility fully.

    Doordarshan was in news for amateurish display by some casual assignees  highlighted in media exposed huge vacancies of creative professionals  in Prasar Bharati and absence of a vibrant mechanism to service the HR functions for cadre restructuring, removal of service conditions related anomalies, conduct of regular departmental promotion proceedings, induction and appointment of creative professionals after strict professional evaluation. After Dr Surya Prakash joined as chairman, the proposal for Prasar Bharati Recruitment Board gained impetus and its establishment looks to be on course.

    Prasar Bharati chose to strengthen its popular Vividh Bharati network in the metros by simulcasting in FM mode. While Kolkata has already commenced its operation, other metros are awaiting the launch. AIR’s 86 odd local radio stations across the country have already started simulcasting Vividh Bharati across the nation spicing up AIR’s airwaves in the cause of uniting India.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s monthly Mann ki Baat – a heart-to-heart and intimate sharing of thoughts with the people living in every nook and corner of the country – is a shot in the arm for Prasar Bharati and AIR undoubtedly has emerged a clear winner in reaching the whole nation through all its channels. The programme has received spontaneous response from thousands of listeners spread all over the country including far flung areas. The broadcast has done the vastest disseminated public service through territorial, satellite and web modes.

    While AIR has decided to webcast all primary channels from all its capital Kendras, it has started field trials of its most popular Vividh Bharati as part of its internet bouquet of FM Gold, FM Rainbow and Urdu Service.

    The dream of CEO Jawhar Sircar is to connect the whole of India through FM-station utilising its existing terrestrial towers all over the country for mounting FM antennas and cutting costs and simulcasting its primary service to ride over shortcomings of Medium Wave transmission.

    For Prasar Bharati, creative dynamism has remained a challenge with innumerable competitors in the field. But its new team is optimistic to accomplish its mandate as a national public broadcaster to inform, educate and entertain the masses at home and abroad and achieve conspicuous deliverables in the new year.

    AIR has become the torchbearer of the Prime Minister’s clarion call for ‘Swachh Bharat’ i.e. Clean India mission through its extensive campaign so that it becomes a truly peoples’ movement and the Prime Minister’s dream of clean India by 2019 becomes a reality. To lend support to the mission, AIR launched extensively several programmes on all its channels, in a variety of formats. The objective is to bring about attitudinal changes and behaviour modifications in the way of life of people while making them aware about environmental hygiene and cleanliness.

    Apart from promos, jingles and slogans on the theme, a multi-episode serial in Hindi entitled ‘Des ApnaUjla-Ujla’ has been launched w.e.f. 2 October 2014.

    The yeoman service rendered by All India Radio (Radio Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu) during the recent devastating deluge, which helped in saving hundreds of lives, connecting families, keeping the morale and spirit high of the population hit by the worst ever natural calamity and prevention of outbreak of epidemics in the aftermath of the disaster, have all come for lavish praise from every quarter including the Chief Minister of J&K and the cabinet secretary to the government of India. AIR’s uninterrupted service during this unprecedented disaster became all the more laudable as all other sources of information like print media and other electronic channels had come to a grinding halt in the State during those trying days.Similarly, AIR’s role in effective disaster management communication during the rescue, relief and rehabilitation operations at the time of recent Hudhud cyclone in the Andhra coast and particularly Vishakhapatnam also won accolades.

    Vividh Bharati, the old faithful, is avidly listened to even today in the face of stiff competition from rival media, especially private FM radio stations. Described as All India variety programme (Akhil Bharatiya Panchrangi Karyakram), it was initially radiated on two high-power shortwave transmitters at Mumbai and Chennai. Later, the service was progressively extended to 37 centres. Today, it is a veritable national service owing to its country-wide reach, with several stations/transmitters carrying the service:-

    • Exclusive/dedicated Vividh Bharati Channels                            37
    • Local Radio Stations (10:00 am to 5:00 pm)                               65
    • 100 Watt FM Relay Centres                                                         82

    Almost all these stations operate on the FM mode. Till recently, in the four metros, the service was available only on the emaciated medium wave transmitters. AIR has recently launched dedicated FM transmitters in the metros as well. Availability of the service on 102 FM transmitters, not to mention the 100 watt FM relay centres, has further enhanced the exposure to Vividh Bharati, owing to proliferation of FM receivers, car radios and mobile devices. To begin with, Vividh Bharati was an urban phenomenon. Today, it is able to penetrate deep into the country side and is an ideal vehicle for those eager to capture the rural markets.

    The fact that Vividh Bharati simultaneously reaches a vast section of people of all hues creates a psychological bond of togetherness, building up cohesion and common values.

