PremiumThe scheme is the means for providing financial support to Prasar Bharati for expenses related to expansion and upgradation of its broadcasting infrastructure.
NEW DELHI: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved a central sector scheme “Broadcasting Infrastructure and Network Development" (BIND) at a cost of ₹2,539.61 crore for infrastructure development of Prasar Bharati, including All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan (DD).
Proposed by information and broadcasting ministry, the scheme is the means for providing financial support to Prasar Bharati for expenses related to expansion and upgradation of its broadcasting infrastructure, content development and civil work related to the organisation.
Under the scheme, FM coverage of All India Radio would increase to cover more than 80% of the country’s population while eight lakh DD Free Dish DTH Set Top Boxes (DTBs) will be distributed to people living in remote, tribal, Left Wing Extremism (LWE), border areas and smaller districts, the I&B ministry said in a statement.
The BIND scheme will enable the public broadcaster to undertake major upgradation of its facilities with better infrastructure which will widen its reach, including in the LWE, border and strategic areas and provide high quality content to viewers. Another major priority area of the scheme is the development of high-quality content for both domestic and international audiences and ensuring availability of diverse content to the viewers by upgradation of capacity of DTH platform to accommodate more channels. Purchase of OB vans and digital upgradation of DD and AIR Studios to make them HD ready will be also be done as part of the project.
At present, Doordarshan operates 36 TV channels, including 28 regional channels, and All India Radio operates more than 500 broadcasting centres. The Scheme will increase coverage of AIR FM transmitters in the country to 66% by geographical area and 80% by population up from 59% and 68% respectively, the statement said.
In addition to enhancing the scope of public broadcasting, the project also has the potential to generate indirect employment by way of manufacturing and services related to supply and installation of broadcast equipment. Content generation and innovation for AIR and DD has the potential of indirect employment for persons with varied experience across fields such as television and radio production, transmission and associated media related services.