[HCDX] AIR Annual report 2005-06

[sakthi vel <ardicdxclub@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Excerpts from Ministry of Information & Broadcasting -
Annual report 
2005-06

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR
The Government invited bids from Indian companies for
337 FM radio
channels in 91 cities, out of which 280 channels were
successfully bid. 
The
Government earned revenue of Rs. 1157.35 crore as  one
Time Entry Fee,
including migration fee from existing private FM
Channels.

Committee has been constituted to review the Programme
and Advertising
Code prescribed under the Cable TV Networks
(Regulation) Act, 1995
and the Guidelines for certification of  films
prescribed under the
Cinematograph Act,1952.

Broadcasting Content Regulatory Authority has been set
up to receive 
and
dispose off complaints on content telecast on TV
channels.

Uplinking Guidelines have been revised to make it up
to date with the
changing media scenario of the country and new
Downlinking Guidelines 
have
been issued.

IIMC launched its own Community Radio Station Apna
Radio FM 96.9MHz.

OVERVIEW
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, through
the mass 
communication
media consisting of radio, television, films, the
press publications,
advertising and traditional modes of dance and drama,
plays an 
effective
role in helping the people to have access to free flow
of information. 
The
Ministry  is involved in catering to the entertainment
and intellectual
needs of various  age groups and focusing attention of
the masses on
issues of national integrity, environmental 
protection, health care &
family welfare, eradication of illiteracy and issues
relating to women,
children and other weaker sections of the society.
The Ministry is divided into 4 wings i.e. Information
Wing, the 
Broadcasting
Wing, the Films Wing and the Integrated Finance Wing.
The Information 
Wing
under the Joint Secretary (Policy & Administration )
deals with the 
policy
matters, the print media  and the press and publicity
requirements of 
the
Government. The media units in tis Wing are:
- Press Information Bureau
 -Photo Division Press
- Research, Reference & Training Division
- Publications Division
- Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity
- Directorate of Field Publicity Publicity
- Song & Drama Division
- Registrar of Newspapers for India Statutory work of
the Press
- Press Council of India
- Indian Institute of Mass Communication Training

The Broadcasting Wing under Joint Secretary
(Broadcasting) handles 
matters
relating to the  electronic media. It formulates
policies and frames 
rules
and includes regulations for this Sector, which
includes public service
broadcasting, operation of  cable television, private
television 
channels,
F.M.channel, etc.
The organizations under this wing include:
The Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India
) an autonomous 
body
which includes:
- All India Radio, and
- Doordarshan
- Broadcast Engineering Consultants (India) Limited
(BECIL)


BROADCAST SECTOR
PRASAR BHARATI (Broadcasting Corporation of India)

The present composition of the Prasar Bharati Board is
as follows:
1. Shri M.V. Kamath Chairman
2. Shri K.S. Sarma Executive Member
3. Shri D.P.S. Lamba Member (Personal)
4. Shri Pradeep Singh, Representative of the Addl.
Secretary Ministry 
of
    Information and Broadcasting
5. Ms. Chitra Mudgal Part-time Member
6. Shri M.L. Mehta Part-time Member
7. Shri R.N. Bisaria Part-time Member
8. Shri Brijeshwar Singh, ex-officio Member DG: AIR
9. Shri Navin Kumar, ex-officio Member DG: Doordarshan

During the period from 1st April, 2005 to 31st
January, 2006, Prasar
Bharati Board held five meetings and took several
policy decisions to
meet the mandate of Prasar Bharati. Some of these are
listed below:
(i)   Warm clothing facility to officers/officials of
AIR and 
Doordarshan
       working at high altitude stations/Kendras.
(ii)   Amendments to Doordarshan Annual Award Scheme.
(iii)  Agreement with AIFF for telecast/broadcast of
football 
tournaments.
(iv)  Amendment in the guidelines for acquisition of
programmes.
(v)   Commissioning of programmes in Indian Classics.
(vi)   Rate card for telecast of scrollers.
(vii)  Cable Head Ends in North East Region.
(viii)  Amendment in the sponsorship guidelines.
(ix)   26 Channel Webcasting/Podcasting in AIR under
the 10th Plan.
(x)   Sale of Commercial tie by Marketing Divisions.
(xi)  Amendment in the guidelines for consideration,
processing and 
approval
       of self-financed commissioned programmes for
telecast on 
Doordarshan
       Channels.
(xii) DD's DTH service.


ALL INDIA RADIO
All India Radio informs, educates and entertains
people through its
programmes broadcast from various stations. It keeps
the people all 
over
the country informed about Government policies,
plans,programmes and
achievements through the medium of sound broadcasting
by a variety of
programmes on culture, education, science, health and
hygiene, as well 
as
social and economic aspects. It also keeps the people
in all parts of 
the
country informed of the important events of topical
interest. It also 
runs a
commercial service (Vividh Bharati), which helps, in
promoting sale of 
goods
and services through advertisements. It has external
services 
programmes for
overseas listeners.

(A) Growth of Network and Coverage All India Radio,
since Independence,
has become one of the largest broadcasting networks in
the world. At 
the
time of  Independence there were six radio stations
and 18 
transmitters,
which covered 11% population and 2.5 %  area of the
country.
Today, the network comprises 222 stations and 356
transmitters, which
provide radio coverage to 99.13 % of the population
and reaches 91.42 % 
area
of the country.
After the completion of 10th plan schemes, the radio
coverage in the 
country
would become 92.92% by area and 99.49 % by population.
For radio 
coverage
of the population living in remote areas of the
country mainly in the
North-East, J&K, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttaranchal,
LPT relay centers 
with
100 Watt FM transmitters are proposed to be installed.
The FM Service 
uses a
large bandwidth to provide a programme service of high
fidelity.

(B) Thrust Areas of Tenth Plan
The major thrust areas for AIR during the Tenth Plan
are as under:
- Medium Wave broadcasting services to be retained at
the present 
level.
- Expansion of  Medium Wave services to be taken up
only for strategic
   border areas and  difficult hilly terrain.
- FM radio to be expanded to achieve about 50 per cent
of the 
population
  coverage.
- Digitalization of about 50 per cent production
facilities to ensure 
good
   quality convergence ready content, which will also
support 
interactive
   radio.
- To put AIR services on the Internet.
- Creation of high quality content with long shelf
life, to enable AIR 
to
   fulfill its role of Public Service Broadcaster
effectively.

Year at a Glance

ENGINEERING
1. New Radio stations with FM Transmitters have been
commissioned at 
Mandla,
Rajgarh, and Saraipalli.
2. A new station with MW Transmitter has been
commissioned at 
Himmatnagar.
3. FM Transmitters have been commissioned at existing
stations at Port
Blair, Imphal, Agartala,Shimla, Rohtak, Gorakhpur,
Udaipur, Gulbarga,
Madurai and Aurangabad.
4. A new uplink station at Kolkata has been installed
and five existing
analogue uplinks have been upgraded to digital mode at
Bangalore, 
Hyderabad,
Ahmedabad, Thiruvananthapuram, and Bhopal.
Special Packages are under implementation for
expansion and improvement 
of
AIR services in J&K and the North East.
Existing 100 KW MW Transmitters at Shillong, Shimla
and Cuddappah have 
been
replaced with new state-of-the-art technology
transmitters and are 
under
replacement at Delhi and Raipur.

New Broadcasting House, Delhi:
A New Broadcasting House equipped with a completely
digital studio set 
up
for News Services, External services and Home services
of AIR has 
commenced
regular operations with the formal inauguration of the
set up by The
Minister of I and B on 23.8.2005.

AIR News -on-Phone Service:
The listeners can listen AIR's News highlights on
telephone in Hindi 
and
English by just dialing a specific telephone number at
any time from
anywhere in the world.
The service is now operational in five cities: Delhi,
Mumbai, Patna, 
Chennai
and Hyderabad.
The service is being  extended to another 11 stations.
Besides the above a list of projects targeted for
achievement during 
2005-06
is enclosed at Annexure-I

PROGRAMME
AKASHVANI ANNUAL AWARD
This year presentation ceremony of Akashvani Annual
Award 2004 was held 
on
5.9.2005 at Thiruvananthapuram the Minister of I and B
was our chief 
guest.
Gandhian Philosophy and Public Service Broadcast Award
2005 was 
declared and
the stations are being geared-up for presentation
ceremony of these 
awards.

