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Tag: Amlanjyoti Mazumdar

  • Indian radio services set for global expansion

    Indian radio services set for global expansion

    MUMBAI: All-India Radio (AIR) is all set to expand global services for its Indian audience, which will cover Japan, Germany and Canada.

    The AIR is planning to launch the services for several countries, including some in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), with an aim to support the government’s outreach programmes and diplomatic efforts to the Indian diaspora, PTI reported AIR’s external services division director Amlanjyoti Mazumdar as saying.

    The ESD aims to keep the listeners in touch with the ethos of India, also highlighting business opportunities. Maldives and South Africa are also among the countries AIR plans to reach to, it added.

    At present, the ESD covers around 150 countries with programmes in 27 languages, of which 14 target neighbouring countries in Southeast Asia.

    Mazumdar said that Pakistan had increased its presence in African countries through its new radio services, and India could not work in “silos”.

    Meanwhile, Arunachal Pradesh deputy chief minister Chowna Mein said that the state would give every possible support for the improvement of AIR services in the state, the Arunachal Times reported.

    Mein, who launched the extended Arun FM Transmission at AIR Itanagar on Sunday, said that Arun FM (103.1 MHZ) will be an effective medium for dissemination of information on government activities, programmes and policies. He said that he would urge the central government to establish radio stations with FM transmission in all the districts.

    Arun FM is a part of an initiative started by AIR DIG to improve the quality of broadcast. Arun FM will air its own programmes from AIR Itanagar for seven hours, which will be extended to at least 13 hours of broadcast on its own 10 KW transmitter very soon, which will give aerial coverage of at least 40km radius.

  • Govt panel discusses autonomous Prasar’s ‘outreach’ funding from external affairs ministry

    Govt panel discusses autonomous Prasar’s ‘outreach’ funding from external affairs ministry

    NEW DELHI: With the central government laying emphasis on its external relations, particularly with neighbouring countries, the Standing Advisory Committee of All-India Radio has decided to work in tandem with the external affairs ministry with regard to reaching out to other countries through its broadcast services.

    The Committee, which met recently after 34 years (the last meeting was in 1983) and for the first time after Prasar Bharati came into being in 1997, took various decisions which will enable greater interaction between the external affairs ministry and the pubcaster.

    AIR external services director Amlanjyoti Mazumdar told Indiantelevision.com that the meeting, held at the initiative of AIR, was chaired by the ministry of information and broadcasting additional secretary Jayashree Mukherjee though the committee is headed by the MIB secretary.

    The committee was “revived and reconstituted” as part of the revamping process of the External Services Division (ESD) of the public broadcaster.

    The committee represents various stakeholders of public diplomacy like ministries of external affairs and home affairs as well as the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR).

    Mazumdar said that under Section 12(4) of the Prasar Bharati Act 1990, the ESD has to be funded by the external affairs ministry. However, ESD has, so far, been funded through internal resources of the pubcaster. This matter was also taken up at the meeting, where it was clearly stated that channels like Voice of America or Germany’s Deutsche Welle or the external services of Canada were funded by the foreign affairs departments of those countries.

    Mazumdar said the issue was never raised when the government was funding All-India Radio and Doordarshan, but had become important after Prasar Bharati came into being as an autonomous organisation.

    One of the issues discussed in the meeting was how to counter the increasing penetration of foreign radio broadcast in the country, particularly in the north eastern states, sources said.

    It was pointed out that, at a time when the government is keen to reach out to the neighbouring countries, AIR did not have a service for Bhutan.

    A strategy for broadcasting outside India like in Myanmar and Tibetan Autonomous Region was also discussed during the meeting, they said.

    The role of Indian missions abroad to enrich the programme with country-specific inputs was also discussed in the meeting, the sources added.