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The Parliamentary Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Culture met today under the Chairmanship of Shri S. Jaipal Reddy, Minister for Information & Broadcasting and Culture. The MPs cutting across party lines lauded the Prasar Bharati DTH scheme to extend coverage of Doordarshan, All India Radio and a bouquet of other private channels to hitherto uncovered areas.
The Government had launched a Pilot Scheme in seven States and the North Eastern region, where terrestrial coverage was lower than the national average. These States are Himachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal, Gujarat and the North East. The Pilot Project of Doordarshan for Ku – Band transmission, was approved by the Government at a cost of Rs. 164.35 crores. This includes a capital outlay of Rs. 53.80 crores, revenue non-recurring expenditure of Rs. 2.25 crores and recurring expenditure of Rs. 108.30 crores. Prasar Bharati was permitted to use satellite distribution technology in the Ku Band frequency for DDs bouquet of 20 channels and 10 channels of private broadcasters, in free-to-air mode. The Ku Band transmission makes it possible for the viewers anywhere in the country, except in Andaman & Nicobar Islands to receive the multi channels bouquet by setting up a small size dish antenna system, the cost of which varies from Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 3,500. At present, there are 33 TV channels including 19 DD channels and 14 private channels in the bouquet being uplinked to the DTH platform. In addition, 12 radio channels of AIR are also available in the bouquet. Doordarshan has already installed 5700 dish antenna receive systems in the identified States.
Besides the Members of the Committee also discussed the problems being faced by the Project and gave in their suggestions for further improvement.
The Parliamentary Committee also discussed the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. The Committee felt that the NCSM is doing pioneering work in popularization of science and development of scientific temperament in the country. Besides developing a strong network of research institutions, academic institutions for developing new exhibits and activities on science and technology, the NCSM has also started marketing initiatives to increase export of its exhibits to Australia, Israel, Turkey, Bangladesh and has been earning significant foreign exchange annually. NCSM has built the Science Centre at Mauritius on a turn key basis which has earned it much acclaimed and has also brought in offers for developing more similar centres outside the country.
MC/AS
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