MUSIC
This year Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan Concerts were
organized at 22 
Stations
all over the country on 12th and 13th November, 2005,
featuring artists 
of
both Hindustani and  Carnatic music. Total Number of
participants 
including
accompanying artists is 156.
Eminent artists like Pt. Debu Choudhury, Pt. Ulhas
Kashalkar, Pt. Ajoy
Chakaraborty, Pt. Bhajan Sopori, Pt. Kartik Kumar,
Kala Ramnath, Pt.
Vidhyadhar Vyas, Pt. Chhannu Lal Misra,  Pt. Mani
Prasad, Pt. L.K. 
Pandit,
Pt. Yashwant  Buva Joshi, Pt. Amiya Rajan Banerjee,
Vidushi Jaya  
Biswas
 Nedunuri Krishnamurthy, M.S. Gopalakrishnan,
Dr.Pprapanchaam Sitaram,
 R. Vedavalli,S. Rajeshwari,Aruna Sairam, K.S.
Gopalakrishnan,
P. Unnikrishnan, Sikkik and  Leela Kunjumani and Mala
Chandrashekhar
participated in the Concerts. All these Sangeet
Sammelan
Concerts were broadcast w.e.f 17th December, 2005 to
29th January,
2006. Both Hindustani and  Carnatic Music alternately
featured in
Akashvani the programmes of Sangeet Sammelan 2005 in
addition to
the programmes of some upcoming musicians of this
country.
AIR introduced Regional Folk and Light Music Festival
at par with
Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan. It was held on Vasant
Panchami at
selected venues in February,
2006 featuring eminent artists. The purpose of this
Regional Folk
and Light Music Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan was to
project,
promote and propagate the rich folk cultural heritage
of our country. 
During
the month of March, 2005 AIR
organised
TRINITY MUSIC CONCERTS in  Delhi with some eminent
upcoming
Carnatic musicians participants viz. T.N. Krishnan, 
Gayathri Girish,
E. Gayathri, Sangeetha Sivakumar, Kadri Gopalnath, D.
Seshachari and
D. Raghavachari, In the NATIONAL  PROGRAMME OF MUSIC
the
recordings of the eminent and upcoming artists were 
broadcast namely,
D.V. Muralikrishna, D. Srinivas, R.K.Srikanthan,
Lalgudi Smt. 
Brahmanandam,
Dr. K. Omnakutti, Nityashree Mahadevan etc.
To scout new talent All India Radio organizes All
India Music 
Competition.
It is a regular feature of AIR to hunt and reach new
talent among 
youth.
This year the finals of the  Music Competition were
held at Delhi and
Chennai for Hindustani and Carnatic Music respectively
during the month
of October.
This year a number of new talents in the category of 
Hindustani/Carnatic
Music have been added. On the repeated request of
music lovers of 
Indian
Classical Music there has been a change in the
duration of our National
Programme and Sunday night concerts. The length of
these programmes
has now been restored to the traditional 90 minutes as
compared to the
earlier 60 minutes.

FARM and HOME
The Farm and Home units of All India Radio broadcast
composite
programmes, which include equal segments of Rural
Development
Schemes and Hardcore Agriculture programmes. Whereas,
on the
one hand, they talk about the hardcore agriculture
subject i.e. animal
husbandry, fisheries and agriculture related
activities,dry and 
wasteland
agriculture, on the other they talk about employment
schemes,
loan and training facilities, sanitation,
health-hygiene and nutrition 
etc.
AIR has stepped up its activity of Agriculture
Broadcast with launch of
exclusive Agriculture Channel 'Kisan Vani' from 15th,
Feb, 2004 in
collabration with Ministry of Agriculture to inform
local farmers the
daily market rates, weather report and day to day
activites in their
area at  micro level. Presently 'Kisan Vani' is being
Broadcast and
relayed from AIR FM Stations.

ENVIRONMENT
There is a regular broadcast of programmes related to
Environment and 
Forest
Developmental Schemes  approach for its broadcasts of
programmes on
environment, forestry, wildlife and ecology etc. These
programmes are
broadcast in major languages and local dialects,
spoken by various 
smaller
communities.
In view of its importance, wildlife and forest
conservation is treated 
by
AIR as a challenge and emphasis is given on
developmental activities
as well as social rituals. All India Radio projects
the success of
Governmental initiatives, which take place in
forestry, wildlife
conservation and ecological balance.
As such, AIR is broadcasting programmes on wildlife
and care of animals
through its various special audience programmes. Some
special 
programmes
were produced and broadcast on World Enviornment Day.
A daily programme
"Vasundhara" is being broadcast from some of the
stations.
In some of the AIR's special audience's programmes
like Rural / Women /
Rural Women and Youth Health programmes, audience
groups have been
registered and with their communication during invited
audience 
programmes
they may be asked to give their contribution to spread
general 
awareness
about this. All the AIR Stations are giving wider
publicity to the 
legal
factors towards Environment and Forestry. These
programmes are being
supervised through the acquiring of monthly
information  from all the
stations.

FAMILY WELFARE
All AIR stations broadcast Family Welfare programmes
in the regional
languages/dialects of  our country. AIR stations
broadcast more than
15000 programmes on Health and Family Welfare in each
month of a
 duration of about 25000 minutes. The programmes are
broadcast in
general as well as special audience programmes like,
rural, women/
children and general audience programmes etc, in
various formats
like talk, discussions, features, quiz jingles, spots,
short stories,
drama, success-stories,phone-in programmes, etc. are
also put on
 the air. Apart from this, rest of the air AIR
stations, including 
local
Radio stations are also mounting programmes on their
theme regularly.
The themes covered are raising marriage age, delaying
the first child,
space between two children, terminal methods, maternal
care, child
survival, women empowerment, promotion of interspouse
communication/male responsibility, neutralizing male
preference
syndrome, medical termination of pregnancy, promotion
of institutional
legal provisions, management of reproductive tract
infections (RTIs)
and  sexually tranmitted infections (STIs), pre- natal
diagnostic
techniques ( Regulation and Prevention of Misuse)
Act-1994,
AIDS, drug abuse, breast feeding, child right,
child-labour, status
of girl child, disability, T.B. leprosy and
reproductive child health 
etc.
Wide publicity is being given to blood donation and
eye donation.
Suitable programmes have also been mounted against
drug-abuse,
tobacco consumption, illicit trafficking, leprosy
eradication and
AIDS etc. Each AIR Station broadcast once a week
"Health
Forum" programmes of duration of 15 minutes.
Doctors are invited for providing information to the
listeners
on common diseases and ailments.
Central Health Education Bureau, Ministry of Health
and
Family Welfare are constantly in touch with AIR and
provide
background material and expert advice from time to
time.
Each year Akashvani Annual Award is given to the best
programmes on Family Welfare.

National Rural Health Mission(NRHM)
This year, from 15th September, 2005, a 15 Minute 56
Broadcast
Sector programme weekly was produced and broadcast
from the
AIR stations of 18 selected states -
they are - Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh,
Chhattisgarh,
Himachal Pradesh,Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal,
Rajasthan, Orissa,
Assam, Arunachal Pradesh,Mizoram,Meghalaya, Manipur,
Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Jammu & Kashmir (Srinagar)
in
collaboration with the  Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare.

PROGRAMMES ON CHILDREN
AIR broadcasts programmes from almost all its stations
for
children under three categories, viz, programmes for
children
between the age of 5 and 7 years and 8 and 14 years
age; special programmes are also broadcast for rural
children.
Special programmes focusing on the status and
importance of
the girl child using various formats such as
discussions, comparing,
talks, short stories, jingles, spots etc. are being
broadcast during
the transmission on a continuous basis at regular
intervals,
throughout the year to create social awareness to
welcome the
girl child's birth.
Some of the programmes are broadcast on a weekly
basis.
Plays, short stories, features, chorus songs,
interviews, stories
from epics etc are part of these broadcasts.

PROGRAMME ON RURAL CHILDREN
Children, regardless of their educational and literacy
status,
participate in these programmes broadcast once a week
from
stations having farm and home units. Emphasis is given
on
educating and motivating children to be better
citizen. All the
items included in programmes for teenagers find place
in programs.
The messages of socio-economic activities are
highlighted in all the
programmes for teenagers.
Programme for Tiny Tots Small Children (5-7 years) The
programmes are broadcast on a weekly basis and are
relatively of
short duration. Plays, feature, chorus songs,
interviews, travelogue,
stories from epics, stories of different lands are the
principal
ingredients of these programmes with much
encouragement given
to children's participation in the programmes. The
rights of the tiny
tots come to the fore often in chorus songs, stories,
recitations,
plays and also interviews with children. Their right
to healthy
growth and development and to enjoy a clean
environment and
to participate in nation building as well as in the
welfare of the 
family
are discussed by them and their elders.

WOMEN PROGRAMMES
AIR Stations broadcast programmes for rural women as
well as
urban women at the timing convenient for listening by
the respective
target groups.
The programme directed at women listeners cover
subjects related
to socio-economic development of women, health and
family welfare,
 food and nutrition, home management, women
entrepreneurship,
education, including adult education, gender issues
etc. These
programmes also aim at creating wide social awareness
about
rights and privileges of women through the propagation
of legal
literacy.
All India Radio strives, through its programmes, to
raise the social
consciousness of the country with regard to attitude
towards women.
Different traditional folk forms are used to
communicate
specially with the rural women audience A year long
multimedia
campaign on atrocities against women has been launched
to create
an atmosphere conducive to safety and security of
women within
and outside the households for a safe and secure
hygienic
environment for women and children. Special programmes
for
general audience are being broadcast focusing on the
issue such
as changing the social attitude and behavioural
practices towards
women.
Guidelines are issued to AIR programme heads from time
to time
to plan and produce programmes for women with the aim
of their
empowerment and to ensure that women's issues are
projected
 as social issues rather then as issues concerning
women only.
During the year, All India Radio had broadcast various
special
programmes focused on selected themes like economic
empowerment of women, health, nutrition, education,
violence
against women and women in trying circumstances.