    The year 2014 is the 75th anniversary year of external broadcasting in India and the 50th anniversary of its Urdu service. The External Services Division (ESD) is truly the extended arm of foreign policy and public diplomacy. The traditional modes of shortwave and medium wave transmission have been largely replaced during the year by FM and internet radio bringing about a turnaround during the year. The highlights of the revamping of the ESD are:

    1. Enhancing the level of engagement with the MEA particularly the External Publicity/ Public Diplomacy Division on an urgent basis, MEA will carry details of important programmes scheduled for broadcast in the General Overseas Service (GOS), the flagship service of ESD in English as well as other services in their bi-monthly magazine ‘India Perspective’.

    2. Modernisation efforts of ESD like creation and maintenance of multi-media websites with live internet radio and Radio on Demand components. Trial runs for the websites have been completed and GOS has already been informally hosted and ready for launch.

    3. ESD has also created three round-the-clock web radio portals, featuring live streaming of all the services. These have also been tested and ready for formal launch.

    4. With a view to reaching out to the Indian diaspora and involving the PIOs in the development agenda of the nation and making them true brand ambassadors for the country, multi-media websites for the Indian language services of ESD like Hindi, Bangla, Gujarati, Tamil and Urdu are being developed, with content specifically designed to the respective  target areas.

    5. General Overseas Service is targeted to the English speaking listeners all over the world with the exception of USA, Canada, South-America and the Caribbean. To reach these uncovered areas, a dedicated multi-media website ‘airworldservice.org.in’ has been launched during the year. The programmes of GOS are also available on the web radio portal of ESD. A GOS programme on Gandhian Philosophy has recently won the best programme award for the year 2014.

    6. To augment reception quality of cross-border and neighbourhood services targeted to South-East Asia and some countries in the East Asia from Chinsura (West Bengal) and to Pakistan, Afghanistan and some CIS countries from Rajkot, transmitters were upgraded. This will go a long way to support the new initiatives of the Central Government to strengthen its relations and engagement with the countries in the neighborhood and also undertake counter-propaganda and perception management programmes in a more effective manner. 

    • The News Services Division (NSD) of All India Radio is one of the world’s largest news gathering and dissemination apparatus.
    • Harnessing mobile technology, NSD launched free AIR news SMS service to the public in several regional languages viz. Asamese, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Sanskrit and Tamil, besides English. The number of people registered for the Service has crossed 5 lakhs, with nearly 80% opting for the regional languages.
    • Substantially increased its presence on the social media, reaching out audiences far and wide. Popularity of AIR’s Facebook page can be gauged by the fact that the number of likes increased from 7 lakh in May, 2014 to 17 lakh in November, 2014. 
    • Twitter handle @airnewsalerts is also gaining momentum day by day, from 2,15,000 followers in May, 2014 to 3,70,000 in November, 2014
      • To further strengthen its reach, NSD joined another online audio platform sound cloud in May 2014. Sound cloud is an audio platform which is used in over 200 countries and has a global reach of 317 million per month. Within short span of time, it has become popular and has nearly 5.4 lakh plays so far, with an average of around 20,000 plays and 800 downloads per week.
    • To lend support to the Mann Ki Baat programme, NSD has been carrying content of  the PM’s speech in all bulletins, national as well as regional, the later carrying the regional language version. SMSes, based on the content, are sent in several languages to the people who had registered for the service. A special static home page was created on www.newsonair.nic.in with a link to take people directly to live webcast page of ‘Mann Ki Baat”.  A special window was created for the webcast of the speech, uploading the text of the address on the website. PM’s speech was live tweeted both in Hindi and English simultaneously. What is more, it was posted on Sound Cloud, generating unique plays within a short span of time reflecting its appeal
    • A variety of CDs based on the prized possessions in the treasure trove of AIR’s archives was prepared, released and uploaded on AIR’s Youtube. Significant among these CDs are the audio cuts of Mahatma Gandhi, Bharat Ratna and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Marian Anderson and Dr. Martin Luther King (Jr.).
    • CDs based on recordings of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel are ready, with refurbishing in its final stage.
    • CD containing recordings on various subjects by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan is being prepared. Refurbishing of these recordings is in final stage.
    • 300 hours (approx.) fresh recording received from AIR stations have been digitized with detailed metadata. 3000 hours (approx.) of archival recordings have been deep archived with detailed metadata in Storage Area Network (SAN).
    • AIR has a humongous network of 590 transmitters serving 414 stations, covering virtually the entire population of the country.
    • Under an ambitious digitalisation programme, 31 old medium wave transmitters and five shortwave transmitters have been replaced by new DRM transmitters.
    • Archival facility was setup at Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai, facilitating digitalization and restoration work
    • Under the Special Package for J&K and North-East, several new FM transmitters are being installed.
    • Modernization and automation of existing Regional News Units.
    • The dream of Prasar Bharati to connect whole of India through FM-isation, utilising its existing terrestrial towers all over the country for mounting  FM antenna cutting costs and simulcasting its primary service to ride over shortcomings of  medium wave transmission, especially the dwindling number medium wave receivers, is fast becoming a reality through a phased progamme launched by AIR.
    • While AIR has decided to webcast all its primary channels from all its capital sations, it has started live streaming, on a trial basis, to take field trial of its most popular Vividh Bharati service as part of its internet bouquet of FM Gold, FM Rainbow and Urdu Service.  This has helped in taking the service to listeners overseas, especially the Indian diaspora, clamouring for it.

