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In the last three years, 275 new TV transmitters have been
installed and 11 new studios have been set up.
DD Metro coverage increased from 13 to 37.7 per cent of
the population. The concept of narrowcasting for telecast of special
programmes for rural areas will become a reality with the introduction
of this service from nine TV stations this month, the statement
says, adding, induction of digital-based technology by AIR by launching
of digital 'direct to home' satellite service, as also digital based
programme production facilities and digital storage of Archival
Audio material has also commenced.
Though, technically Prasar Bharati Corporation should not be part
of I&B ministry's achievements as it is an autonomous body, but
the government statement goes to add that in the past three years
new channels have been added on Doordarshan.
Twenty-four hours satellite channels have been launched in Gujarati,
Bangla, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Punjabi and
Oriya. Kashmir Channel, 24 hours North-East channel and DD-India
have also been launched. A state network service has been launched
in the new states of Chattisgarh and Jharkhand. A similar service
will be launched this year for Uttaranchal. Coverage of DD India
is being extended to major parts of the world. A special Sports
channel has also been launched as also DD Bharati channel to focus
on children, health, art and culture.
I&B ministry's three-year achievement also lists setting up of
the Journalist Welfare Fund with a corpus of Rs 50 million. This
has been done with a view to provide immediate relief to the families
of journalists who suffer loss of life or permanent disability rendering
them incapable of discharging duties.
Then, of course, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in New Delhi
laid the foundation stone for the National Press Centre. Such Press
Centres exist in major capitals of the world. The National Press
Centre is to be located at a very central place within easy reach
of Parliament, the Central Secretariat and various media organisations.
The Centre will have the state-of-the-art facilities for facilitating
the work of the media.
Amongst the other achievements are the introduction of a simplified
advertising policy by the Directorate of Advertising and Visual
Publicity (DAVP) to bring about greater transparency, simplify the
procedure for empanelment and to tighten circulation check of newspapers;
the Photo Division's extensive photo coverage of PM's visits to
several countries, including the USA, Italy, Vietnam, Indonesia,
Bangladesh, Nepal, South Africa, Mauritius, Maldives and also to
visiting dignitaries and the Song and Drama Division (suggested
by the Geethakrishnan panel to be wound up as part of cost cutting
by the government) organising a large number of live and sound and
light programmes to disseminate information about developmental
programmes.
See indiantelevision.com's Special Report:
For I&B ministry, lots of legislative action pending
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