AIDS/HIV PROGRAMMES
All India Radio, with its vast network of stations all
over the
country,broadcasts programmes constantly
on HIV/AIDS in a number of languages and dialects. All
India
Radio, at present, is broadcasting a series titled
'Jeevan Hai
Anmol' on AIDS from the 76 Primary Channels of AIR.
This programme is sponsored by Ministry of Health and
Family
Welfare.
The theme and slogan 'Live and let live' had widely
been discussed
during the broadcast of variety of programmes on
health, youth,
children, women, rural women, industrial workers and
rural
areas. Maximum programmes have been broadcast on AIDS
every year, to emphasize the fact that the dreaded
AIDS can be
prevented with the proper information and knowledge.

COMMERCIAL
Regular publicity is being given to National Common
Minimum
Programme on each of the following thrust areas viz.,
1. Employment Opportunities,
2.Agriculture Growth,
3. Education,
4. Health,
5. Women and Children,
6. Food and Nutrition,
7. Panchayti Raj,
8. SCs and STs,
9. Social Harmony and Welfare of Minorities,
10. Industry,
11. Infrastructure Development,
12. Development of J&K, North East and Border States.
Special mention can be made of the publicity given to
schemes
such as EmploymentGuarantee Scheme, Jan Kerosene
Pariyojana
etc.  formulated by the various Central
Ministries/Departments.
Consequent upon the coming into force of the Right to
Information
Act, 2005, vigorous publicity to this Act is being
provided.
Programme Heads of all AIR Stations were asked to
highlight the
salient features of this Act in their programmes.
Publicity was given to the Hon'ble Supreme Court
Judgement on
Anti-Dowry Literacy among people.
Hon'ble Supreme Court's Judgement on Noise Pollution,
regarding
implementation of the laws restricting use of
loudspeakers and fire
crackers etc. was publicized by all AIR Stations.
Publicity with regard to Annual Kailash Mansarover
Yatra,
organized by the Ministry of External Affairs,
inviting applications
from the prospective Yatris, was done in the month of
February,
2005.
Publicity with regard to celebration of World Tourism
Day was
made through all AIR Stations by way of broadcasting
special
programmes and providing coverage to seminars,
workshops,
exhibitions etc.on this theme.
Publicity of the National Consumer Day was also made
by way
of arranging special broadcast Programmes on the theme
"Consumer
Health and Safety."
In addition, publicity of many other Central
Government Schemes,
policies etc. was in the public interest as and when
requests for the
same were received.

SPOKEN WORD PROGRAMMES:
Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture in English was organised
in New
Delhi on 25th October, 2005.
Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning
Commission delivered the lecture on the subject 'India
2020: The
Next Tryst With Destiny.' Its recording was broadcast
on national
hook-up on 31st October, 2005 on the occasion of the
birth
anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Dr. Rajendra Prasad Memorial Lecture in Hindi was
organised in
New Delhi on 29th November, 2005. Veteran socialist
thinker
Shri Surendra Mohan delivered the lecture on the
subject Vartaman
Parivesh Mein Kisanon Ki Dasha. Its recording was
broadcast on
national hook-up on 3rd December, 2005 on the occasion
of the
birth anniversary of Dr. Rajendra Prasad. The National
Symposium
of Poets (Sarva Bhasha Kavi Sammelan) is being
organised since
1956 and, at present, it includes poems in 22 Indian
languages
including Sanskrit. These poems depict the voice of
creativity and
conscience of the nation in a sublime aesthetic
manner.This prestigious
programme is organised usually in the month of January
and its 
recording
is broadcast on national hook-up on the eve of
Republic Day every year
Literary programmes are also originated by almost all
the AIR stations
in their regional languages. As in the previous years,
Sarva Bhasha 
Kavi
Sammelan (National Symposium of Poets) was organised
before
Republic Day, 2006.

NEWS SERVICES DIVISION
The News Services Division of All India Radio informs
the people all
over the country and abroad quickly about Government's
policies,
plans,programmes and achievements, through the medium
of audio
broadcasting by mounting over 360 news bulletins daily
in 81
languages/dialects (Indian and Foreign).

NEWS BULLETINS
The Home, Regional and External Services of NSD:AIR
put out news
bulletins for a duration of over 44 hours from Delhi
and also from 44
other Regional News Units (RNUs) in the country. Over
75 news
bulletins are broadcast in the Home Service from
Delhi. The Regional
News Units (RNUs) of NSD put out over 225 news
bulletins daily for
duration of over 24 hours in 66 languages/dialects in
the regional
services. These also include news headline bulletins
broadcast on FM
rainbow channels and some bulletins exclusively
mounted on FM Gold
channel. In the External Services, AIR broadcast 65
News bulletins in
26 languages (Indian and Foreign) for a total duration
of nearly nine
hours. Apart from this, the News Services Division
also puts out a
number of news-based programmes in English, Hindi and
other
languages.

NEWS ON PHONE
AIR 'News on Phone' service in Delhi provides the
latest news
highlights in Hindi and English to a listener anywhere
from India
or abroad on phone on dialing the specified numbers.
'News on
phone' service is also available in Tamil from the
Regional News
Unit at Chennai, in Telugu from Hyderabad, in Marathi
from
Mumbai and in Hindi from Patna. This service is being
extended
to Raipur, Lucknow,Bangalore, Shimla, Ahmedabad,
Guwahati,
Imphal, Jaipur and Thiruvananthapuram.

AIR NEWS ON INTERNET
AIR news is also available on the Internet. The
official website of
NSD www.newsonair.com' is being accessed by wider
audience.
The major initiative taken this year is the audio of
the news bulletins
being provided on the website.
The five minute hourly bulletins are made available on
the website
and are being updated regularly in both English and
Hindi. For the
major news bulletins at 0815 hrs., 1400 hrs and 2100
hrs. only the
headlines are available on the net.
The NSD website also carried audio dispatches from AIR
correspondents alongwith the scripts of top news
items.
The Current Affairs interactive programme 'spotlight'
can also be
heard on the website.
Another major initiative was providing scripts of
Hindi news
bulletins in Devnagiri on the website.
Hindi news headlines are also available on the website
and are
being updated every hour. Cricket scores for one-day
series
between India-Sri Lanka and India-South Africa were
put up
on the website.The scores were updated at short
intervals of
five to ten minutes. Regional languages bulletins can
soon be
heard by Internet users on NSD website. NSD plans to
provide
14 regional bulletins in eight Indian languages.
For the purpose, the required groundwork has been
done.
The requisite hardware and software are being
purchased.
The bulletins from various RNUs will be downlinked
through DTH
and put up on the website for non-resident Indians who
would be
interested in listening to local news from different
region of the
country.

NEWS BASED PROGRAMMES
News based programmes are broadcast by NSD from Delhi
and
Regional News Units. A programme called 'Current
Affairs' in
English goes on the air from Delhi at 9.30 p.m. on
Fridays. The
corresponding Hindi Programme, 'Charcha ka Vishai Hai'
goes
on air at 9.30 p.m. on Wednesdays.
'Samayiki' and 'Spotlight' are also broadcast daily
from Delhi.
Composite news programmes in Hindi and English
originating
from Delhi are exclusively broadcast every morning and
evening
for a duration of 30 minutes each on FM Gold. These
include
'Samachar Savera' in Hindi and 'Breakfast News' in 59
Broadcast Sector English in the morning and 'Samachar
Sandhya' in Hindi in the evening. FM Gold has also
specialised
programmes like 'Market Mantra' (Business Magazine)
and
'Sports Scan' (Sports Magazine). In 'Market Mantra'
Programme
on every Saturday and Sunday, public participation has
been
introduced. The experts in the Studio reply to queries
from the
public on economic issues.Other news based programmes
mounted on FM Gold include 'Correspondent's Corner',
'Vaad
Samvaad', 'Country wide' and 'Surkhiyon Se Pare'.

PARLIAMENT COVERAGE
Parliament proceedings are covered during sessions.
The daily
review called 'Today in Parliament' in English and
'Sansad
Sameeksha' in Hindi has two parts, one on the
proceedings
in the Lok Sabha and the other on those in the Rajya
Sabha.
The weekly reviews in English - 'This week in
Parliament'
and that in Hindi 'Is Saptah Sansad Main' - sum up the
important highlights of the proceedings in both Houses
during the preceding week. The broadcast of the 'Daily
and Weekly Reviews' of the proceedings of the State
Legislatures are also broadcast by the concerned RNUs.

SHIFTING OF LANGUAGE UNITS
The three language Units were shifted from NSD
headquarters
to Regional News Units. The Telugu Unit was shifted to
Hyderbad on 1st April, 2005. This was followed by
shifting of Kannada Unit to Bangalore and Dharwad
and Sindhi Unit to Ahmedabad.The broadcast of language
news bulletins were shifted to Regional News Units
(RNUs)
as there is a larger pool of talent available in the
concerned
language in the regional stations. The shifting was
also in line
with AIR's plan to gradually expand news broadcast at
regional stations on both professional and commercial
considerations.

