Cabinet greenlights Rs 2,539 crore investment in AIR, DD under 'BIND' scheme

India's public service broadcaster Prasar Bharati is in for a major infrastructure overhaul with the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday giving its nod for spending Rs 2,539.61 crore up to Rs 2025-26 to widen the reach of All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan (DD) to remote and sensitive locations like the border areas and naxal infested localities.

The decision to clear the 'Broadcasting Infrastructure and Network Development (BIND)' scheme was taken at the CCEA meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here after examining the proposal submitted by Anurag Thakur-led Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Through the scheme, the government hopes to increase FM radio coverage from 59 per cent to 66 per cent by geographical area and from 68 per cent to 80 per cent by population. It also intends to distribute eight lakh DD Free Dish Set Top Boxes in remote, tribal, naxal-infested, border areas and aspirational districts.

At present, Doordarshan operates 36 TV channels, including 28 regional channels and All India Radio operates more than 500 broadcasting centres.

Under the BIND scheme, Thakur told a press conference, studios of DD and AIR will be modernised and digitised, create high quality content, move from Standard Definition to High Definition broadcast, change old transmitters with new ones and install FM transmitters as and where it is needed. The scheme is a "major boost" for public service broadcasting, he said.

The 'BIND' scheme is the vehicle 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, an official statement said.

One of the major focus areas will be 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 the DTH platform to accommodate more channels.

Purchase of OB vans and digital upgradation of DD and AIR Studios to make them HD ready will also be done as part of the project.

The statement said the BIND scheme has the potential to generate indirect employment by way of manufacturing and services related to supply and installation of broadcast equipment in addition to enhancing the scope of public broadcasting.

"Content generation and content innovation for AIR & DD has the potential of indirect employment of persons with varied experience of different media fields in the content production sector including TV/Radio production, transmission and associated media related services. Further, the project for expansion of the reach of DD Free Dish is expected to generate employment opportunities in the manufacturing of the DD Free Dish DTH Boxes," it said.