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The Consultative Committee attached to the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Culture today discussed ‘DDs Ku Band Project’ and ‘National Council of Science Museums (NCSM).
The members were informed that in order to extend the coverage of Doordarshan, a pilot scheme has been launched by the government in seven states and the North East region. The scope of the pilot project includes establishment of satellite earth station for uplinking the bouquet of 30 TV channels, besides distribution of 10,000 receive dish systems free of cost to public institutions like Anganwadis, schools, public health centers, Panchayats, youth clubs, co-operative societies etc. in the selected states.
The members were informed that the satellite earth station for uplinking Ku-Band signals has been set up at Todapur, Delhi and is in operation. DD has hired four high power transponders on NSS-6 satellite. The signals can be received anywhere in India, except Andaman & Nicobar islands. DD has already installed 5700 dish antennae receive systems in the identified states. The members were told that DD’s Ku band transmission would provide a viable alternative to cable networks in different parts of the country, besides providing multi-channel coverage to uncovered areas in one go.
Chairing the meeting, Shri S. Jaipal Reddy, Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Culture said that the members would be provided all related information on the subject so that they can thoroughly study the issue, consult experts and get genuine feed back from users for more detailed discussion during the next meeting.
The members took note of the modern technology involved in the process and suggested for the cost-effectiveness of the Set Top Box (STB) needed for Direct To Home.
On the issue of NCSM, the members were informed that in one of the major initiatives in Tenth Plan, science centers were established in all the states of North East and also in the A&N Islands. The spread and penetration of non-formal science education is expected to receive a wider thrust in the coming years. The marketing efforts have resulted in a three-fold increase in revenue earnings during the last six months. An Expert Committee has been formed to look into the aspects of marketing science museums in India and abroad.
The members were informed that new galleries on biotechnology, aerospace, electronics, human biology, our heritage in science & technology and pre-historic life have been opened in major science centers. New science centers have been opened at Goa, Kurukshetra, Port Blair Aizawl and Dimapur and all of them have become popular and useful centers in the region.
The National Agriculture Science Museum has been set up at Delhi for ICAR. Travelling exhibitions on Human Genome, An Eye in the Sky (Remote Sensing), Illusions and Networks have been circulated throughout India, were the major achievements during the Tenth Plan so far.
It was stated that the Ministry plans to extend a network of Mobile Science Exhibition and Science Centres in rural hubs. Science Communication is to be made partially regenerative by way of encouraging local science communications, school groups and other organizations in their work.
The members who attended the meeting included S/Shri Kirip Chaliha, Dharmendra, Hannan Mollah, S. Sudhakar Reddy, Bhartruhari Mahtab and Smt. Usha Verma from Lok Sabha and S/Shri Vijay J. Darda, E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan, Sanjay Raut and Kum. Nirmala Deshpande from Rajya Sabha.
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