INITIATIVES
The NSD is working on a proposal for use of AIR's FM
transmitters for news and news based programmes. The
synergy between DD news and AIR news has been
worked out. A proposal for Internet channel is also in
the pipeline. Change in announcement format, change in
signature tunes, and introduction of new programmes
targeting specific listener group are being planned by
NSD
and are at various stages of implementation.

COVERAGE
During the year 2005, the News Services Division (NSD)
of All India Radio mounted special programmes on all
major
events. A series of special programmes under the title
'Kahiye
Mantri Ji' in Hindi and 'Tell US Minister' in English
are mounted
by the News Services Division of NSD, AIR to mark the
one
year of UPA government at the Centre. The programmes
were
based on interviews with various Central Ministers
including
Finance Minister, Shri P.Chidambaram, the Chairman of
Planning Commission, Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia,
Petroleum,
 Natural Gas and Panchayati Raj Minister, Shri Mani
Shanker Aiyer and IT Minister, Shri Dayanidhi
Maran.The
Prime Minister, Dr.Manmohan Singh's weeklong visit to
France, United States and his crucial talks with world
leaders
and his address at the plenary session of the UN
General
Assembly in New York were the highlights of the news
bulletins mounted by NSD, AIR during September, 2005.
A team of AIR Correspondents was specially deputed for
extensive coverage of the visit. Dr. Manmohan Singh's
address at the UN General Assembly was broadcast
live in addition to special News based programmes
mounted in connection with the visit.
Extensive rescue and rehabilitation operations in
Jammu
and Kashmir including opening of relief points on LoC
 in J&K were widely covered with our Correspondents
 visiting far-flung areas giving live despatches. In
addition,
news based programme on the subject were also
broadcast
in the national and regional hook-up of J&K.

Other major events widely covered are:
- Assembly elections held in Bihar.
- Extensive rescue and rehabilitation operation in
Jammu and
   Kashmir in the wake of the quake victims in Jammu
and
   Kashmir.
- Opening of relief points on LoC in Jammu and
Kashmir.
- Inauguration of the historic bus service between
Srinagar
   and Muzaffarabad.
- Indo-Pak talks held in May and September.
- Prime Minister's weeklong visit to France and United
States
  and his address at the plenary session of the UN
General
  Assembly in New York.
- The Prime Minister. Dr. Manmohan Singh's address at
  the plenary session of the Afro-Asian summit in
Jakarta.
- UPA Chairperson Smt. Sonia Gandhi's fourday visit to
Russia.
- The joint statement issued after the talks between
the
  Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh and the US
President,
  Mr. George W.Bush recognizing India as responsible
nuclear
  power State and agreeing to resume fuel supply to
the
  Tarapore Nuclear Plant among other things.
- Dr. Manmohan Singh's speech at a joint session of US
  Congress, calling for a joint action by India and
the US
  to fight all forms of terrorism.
- India and the United States signing a landmark
deference
  pact to enhance military, industrial and
technological
  cooperation.
- Dr. Manmohan Singh's visit to Scotland to attend the
G-8
  Summit.
- The Prime Minister's visit to Russia and his
discussions with the 
world
  leaders in Moscow.
- Dr. Manmohan Singh's meeting with the Russia
President, Mr.
  Vladimir Putin and both countries - expressing their
readiness
  to further expand cooperation in civilian nuclear
energy, defence
  and space sectors.
- Visit of important foreign dignitaries including
Pakistan President,
  Gen. Pervez Musharraf, UN
- Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan, the Chinese Prime
Minister,
   Mr. Wen Jiabao and the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr.
Junichiro
   Koizumi.
- The President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam's fournation
visit to Russia,
   Switzerland, Iceland and Ukraine.
- President's broadcast to the nation on the eve of
the Independence
   Day.
- The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh's address to
the nation
   from the ramparts of Red Fort on Independence Day.
- The President conferring the Padma Awards to
ninety-six eminent
   persons.
- Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam presenting the National Film
Awards for
   2004 in New Delhi and conferring of Dada Saheb
Phalke Awards
   to film director Shri Adoor Gopalakrishnan.
- The Cancer Specialist, Dr. V.Shantha getting the
prestigious
   Magsaysay Award for public service.
- Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh's visit to Dhaka,
Bangladesh
   to attend SAARC Summit.
- The Prime Minister releasing a 42-page booklet
listing the
   achievements of his government at a function to
mark the completion
   of one year of his government and the UPA
Chairperson,
   Mrs. Sonia Gandhi's statement at the function that
the government
   is on its way to redeeming pledges made in the
Common Minimum
   programme (CMP).
- The Prime Minister laying the foundation stone of
2400 crore rupee
  Sethusamudram Channel Project in Madurai.
- Launching of the Rajiv Gandhi Vidyutikaran Yojana to
provide
   electricity to all villages within five years.
- The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure clearing a
10,000 crore
   rupee Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) Project.
- Centre announcing 700 crore rupee relief package for
the flood-
  devastated Maharashtra.
- Series of bomb blasts in Delhi killing more than 0
persons.
- Coverage of the Monsoon Session of Parliament.
- The Centre approving one lakh seventy four thousand
crore
   rupee outlay on rural infrastructure under the
Bharat Nirman
   Scheme.
- The Parliament passing important Bills like the
Employment
   Guarantee Bill, Domestic Violence Bill for
Protection of Women
   and the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Bill.
- The Centre approving the mid-term appraisal of the
Tenth Plan.
- Successful launching of CARTOSAT-1 and HAMSAT.
- Vishwanathan Anand winning the Mainz Chess Classic
2005
   in Germany.
- Goa lifting the Santosh Trophy Football championship
for
   the fourth time.
- The Delhi Half Marathon run.
- Mahesh Bhupati and his Slovakian partner Daniela
  Hantuchova clinching the US Open Mixed Doubles
title.
- Sania Mirza reaching the fourth round of US Open
   singles.
- India winning the two-test cricket series against
Zimbabwe.
   One-day international cricket series with Sri Lanka
and
   South Africa.
- Winter Session of Parliament.
- Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas conference held in Hyderabad
in
   January 2006.

FORTHCOMING COVERAGE
The major events likely to receive prominent coverage
before
31st March, 2006 are:
the Republic Day Celebrations, the Budget Session of
Parliament including the presentation of Union and
Railway
Budget for the year 2006-07, the Assembly elections to
be
held in five States and test and one-day international
cricket
series India Vs Sri Lanka and South Africa
respectively etc.
A special yearly roundup 'Year End Review' will also
be
broadcast on the New Year Eve, highlighting the major
events during the year.

AUDIENCE RESEARCH ACTIVITIES -2005-2006
Audience Research Unit provides research inputs for
producing
effective as well as listener's friendly radio
programmes by studying
the target audience, their needs, tests preference
etc. In order to
gauge popularity of AIR programmes it carries out
countrywide
survey, which helps the Marketing Division in selling
airtime.
In addition, until recently AR Unit of DG: AIR has
also launched
impact studies sponsored by State Govt. Departments
and Govt.
of India undertakings. During the year 2005-'06 some
of the major
 studies taken by AR Unit were as follows:
1. Radio Programme Llistenership study at 63 places
across the country.
2. Pre-launch market survey on proposed 24 hour News
Channel of AIR.
3. Radio Programme Listenership survey on Commercial
Broadcasting
    Service of All India Radio at 29 places across the
country.
4. Survey on Mass Media support to agriculture
extension broadcast
    on "Kisan Vani' channel at 87 places across the
country sponsored
    by Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperation.
5. Survey on FM Channel of AIR at 4 Metros.
6. Survey on Role of Radio during Tsunami disaster.
7. In-depth study of PCRA campaign "Boond Boond ki
Baat"
8. Telephone survey on Cricket commentary.
9. Telephone survey on the 'Voice-cast' b'cast
covering the
     French and Wimbelton open tennis championship.
10. Survey on National channel of AIR.

GROWTH OF AUDIENCE
(Per cent of Radio Listenership)
Year            Rural  Urban   Total
1997-98        49      46       47
1998-99        56      44       50
2000-2001    52     49       51
2001-2002    53     48       51
2002-2003    58     48       53
2003-2004    55     53       54
2004-2005    56     55       56

Developments, Activities and Initiatives

(1) Strengthening of radio coverage in J&K A special
plan to expand 
radio
coverage in the border areas of J&K is under
implementation. In 
Srinagar,
a 300 KW MW transmitter has been installed in place of
the existing 200
KW and at Kathua, a 10 KW FM transmitter has been
provided
in place of 6 KW. Relay stations have been set up at
Naushera, Kupwara,
Rajouri, Diskit, Khalsi, Nyoma,Drass, Tiesuru and
Padum. At Kargil, a
200 KW MW transmitter has been installed.

(2) Strengthening of radio coverage in the
North-Eastern Region:
Radio coverage in the North East region is being
expanded. FM channels
with stereo playback facilities have already been
provided at Shillong,
Imphal, Agartala and Aizawl and are under
implementation at Kohima
and Itanagar.

- Existing Uplink Facilities have been upgraded to
digital uplink 
systems at
Guwahati, Itanagar and Shillong.

- New Radio Stations are being provided at Longtherai
and Dharmanagar
in Tripura.

