| NEW
DELHI: The number of Gyan Vani FM radio channels set up by the HRD Ministry and
IGNOU will go up to 37 shortly with eleven more channels coming up in Phase 1.
These 37 stations,
with a radius of 60 to 70 km, are dedicated FM stations for education and broadcast
programmes of interest to students. Some of these are located in places such as
Jabalpur, Raipur, Guwahati, Shillong, etc. which have significant remote areas
with tribal population in their reach.
Minister
of State for Information and Broadcasting S Jagathrakshakan told Parliament today
that as the broadcasts usually reach the villages and areas surrounding the main
town in which they are located, they are tailored to cater to the needs of this
population in the remote areas. All
India Radio sources said the channels have been established by Prasar Bharati
as turnkey solutions to IGNOU. Infrastructure like land, building and tower has
also been leased out to Gyan Vani stations.
According
to IGNOU Vice-Chancellor V N Rajasekharan Pillai, two channels of IGNOU's Gyan
Darshan – GD 1 and GD 2 – have been put on the Direct To Home (DTH)
platform of Doordarshan Direct Plus to ensure greater reach of these educational
channels all over the country. Pillai
said this was aimed at reducing the cost on downloading equipment. While the cost
of the system on DTH comes to around Rs 2,500 to Rs 3000, the present cost of
C-band receive system is about Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000. The maintenance cost will
also come down. ''Students
can have 'receive facility' at home to participate in the live teleconferencing,''
he added. | 