     

    (These are purely personal views of Prasar Bharati principal adviser Brigadier (Retd) VAM Hussain and indiantelevision.com does not necessarily subscribe to these views.)

  • Bangladesh gets archival footage from AIR, DD on Liberation War

    Bangladesh gets archival footage from AIR, DD on Liberation War

    NEW DELHI: Bangladesh President has received the recordings of transmissions made by All India Radio and Doordarshan during the Liberation War of 1971 from President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

     

    He recalled that valiant Mukti Bahini soldiers fought hand in hand with Indian troops for Bangladesh’s liberation. He expressed hope that these recordings will remind people of Bangladesh of those momentous times.

     

    Akashvani, especially the Kolkata station, played a critical role in upholding the cause of Bangladesh even before the rest of the world woke up. Unfortunately, most of the broadcast schedule and other interesting programmes were not kept in permanent format as archives because of several constraints. But Akashvani has been able to retrieve several tapes of that period and has already broadcast them for the last many years, to remind both India and Bangladesh of their shared legacy.

     

    At the request of Bangladesh Betar and the special interest of Mukherjee, a renewed effort was made by Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar, AIR DG F Sheryaar, and DDG, Akashvani Kolkata to salvage more materials from wherever possible so that whatever is possible is put out in the public domain before both the nations.

     

    Two CDs have thus been produced in the last one month containing recordings from the Akashvani Archives of 1971 and early 1972. They represent the contribution made by Akashvani to the momentous developments of 1971, that led to the War in December, the Vijay Divas and the subsequent commemorations.

     

    The first CD entitled “Liberation of Bangladesh 1971” contains the public speeches from Akashvani Delhi of the then Prime Minister of India and the Lok Sabha statements, interviews and speeches of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the surrender of Pakistani forces on the 16 December, the public address of Rahman in January 1972 and other programmes, that are mainly in Bengali.

     

    The second CD entitled “Struggle of a Nation” is based on the recordings of Akashvani Kolkata, contains documentations of important happenings and events from March to December 1971 and the speeches of the then Prime Ministers of India and new nation of Bangladesh and live commentaries thereof.  It also has the ‘Samvad Bichitra’ newsreel programme that played a pivotal role during the Liberation Movement.

  • Little-known story of Moghul descendants on DD Bharati

    Little-known story of Moghul descendants on DD Bharati

    NEW DELHI: Doordarshan will telecast on DD Bharati a documentary titled `The Living Moghuls’ on descendants of the Moghuls later this week highlighting their lives in the India of today.

     

    Begum Laila Umhani and her sister Husn Jahanara Begum and their families are the many descendants of the Moghuls living in Hyderabad. Shorn of any royal or political patronage, the sons of Laila Umhani have adapted themselves to survive in today’s world. Their life is the subject of the documentary titled `The Living Moghuls’ on 19 December at 10:00 pm, repeated next day at 06:00 am and 02:00pm.

     

    DD Bharati in association with the External Affairs Ministry is telecasting ‘Cityscapes’, a six part series on six cities of India representing the diverse nature and histories of cities in India. It will be telecast the series every Monday on DD Bharati from 22 December at 10:00 pm, repeated next day at 06:00 am & 02:00pm

     

    Dasha Kumara Charita is a prose romance in Sanskrit attributed to Dandin in the 7th century BC. It describes the adventures of ten young men, the Kumaras, all of whom are either princes or sons of royal ministers, as narrated by the men themselves. These narratives are replete with accounts of demigods, ghosts, gamblers, intrigues with voluptuous women, astonishing coincidences, cockfights, sorcery, robberies, murders and wars. This series will be on DD Bharati from 23 December at 07:00 pm, repeated next day at 03:00 am and 11:00 am.

     

    DD Bharati presents from its rich archives ‘Titli’ based on the “Grasshopper” story by Anton Chekhov featuring Neelima Azeem, Alok Nath and M.K Raina supported by B. M Shah, Dolly Ahluwalia, Irrfan Khan and produced by Saba Zaidi. Alok is an earnest and rather boring young physician, who is preoccupied with his patients and his research, resulting in his wife Shalini having an illicit affair and regretting this too late. This telefilm will be seen on DD Bharati on 20 and 21 December at 11:00 pm repeated next day at 07:00 am and 03:00 pm.