- The existing 100 KW MW Transmitter at Shillong has
been replaced by
new transmitter with state- of the- art technology.
The existing 10 KW 
FM
Transmitter at Jorhat is also under replacement.

- North East Package: Phase-I of the special package
was approved at a
cost of Rs. 24.80 crore and included six projects
namely, up-gradation
of existing analogue uplinks to digital system at
Itanagar, Guwahati 
and
Shillong and 10 KW FM Transmitters at Itanagar, Kohima
and Port
Blair. These projects have been completed except at
Kohima where
an interim set up of 1 KW is presently available and
the permanent set
of 10 KW would be ready in the current financial year.

- Phase-II of the special package costing Rs.145.75
crore awaits the
approval of CCEA.

(3) Technology: Towards Digital Broadcasting After
having built an
impressive engineering infrastructure, All India Radio
is now laying
thrust on modernization and technological
up-gradation. It has
undertaken a massive digitalization programme covering
both
production and transmission. The analog equipment in
many radio
 stations has been replaced by state-of-the-art
digital equipment.
Computer based recording, editing and playback system
has since
been provided at 141 AIR stations.
More stations are being provided with the system in
phases.

Digital Captive Earth Stations (uplinks)
In 10th Plan, the existing analogue uplink and
downlink facilities are 
being
upgraded to digital system. New digital uplink
stations have been set 
up
at Ranchi, Raipur, Jallandhar, Almora and Kolkata.
Existing
uplinks have been upgraded to digital system at
Guwahati, Shillong,
Itanagar, Lucknow, Srinagar,Patna, Jaipur, Cuttack,
Shimla, Trivendrum,
Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Bhopal.
Upgradation of the existing uplinks at Delhi and
Mumbai is also in 
progress
and would be completed in the ongoing financial year.

Digital Downlinks:
Downlinks facilities are being digitized in phases. 53
stations have 
already
been provided with digital downlinks and 115 more
stations are being
provided with the system during the current financial
year.
New Stereo studio set up at AIR Leh New stereo studio
set up for Leh
with music, drama,talk, transmission studios along
with dubbing and 
editing
facilities has been planned. Construction of building
is at a very 
advanced
stage.

(4) Expansion of FM Services
In view of the superior quality of FM broadcasts it is
gaining 
popularity in
the country. AIR has also therefore undertaken to
expand its FM network
to achieve about 50 per cent population coverage after
the completion 
of
ongoing Tenth plan.

(5) Computerisation of Network:
A number of software's have been developed for
information exchange and
improvement of efficiency in the working of various
units of AIR. 
Activities
during the year included:

Software for Online AIR information system.
Software for Royalty Payment system, Online system
developed for 
getting
information earned by stations including CBS Web based
E-mail service 
at
headquarters has been introduced. All the stations and
directorate have
now been provided with the e-mail accounts with
corporate identity
( xyz@xxxxxxxxxx) 38 AIR stations in remote places not
having PCs
were computerized.
Local Area Network (LAN) at Headquarters has been
augmented and latest
desktop computers have been provided.
Agreement has been signed with BSNL for News-onphone
service at all
the BSNL circles. Any subscriber dialing 125800/125900
will get the
news from the nearest AIR news-on- phone server. AIR
is installing
the servers at 15 different places across the country
for this purpose.

Activities of 'AIR Resources AIR has started "AIR
RESOURCES" as one of 
its
commercial arm to
provide consultancy and turnkey solutions in the field
of broadcasting.
Its present activities include the following:
It is providing turnkey solutions to IGNOU in setting
up FM 
Transmitters for
their Gyan-Vani stations at 40 places in the country.
Infrastructure 
like
land,
building and tower has also been leased out to
Gyan-Vani
stations.
16 Gyan-vani stations are already operational and 8
stations are 
expected to
be operational during the current year. Thus by the
end of the ongoing 
year
24 Gyan-vani stations would become operational.
It has also undertaken operation and maintenance of
all the Gyan-vani
stations commissioned so far.
Infrastructure i.e. land, building and tower has also
been given on 
rental/
license fee basis to BSNL and private broadcasters as
part of phase-I
scheme of the Ministry of I & B.
Sharing of this infrastructure is also envisaged under
phase- II of the
scheme proposed in 91 cities. Infrastructure has also
been rented out
to mobile operators.
'AIR Resources' has earned revenue of about Rs. 500
lakhs upto 
November-
2005.

STAFF TRAINING INSTITUTE TECHNICAL
Staff Training Institute (Tech.) at Delhi and Regional
training 
institutes
at Bhubaneshwar and Shillong cater to the training
needs of engineering
personnel of AIR and Doordarshan.
(1) Staff Training Institute (Tech.), Delhi The
institute at Delhi was
established in 1948 and has since grown into a center
of excellence
for technical training in electronic media. A
well-organised
Library and a Computer center with advanced multimedia
equipment are
available as part of the institute.
The institute conducts training courses for
departmental candidates as 
well
as for candidates of similar foreign organizations.
Workshops at 
different
field offices are also held. The institute conducts
recruitment 
examination
for direct recruit engineering assistants and also
holds departmental
competitive examinations for promotions in the
subordinate  engineering
cadres.
Training Courses
The number of courses conducted/scheduled from April
2005 to October,
2005 is 65 and around 1105 personnel have been
trained. Further, about
41 courses are scheduled during the period from
November 2005 to
March 2006 and around 600 persons are expected to be
trained during
this period.In addition to the scheduled courses,
three courses on 200 
W
TWTA for Earth Station and on 10 KW FM BE transmitters
were held
at the Institute. These ourses were held in
association with the
manufacturer's of that equipment.
STI (T) and STI(P) also organized a special training
for Journalists 
jointly
under the sponsorship of PSBT.
(2) Regional Staff Training Institute (Technical),
Bhubaneshwar.
This Institute was established in July, 2000 with
minimum faculty at
Bhubaneshwar. This is a wellequipped Institute with
modern TV/
Sound studios. Its main function is to conduct
training courses for
departmental candidates.
Training Courses:
Courses conducted/scheduled during at this Institute
for the period 
from
April to November, 2005 is 13 and around 133
engineering personnel
 were trained.
During the period from December, 2005 to March,2006, 9
courses have 
been
scheduled and around 120 persons are expected to be
trained.
Summer vacation training for Engineering College
Students were held at
STI(T) Delhi and RSTI(T) Bhubaneshwar and a total of
251 students
were trained.
A special course on Conversion of Lighting Assistance
to Cameraman was 
held
at RSTI(T) Bhubaneshwar.

Regional Staff Training Institute (Technical),
Shillong.
This Institute was established on 27-06-2004 with
minimum facilities at
Shillong. The Institute has two classrooms, one
multipurpose studio, 
one
lab,
a small hostel and staff quarters. Its main function
is to conduct 
training
courses for departmental candidates. Courses have been
conducted on
use of Computerized Hard Disc Based Recording, Editing
and playback system.

Training Courses:
Courses conducted/scheduled during at this Institute
for the period 
from
April, 2005 to November, 2005 are 15 and around 152
engineering
personnel were trained. During the period from
December, 2005 to
March, 2006, 6 courses have been scheduled and around
200 persons
are expected to be trained.
A special training package for the North-Eastern
Region has been
prepared as  per the guidelines of the Government of
India for the
development of North -Eastern Region. Under this
package 15 Nos.
of additional courses will be held for the North-
Eastern Region up
to 31st March, 2006 in addition to the already
scheduled courses.
The first course under this package was inaugurated at
AIR
Gangtok on 18.7.2005.

PROGRAMME
Staff Training Institute STI(P) Delhi and Bhubaneshwar
alongwith
 five other Regional Training Institutes (Programme)
at Ahmedabad,
Hyderabad, Lucknow, Shillong and Thiruvananthapuram
imparts
training to Announcers, Transmission Executives,
Librarians,
Programme Executives, Junior and Senior levels
Management and Programme cadres of Prasar Bharati. The
institutes
 design training programmes keeping in mind the
programme and
administrative training needs of All India Radio and
Doordarshan
and the administrative training needs of Doordarshan.
Thrust areas
 for training are Managing the Change, Marketing
Management,
Corporate Work Culture, Digital Broadcast, Modern
presentation
 techniques, Voice Culture, Broadcast Management,
Innovative
Programmes, Programme packaging and promotion,
Interactive and Participatory programmes, Development
programmes and Radio jockeying.
STI(P) has also started giving professional training
to IGNOU,
 Indian Airlines (Voice Culture) and Airports
Authority of India. It has also taken up training for
the Programme
Professionals of Doordarshan.