     

    On the occasion of Christmas Day, DD Bharati presents a special compilation comprising sweet remembrances, moments and messages of “Merry Christmas” through music and dance on 23, 24 and 25 December. The compilation brings in series of programmes featuring a multi-lingual celebration of Christmas and the popular imaginary of Santa Claus as observed in various parts of country. The programme also celebrates the “Birth of Jesus” and Spirit of the Santa Claus through melodies of carols, histrionics of dance, and several lyrical renditions. The noted scholar Dr Arshiya Sethi who has curated the programme says: “Christmas is simultaneously a festival of values ideals, giving and rejoicing India offers a pan Indian scope for Christmas celebration a multi lingual carol tradition and woven in artistic expression to retell the life and glory of Jesus. This is spectacular and finds no equivalent anywhere in the world.” The Christmas programmes will be at 10:00 pm from 22 to 25 December.

     
    DD Bharati celebrates Good Governance Day on 25 December on the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. This includes a poetry organised earlier this month by All India Radio.

  • Delays in decision on power usage by AIR Aligarh led to loss of Rs 1.78 crore

    Delays in decision on power usage by AIR Aligarh led to loss of Rs 1.78 crore

    NEW DELHI: Delays in assessing contracted load of power supply and seeking approval of the competent authority to reduce load resulted in an avoidable payment of 1.78 crore by All India Radio in Aligarh, according to a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

     

    CAG reported the matter to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry (I&B), but failed to get a reply until the presentation of the report to the Lok Sabha.

     

    AIR Aligarh had a contracted load of 3000 KVA with the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation (UPPCL) for its power supply. Under the agreement with UPPCL, demand charges are levied on actual maximum demand recorded in a month or 75 per cent of the contracted load, whichever is higher, along with charges of actual energy consumed at the rates applicable from time to time.

     

    Audit analysis of electric load revealed (April 2011) that actual consumption during 2008-09,  2009-10  and 2010-11 ranged between 558 KVA and 1116 KVA, 544 KVA and 1008 KVA and 572 KVA and 760 KVA respectively, and showed declining trend over these years.

     

    However, AIR Aligarh made no efforts to re-assess the demand and get its contracted load reduced. Consequently, it continued to pay demand charges for 2250 KVA per month (calculated at 75 per cent of the contracted load of 3000 KVA).

     

    AIR Aligarh while accepting (August 2011) the audit observation, stated that low demand was on account of existing transmitters working on lower capacity and new transmitters expected to be installed. The reduction in load would be taken up with the State Electricity Board after installation of new transmitters.

     

    It subsequently informed (May 2014) that reduction in load to 1250 KVA was approved by the Director General, on 21 April 2014 and the matter has been taken up with UPPCL.

  • Delay in promotions in Prasar Bharati not due to central budgetary grants: MoS Rathore

    Delay in promotions in Prasar Bharati not due to central budgetary grants: MoS Rathore

    NEW DELHI: The government has told Parliament that the delay in promotions is not attributable to allocation of funds by the government to Prasar Bharati.

     

    Stating this, Minister of State in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore told Parliament that a total allocation of Rs 2495.03 crore was given to Prasar Bharati for the current financial year at the budget estimates stage for plan schemes.

     

    This included salary and salary related expenses of Prasar Bharati, he said in reply to a question.

    Funds are allocated by the government to Prasar Bharati (Doordarshan and All India Radio) on the basis of budget proposals sent by this Ministry in consultation with Prasar Bharati.

     

    The budget proposals are finalised after due consultations with Prasar Bharati before being sent to the Government for allocation. 

  • Modi encourages use of social media for his Mann ki Baat broadcasts

    Modi encourages use of social media for his Mann ki Baat broadcasts

    NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has won acclaim for his monthly ‘Mann ki Baat’ broadcasts on All India Radio, wants people to use social media to tell him about their views and experiences on dealing with the menace of drugs for his next broadcast.

     
    Modi said the link of the MyGov Open Forum for sharing comments, ideas, views and past work by NGOs in the area is http://mygov.in/groupissue/tackling-the-drug-menace-in-india/show .

     

    In a series of Tweets, he said: “If you have a personal experience and don`t want to share it in public, please write to me directly, using the hashtag #MannKiBaat at http://pmindia.gov.in/en/interact-with-honble-pm/”.

     

    In order to enable people without access to internet to communicate with him, the Prime Minister has invited people to write to him at: Mann Ki Baat, Akashvani, Sansad Marg, New Delhi.

     
    Those wanting to link can go to #PMonAIR. During the broadcast, those who are on the internet can also log on to newsonair.com for the live streaming.