ACHIEVEMENTS :
During the year 2004-05, STI(P) Delhi and
Bhubaneshwar along with five Regional Training
Institutes at Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Lucknow,
Shillong and Thiruvanthapuram conducted 30 courses
-17 Programme courses and 13 Administrative
courses and 404 Personnel were trained- 202
Programmers of AIR and 202 Administrative officials
of AIR and Doordarshan.
Two International courses in collaboration with AIBD
on Broadcast Management and Peace Journalism
were conducted in September and October, 2004 at
STI(P), Delhi in which 
34
AIR and Doordarshan programme and news officials
participated.
Coordinated Courses:
During the year 2004-'05, Staff Training Institute
(Programme), AIR, 
Delhi
conducted 7 courses coordinated with Staff Training
Institute 
(Technical),
AIR and Doordarshan, Delhi on Hard Disc Based
Recording System
for the programme officers of AIR and trained 43
programme
officers of AIR.
Outside Courses:
(a) During the year 2004-05 STI(P), Delhi organised 10
workshops
 for Indian Airlines and trained 258 Air-hostesses and
cabin crew in
Voice Culture at RTI(P), Hyderabad, and conducted
three workshops
in the months of June and July, 2004, for Airports
Authority of
India to train its 30 Airport-hostesses in Voice
Culture.
(b) Prasar Bharati had signed a MoU with IGNOU for
giving practical
training to the students of Post Graduate Diploma in
Radio Prasaran
(PGDRP) and Post Graduate Diploma in Audio Programme
Production
(PGDAPP). Prasar Bharati is sharing 50% of the course
fee received
by IGNOU.
(c) VANI (Voice Articulation and Nurturing Initiative)
Certificate 
course
was launched from 1st October 2003 for newly selected
comperes,
announcers and presenters. These courses are being
conducted on
payment basis at various stations of AIR. Till March
2005 about 70 
courses
were conducted at 46 AIR Stations and trained 1250
newly selected
announcers, comperes and presenters.
A handbook 'VANI' has been published, which is proving
to be helpful to 
the
participants of Vani Certificate Course as a
supplementary material. 
Till
March 2005, about 1500 copies of 'VANI' hand books
have been sold
earning revenue for Prasar Bharati.
A brochure highlighting the activities of STI(P) -
Leading The Way has 
also
been published and sent to various Government and
Private organisations
 and agencies for the utilisation of our expertise in
the area of voice
culture and of course for generating more and more
revenue .
Revenue earned:
STI(P) during the year 2004-05 made an income of
Rs.74,65,610/- and
 so far since 2002 till 31st August, 2005, it has
generated a total 
revenue
of Rs.1,20,65,399/- from all sources.

FUTURE PLANS :
STI(P) is now looking at the feasibility of opening
its windows and
providing expertise to Universities, Private Radio and
TV Channels,
 National and International Call Centers, Railways,
Private Airlines
and other Academic and Cultural Institutions, who are
interested in
getting the professional training on Voice Culture and
Management.

PLANNED SCHEMES DURING JANUARY - MARCH 2006
INSIDE COURSES
During the period all the seven training Institutes
have proposed to
conduct 15-20 courses and 300 to 400 programme and
administrative
 staff are expected to be trained.
OUTSIDE COURSES
>From January 2006 to March 2006 Indian Airlines
proposes to
conduct 5-6 courses training approximately 150 of its
Cabin Crew
on Voice Culture in addition to 3 courses conducted in
the
first half of the year 2005 training 80 cabin crew
members.
Till March 2006 under the MoU with IGNOU about 350
students of two Diploma Courses- PGDAPP
and PGDRP will be given practical training at various
AIR
Stations all over India.
During the period Vani Certificate Course for Casual
Announcers
and Comperes f AIR proposes to train newly selected
Casual
Announcers /Comperes.
G. REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES OF RESEARCH DEPARTMENT
FOR THE YEAR 2005-06:
The Research Department of All India Radio and
Doordarshan is engaged 
in
Research and Development work incorporating
state-of-art technology in
Radio and Television Broadcasting.
The technical activities undertaken in various AIR
labs during 2005-'06 
are
as follows:-
Acoustic Measurements- Besides testing of various
acoustic materials on
commercial basis, Acoustic measurements of Conference
Hall, PM Office
 and New Broadcasting House, New Delhi were carried
out.
Interactive Radio Service (IRS)- IRS Software has been
installed in the
system unit of AIR (Kota, Bhatinda, Rohtak, Shillong,
Shimla, Guwahati,
Indore, Mysore) and the technical personnel of the
stations
concerned were trained.
News Room Automation software developed in R&D
integrates four
stages of News broadcasting viz. Gathering News items
from agencies
on computer, Editing, Reading News and archiving
thereafter. The
software has been installed at Regional News Unit,
AIR, Lucknow,
Shillong, Jaipur, Guwahati and Shimla. The system is
proposed to be
installed at more Regional News Units.
Telemetry system for AM Transmitter- The telemetry
system is required
to be developed for controlling and monitoring the
Digital Medium Wave
Transmitter from a remote location. The hardware of
the system has been
fabricated and the software is under development.
Telemetry System for FM Transmitter- Such a system for
installation at
AIR Shillong has been developed and the work is nearly
completed.
Voice Cast Units- R & D developed 10 Nos. Voice Cast
Units, six nos.
were sent to Radio Kashmir, Srinagar.
(vii) Data Radio Channel (DARC) System DARC-Data Radio
Channel
is a broadcasting system based on the already existing
FM 
infrastructure.
It allows information providers to transmit data
(text, picture or 
video) to
any place within the coverage of the FM radio network.
Billboard
application of DARC is being developed with suitable
software and
hardware modules. This includes display of text
messages and Bitmap
images on Billboard via DARC in approximately 20
different ways. The
transmission form FM Gold (106.4 MHz) has been
continuously
going on for last few months. The testing of signal on
Billboard within
the range of FM Transmitter in different directions
upto 60 kms from
FM transmitter has been successful. Live demonstration
of the project
has been made at IETE and Cable Quest Exhibitions
during August
and September, 2005. A presentation of the system had
been invited
in the conference of India Science Congress
Association at Hyderabad
during 3-7 January, 2006.

Propagation
The measurements of planning parameters were carried
out to evaluate 
the
penetration loss at the High frequencies (below 30
MHz) for digital
broadcasting in different type of buildings. A field
strength survey 
was
carried out for the in house developed vertically
polarized FM antenna
to ascertain its theoretical specifications.

Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM)
To study the DRM system, the project named
"Experimental Studies on 
Digital
Radio Mondiale (DRM)" has been undertaken. This study
will cover the 
most
appropriate features of DRM such as Coverage Area,
Spectral Efficiency,
Improvement in Audio Quality, Delivery of Value Added
Services viz.
data, text etc. The study of DRM implementation in one
of the existing
short-wave transmitter is on hand.

High Power FM Transmitting Antenna
The High Power FM Antennas are very costly and
generally being
imported in India. To overcome this, a single bay
circularly polarized
cross-V FM transmitting antenna was developed and
tested
successfully in field trial. Based on this a six bay
high power FM
Antenna has been fabricated and is under field trial.

Annexure-I

All India Radio
Physical Targets to be Achieved during 2005-06 Total
-63

Place State Project Remarks
J&K, Uttaranchal, 100 W LPT Relay stations NE, HP,
etc.
Delhi Delhi Upgradation of CES
Mumbai Maharashtra do
Varanasi UP CES
Delhi Delhi DSNG Mobile system
Mumbai Maharashtra do
Kolkata West Bengal do
Chennai Tamil Nadu do
Raipur Chattisgarh 100 kW MW Tr. (Replacement of 100
KW)
Delhi Delhi do
Baripada Orissa 5 kW FM Tr.
Kota Rajasthan 20 kW MW Tr. (Replacement of 1 KW)
Delhi Delhi 20 kW FM Tr. (Replacement of 10 kW )
Delhi Delhi 20 kW FM Tr. (Replacement of 5 kW )
Chennai Tamil Nadu 20 kW FM Tr. (Replacement of 10 kW)
Chennai Tamil Nadu 20 kW FM Tr. (Replacement of 5 kW)
Kolkata West Bengal 20 kW FM Tr. (Replacement of 5 kW
)
Mumbai Maharashtra 20 kW FM Tr. (Replacement of 5 kW )
Rairangpur Orissa 1 kW FM Tr.
Studio and S/Q
Thrissur Kerala Refurbishing of studio
Silchar Assam do
Banswara Rajasthan 10 kW FM Tr. (Replacement of 6 kW)
Subject to placement of order for FM Tr.
Alwar Rajasthan do do

Broadcast Sector
Chittorgarh Rajasthan do do
Kurukshetra Haryana do do
Surat Gujarat do do
Hyderabad Andhra Pradesh do do
Kochi Kerala do do
Nagpur Maharashtra do do
Jorhat Assam 10 kW FM Tr. (Replacement of 10 kW) do
Chandigarh Chandigarh 10 KW FM Tr. do
Lucknow Uttar Pradesh 10 kW FM Tr. (Replacement. of 10
KW MW)
and stereo studio do
Sholapur Maharashtra 10 kW FM Tr. (Replacement of 1 kW
MW)
and stereo studio do
Vijaywada Andhra Pradesh do do
Jalandhar Punjab do do
Patna Bihar 10 kW FM Tr.,
and stereo studio do
Bikaner Rajasthan do do
Ranchi Jharkhand do do
Tirunelveli Chennai do do
[Note:- Tr. denotes 'Transmitter']


BROADCAST ENGINEERING CONSULTANTS  INDIA LIMITED
(BECIL)
BECIL is the premier consultancy agency and turnkey
solution provider
In the  field of Broadcast Engineering, set up by the
Government of 
India
in 1995. BECIL has a pool of in-house expertise and
vast reservoir of
experts drawn from various fields including All India
Radio (AIR) and
Doordarshan. BECIL has been constantly improving its
skills to keep
itself abreast with the latest technology.
With the opening of Broadcasting Sector after the Gulf
War in 1989,
more and more satellite channels started beaming down
their programmes
in India. By 1991-92 the scene reached at such a stage
that
Indian companies also felt the need to broadcast via
satellitte. These
companies needed an expert agency to advise them in
the field of
broadcasting. Such expertise was, then, only available
with AIR and
Doordarshan. The Government of India decided to
incorporate one
such agency for this purpose and thus BECIL was
formed.
BECIL provides consultancy services of international
standards 
including
turnkey jobs in the specialized fields of terrestrial
& satellite
broadcasting,
CATV network, data broadcasting and studios including
acoustic &
audio-video systems.
BECIL also undertakes the operation and maintenance of
broadcast
systems of all types and descriptions.
In addition to the projects, operation and maintenance
70 Broadcast
 Sector of broadcast systems, BECIL also places on
suitable terms,
 technicians, engineers and experts to parties in
India and abroad
involved in development and operation of broadcasting
projects of
all type and descriptions.
BECIL provides flexible, tailor-made solutions to
every customer's
unique requirements; it emphasizes on a professional,
total quality
approach with frequent reviews and monitoring for
efficient and
cost-effective completion of every project on
schedule.
With its focused approach, the company has been able
to provide
 quality services to its clients, thus winning their
loyalty and at the
same time remaining a profit making undertaking of the
Government.
During this year also BECIL has paid 20% dividend to
the Government.

BECIL - MANAGEMENT & ORGANISATION
The Board of Directors comprises a full-time
Chairman & Managing Director, a Director
(Operations & Marketing) and four to seven part
time Directors nominated by the Government of
India. Below Board level, there are two regular posts
of Joint General Managers, One Deputy General
Manager (Operation & Marketing), One Dy. Manager
(Finance) and a post of Junior Manager (Finance).
Company hires consultants to assist in the technical
work. Besides, BECIL has a pool of in-house expertise
and a vast repository of experts drawn from various
fields including All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan
(DD).

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
Since its inception on March 24, 1995, BECIL has
made significant progress in the performance by
undertaking jobs in India and overseas for public and
private broadcasters and also other agencies. The
Company has been paying dividend to the
Government right from its inception. The financial
position of the Company and its performance during
the last five years is given in the following page.
During the financial year ending on 31st March
2005, there has been a quantum jump of 207.33%
in the income from operations as compared to the
previous year. The turn-over during this year
including
deposit work has increased to Rs 3,773.32 lakhs
as against Rs 1,683.24 lakhs in the previous
year. During the financial year 2004-'05 BECIL has
earned a gross profit of Rs 20124 lakhs as against
Rs 173.19 lakhs in the previous year, showing an
increase of 16.20% in the gross profit over the last
year.
At present, BECIL is executing order of various
projects including Restoration/Revamping of
Information Set up in Afghanistan and Restoration/
Augmentation of Television Hardware in Jalalabad
and Nangarhar Provinces of Afghanistan. The project
is of international importance as it is the part of
Govt. of India's Aid Programme sanctioned for
Afghanistan. Recently company has signed another
agreement with Ministry of External Affairs for
coverage of Television in Afghanistan. Government
of India has recently announced a policy for grant of
license under Private FM Phase-II scheme in 91
cities. BECIL is appointed as system integrator for
providing the common transmission infrastructure.
The company will construct towers in seven cities on
behalf of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
BECIL has signed Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) with Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
for Financial Year 2005-06. Department of Public
Enterprises facilitates the MOU. The financial as well
as other targets are given for the company.
The lists of projects executed, under execution as
well as projections are given in the tables below:
i) List of projects received/executed from
April 2004 to March, 2005 (Annexure I)
ii) List of projects received from April 2005
till date (Annexure II)

BUSINESS OPERATIONS & ACTIVITY (DURING THE YEAR)
i) Restoration/Revamping of Information Setup in
Afghanistan
The company has signed an agreement with Ministry
of External Affairs for Restoration/Revamping of
Information set up in Kabul, Afghanistan. The project
includes establishment of a printing press, Satellite
uplink & downlink facility and new 100 kW Shortwave
Transmitter. The company has already
commissioned Printing Press and Satellite uplink and
downlink facilities. The work of establishment of
downlink system was particularly difficult as these
were to be installed in remote locations. The work of
100 kW Short-wave Transmitter is in final stages of
completion. Local authorities as well as Afghanistan
Government has appreciated the work of BECIL.
ii) Restoration/Augmentation of Television Hardware in
Jalalabad
& Nangarhar Provinces of Afghanistan Based upon the
performance
 of the company during the year, Ministry of External
Affairs (MEA)
 has signed another agreement of restoration/
augmentation of
Television Hardware in Jalalabad and Nangarhar
provinces of
Afghanistan. The work on the project is going as per
schedule.
iii) Supply of Broadcasting Equipments During the
year, the
company has supplied various broadcasting equipments
under
 orders received through Global Bidding Tender System
from All
India Radio. The supply includes development and
integration of
Dummy Load for 100 kW MW Transmitter. The Dummy Load
was integrated for the first time in the country. The
indigenous
development of equipment was done with 1/3rd of the
cost of
imported equipment. The equipment was supplied to
three
different station of All India Radio . The equipment
was
working satisfactorily. The company has completed
installation
 of six upgradation captive earth stations for All
India Radio.
iv) Community Radio Stations The Government of India
has
launched the scheme of Community Radio Station
(CRS) by educational Institutions. During the year
BECIL
has commissioned Community Radio Stations for A.J.
Kidwai Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia
Millia Islima, Delhi; IIIM Jaipur; and Indian
Institute of Mass
Communication, Delhi. The company is negotiating
business
with other educational institutes for establishment of
CRS.
v) Operation and Maintenance The company has
established
137 cable Head-Ends in North East region of the
country.
During the year, it has carried out operations and
maintenance
of these centres. It is also maintaining Earth
Stations for
IGNOU, New Delhi, ANNSIRD, Mysore, Consortium
of Education Communication (CEC) and DD News Channel
for Doordarshan.
vi) Overseas Business
During the year, BECIL put in special efforts for the
development of overseas business. The company
has signed MOU with foreign companies to be
partners in the business. The company is already
supplying equipment to Radio and Television
Authority (RTA) under the Government of India Aid
programme. The company has signed agreement
with Constellation Business Inc, USA for
establishment of TV Channel in Kabul on turnkey
basis. The company has bagged an order from M/
s Thales Multimedia & Broadcast for the supply of
equipment to Bangladesh. The company has
provided consultancy services to a private company
for the network planning of FM Stations in
Bangladesh.

GENERAL
BECIL's Budget is its own internal projection of
receipts and expenditure related to Consultancy and
Turnkey jobs secured through competitive tender
system in the open market. BECIL does not get any
Budgetary Support from the Govt. and generates its
own resources.
BECIL has not been entrusted with any Central/
Centrally sponsored Schemes relating to women,
North-East (including Sikkim), employment
generation, rural component, Tribal Sub plan, Special
Component Plan, Voluntary Sector, Information &
Publicity, minority Welfare etc. However, Director-
General, Doordarshan has awarded the work of
setting up of Cable Head Ends in 160 villages in the
North-East Region (including Sikkim at an estimated
cost of Rs. 712/- lakhs.


Annexure-I
LIST OF PROJECTS RECEIVED FROM APRIL 2004 - MARCH 2005
S. No. Name, location and type of Project Contract
value Rs. in lakhs
(Approx.)
1. Restoration/Augmentation of Television Hardware in
Jalalabad & 
663.27
Nangarhar Province in Afghanistan
2. Supply of 1 no. of 200 kW MW Transmitter to All
India Radio 591.86
3. Supply of Audio Analysers to All India Radio 311.30
4. Upgradation of TV Monitoring Facility at CMS
Ayanagar 260.00
5. Supply of 2x20 kW Slot Type UHF Antenna System and
Accessories 54.02
to Doordarshan
6. Supply of 1-5/8" Foam Dielectric RF Feeder Cable 50
ohms (including 
35.57
the repeat order)
7. Upgradation of Captive Earth Station at Kolkata
139.00
8. Consultancy & Technical Audit Service for
establishment of TIMES TV 
12.00
9. Supply of Combiner/Multiplex to IGNOU 43.63
10. Supply of Single Dipole FM Antenna with RFS Cables
and other 
accessories
2.86
11. Providing Uplinking Facility to EBU during the
Russain President's 
visit
to India 10.26
12. Providing Consultancy for setting up Satellite TV
Channel to 
Sentinel
      Broadcasting Private Limited 25.00
13. Consultancy for establishment of UTV 3.00
14. Establishment of Community Radio at Jamia Millia
Islamia 6.97
15. Supply of Feeder Cables for Thales Multimedia &
Broadcast 5.64
16. Establishment of TV Studio for Constellation
Business Group 232.00
17. Supply of 5 kW Mosfet VHF Tx fro All India Radio
285.16
18. Setting up of Museum of Moving Images in Films
Divison Complex 
10.00
19. Consultancy for Operation & establishment of DTH
in India for Space 
TV
8.00
20. Supply of RF Feeder Cables to Chief Engineer South
Zone 2.11
21. Consultancy for FM Radio Bangladesh 3.48
Total 2705.13


Annexure-II
LIST OF PROJECTS RECEIVED FROM APRIL 2005 - TILL DATE
S. No. Name, location and type of Project Contract
value
Rs. in lakhs (Approx.)
1. Supply of 2 X 100 kW AM MW Transmitter for All
India Radio 539.09
2. Establishment of Community Radio Station for
Satyajit Ray Film & 
25.00
Television Institute.
3. Consultancy for Establishment Of Captive TV
Facility for Satyajit 
Ray
Film & Television Institute.
4. Supply of Transmitter, Antenna, Tower & Cable for
Shaiq Network,
Jalalabad
5. Agreement for Augmentation of TV Coverage in
Afghanistan for 
Ministry of
External Affairs
6. Consultancy for FM Radio Project for HT Media
Limited
7. Center for Mass Communication for University of
Rajasthan
8. Supply of 100 M Steel Tower for All India Radio
9. Installation of Dish Antenna for TIMES Global
Broadcasting
10. Consultancy for FM Project for Malayalam Manorama
7.50
11. Provision of Services, design of Studio, System
Integration, 
Testing and
comissioning for World Space India Pvt. Ltd.
12. Supply of Rigid Line Reducer for IGNOU, New Delhi
13. Consultancy & Professional Services for Music
Broadcast Private 
Limited
14. Consultancy & Professional Services for Space TV
4.00
15. Establishment of TV Monitoring Facilities for
Ministry of 
Information
and Broadcasting
16. Consultancy for FM Radio for Rajasthan Patrika
17. Consultancy for FM Radio for Ananda Bazar Patrika
18. Customization of NSC Software for APSSDC
19. Construction of Gyan Vani Studio for IGNOU at Six
Places IGNOU New 
Delhi
20. Consultancy for FM Radio for Jaybee Energy Private
Limited

NEW INITIATIVES
DIRECT-TO-HOME (DTH) SERVICE
Direct- to- Home (DTH) Broadcasting Service refers to
distribution of 
multi
channel TV Programmes in Ku Band by using a satellite
system  providing
TV signals direct to subscribers' premises without
passing through an
intermediary such as cable operator. DTH platform is
essentially a
distribution platform for TV channels like cable
networks. DTH
guidelines issued in March 2001 permit total foreign
investment,
including FDI/NRI/OCB/FII in paid up equity of a DTH
company
upto 49%, with a cap of 20% on Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI).
Besides, a DTH Company is always required to have
Indian
Management Control with majority representatives on 
the Board,
as well as the Chief Executive of the company being a
resident Indian
citizen. The DTH guidelines are available on this
Ministry's website
(http://www.mib.nic.in).
2. This Ministry has received a number of applications
for grant of DTH
license. One private service provider M/s ASC
Enterprises Ltd. has
already launched its service in October 2003.
Two more private companies (i) M/s Space TV Private
Limited and
(ii) M/s Sun Direct TV Limited have been issued Letter
of Intent to start DTH service. Applications of three
other companies 
are at
various stages of consideration in the Ministry.
Meanwhile, Doordarshan
has also extended multi channel TV coverage to the
entire
country except Andaman and Nicobar Islands through its
Free-to-Air
DTH service, with a view to provide TV coverage to
areas uncovered
and under-served by the terrestrial transmitters. It
is now possible to
receive 33 TV channels and 12 radio channels with the
help of a small
sized receives system.

PRIVATE FM RADIO PHASE-II
A new policy of expansion of FM Radio broadcasting
service through private Agencies (Phase-II) was
approved on 30th June, 2005 and was notified on
13th July, 2005. The Policy has the following salient
features:-
Permission on the basis of One Time Entry Fee
(OTEF) and annual fee as avenue share in contrast
with earlier fixed Annual License Fee regime;
i) FDI permitted within 20% overall limit for foreign
investment;
ii) A graded penalty regime for enforcement of
terms and conditions of Permission;
iii) Permission to network Channels in C&D
category cities within a region;
iv) Migration of Phase I licensees having operational
channels to Phase II on compliance with terms
and conditions mentioned in the policy.
The Government invited bids from Indian companies
for 337 FM radio channels in 91 cities, out of which
280 channels were successfully bid. The Government
earned revenue of Rs. 1157.35 crore as One Time
Entry Fee, including migration fee from existing
private
FM Channels.

DOWNLINKING GUIDELINES
Government of India issued Policy Guidelines for
Downlinking of Television Channels on 11.11.2005
which provide that no person/entity shall downlink a
channel that has not been registered with the Ministry
of Information & Broadcasting. It further provides all
persons/entities desirous of downlinking TV channels
shall be required to obtain permission from Ministry
of Information and Broadcasting in accordance with
the terms and conditions prescribed under these
guidelines. As a result of these guidelines, the local
152 New Initiatives
delivery service providers i.e cable operator and DTH
service providers will distribute only registered TV
channels. A copy of the guidelines is available at the
website.
TV channels transmitted/retransmitted through the
Cable TV Network and DTH Network are required
to adhere to the Programme and Advertising Code
prescribed in the Cable TV Network Rules, 1994, in
accordance with the Cable TV Network (Regulation)
Act, 1995 and DTH guidelines respectively. Now
through the downlinking guidelines, adherence to
these codes has also been made obligatory upon all
channels uplinking from abroad and down linked to
India to strengthen the content regulation mechanism
and violations of conditions of downlinking will
invite
further action

CONTENT REGULATION
All Programmes of satellite TV channels, transmitted/
retransmitted through cable network service are
required to adhere to the Programme Code and
Advertising Code prescribed under the Cable
Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and rules
framed thereunder. The Central Government has
constituted an Inter-ministerial Committees under
Section 20 of the Act to look into the violation of
the
Programme Code and Advertising Code. The
Committee comprises officials from Ministry of Home
Affairs, Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of
Defence and Ministry of Law, Ministry of Women &
Child Development, Ministry of Health and a
Representative of Advertising Standards Council
(ASCI) and Ministry of I&B. The Committee either
suo-moto or on receipt of complaint, examines cases
of violation of the Code.
In order to strengthen the content regulation
mechanism, the Government has taken some steps.
They are as follows:
(a) The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has
issued order directing all the State Governments
and Union Territories to constitute Monitoring
Committees at the State and district levels to
monitor private satellite TV channels and local
cable channels to detect and look into violations
of the Programme and Advertising Codes and
complaints received from general public
regarding violation of the Codes
(b) The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has
constituted a Committee under Chairmanship of
Secretary, Information & Broadcasting for
reviewing the Programme and Advertising Codes
prescribed under the Cable TV Networks
(Regulation) Act, 1995 and rules framed
thereunder and the Guidelines for certification
of films prescribed under the Cinematograph
Act, 1952 to modify the Codes/guidelines to
meet contemporary community standards.

FREE SHOWS FOR THE TRIBAL CHILDREN
In order to cater to the rural and underprivileged
children, who are deprived of any major source of
entertainment, CFSI had started a unique scheme of
conducting free shows for the Tribal Children.
Services
of Non-Governmental Organizations like Nehru Yuva
Kendra Sanghathans were availed for this activity. The
expenditure involved in conducting the free shows is
borne by CFSI out of grant-in-aid provided by the
Govt. for the purpose. Under the Scheme even
children living in remand homes, orphanages etc. are
given the benefit of seeing the Children's films, who
otherwise are deprived of any entertainment.
773 Free Shows were held in 11 States of the country
covering an audience of 2,20,250 children.

AUDIO VISUAL CO-PRODUCTION AGREEMENT BETWEEN
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA AND ITALY
Minister for Information & Broadcasting Shri S. Jaipal
Reddy, visited 
Rome
on 13.5.2005 and signed, on behalf of the Government
of India, an
Audio-visual Co-Production Agreement between the
Government
of India and Italy. The Agreement with Italy was
finalized after 
several
rounds of negotiations and is expected to pave the way
for many more
such Agreements for which the Government of India has
been approached by a number of countries.
2. Inter-governmental Co-production agreements are
usually umbrella
agreements, under which private; quasi-government or
government
agencies may enter into contracts to produce films
together. Such films
are treated as national films in both countries.

FILM CO-PRODUCTION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE
GOVERNMENTS OF INDIA AND GREAT BRITAIN AND
NORTHERN IRELAND
The Film Co-Production Agreement between Governments
of India
Great Britain and Northern Ireland signed in New Delhi
on 5th
December 2005 by the Minister of Information and
Broadcasting,
Shri P.R. Dasmunshi and Rt. Hon Tessa Jowell, MP, 
Secretary of State
for Culture, Media & Sport, UK.
The Agreement with United Kingdom was finalized after
several rounds
of discussions and is expected to pave the way for
many fruitful
associations between producers of India and U.K.

(Excerpts from Ministry of Information & Broadcasting
Annual
Report 2005-06, Govt of India)
----------------------------------------------
Via DX_India

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 
  Jaisakthivel 
Chennai, India. 

     
   
   



		
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