Hindi
D Ramanaidu to get Dadasaheb Phalke award for 2009
NEW DELHI: D Ramanaidu, the veteran film producer from Andhra Pradesh, is set to receive the Dada Saheb Phalke Award for the year 2009 for outstanding contribution in the field of Indian Cinema.
Dr Ramanaidu is the 41st recipient of the award instituted in 1969 – the birth centenary of D G Phalke, who is generally regarded as the father of Indian cinema as he produced the country’s first indigenous award ‘Raja Harishchandra’ in 1913.
Dr Ramanidu is the 10th producer to have received the award.
The award consists of a Swarn Kamal, a cash prize of Rs 1 million and a shawl. The award is given on the basis of recommendations of a Committee of eminent persons. The award will be given at the National Films Awards Function scheduled to be held next month.
Born in Karamchedu in Prakasam District of Andhra Pradesh in 1936, Dr Ramanaidu entered the film world in 1963 with his first film Anuragam, followed by the superhit Ramudu-Bheemudu starring N T Rama Rao (NTR) in 1964. Over the last 47 years, he has produced over 130 films in several Indian languages and finds mention in the Guinness Book of Records.
Apart from Telugu films, he has produced films in Hindi, Bengali, Oriya, Assamese, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Gujarati, Marathi and Bhojpuri.
His film Surigadu was selected for the Indian Panorama in 1993. Asukh, a Bengali film, won the National Award for the Best Film in that language in 1999. Apart from this, his films have won several state awards.
The galaxy of artistes who have worked in his films include N T Rama Rao, A Nageswara Rao, Sivaji Ganesan, Pandari Bai, Jamuna, Padmini, Sobhan Babu, Kamal Haasan, Jayaprada, Chiranjeevi, Rajnikanth, Rajesh Khanna, Hema Malini, Rekha, Jeetendra and Sreedevi.
Dr Ramanaidu has built an envious track record in the film world for having introduced numerous film directors as well as artistes and technicians. A few well known artistes introduced by him include his son Venkatesh, Harish, Vanisri, Aryan Rajesh, Tabu, Khushboo, Allari Naresh and Malasree.
His Hindi films include Premanagar, Dildar, and Bandish while the Bengali films are Asukh and Sudhu Ekbar Bolo. The Telugu films include Premanagar, Srikrishna Tulabharam, Preminchu, Ramudu Bheemudu, Bobbili Raja, Ahana Pellanta, Andhra Vaibhavam and Kathanayakudu. The Kannada films include Maduve Agona Baa and Thavarumane Udugore; the Tamil films include Vasantha Maligai, Thiru Mangalam, and Thannikattu Raja. He also made films in Oriya (Dharma Devatha); Assamese (Maina Mor Dhuniya); Malayalam (Ashwaroodhan); Marathi (Mazi Aai); and Bhojpuri (Shiva).
His Hindi film Hamari Beti focused on how handicapped people can lead a normal life and achieve their goals. The protagonist in the film is a girl who is severely handicapped in real life. This film has been screened in International Film Festivals like Chicago and Venice.
Dr Ramanaidu has set up studios, recording, preview and dubbing theatres and laboratories in Hyderabad and Vishakapatnam. During his entire career span, Dr Ramanaidu has been associated with every aspect of film making, thereby delivering a bouquet of entertaining films to the people.
Hindi
India’s telecom subscribers cross 1.32 billion in February 2026
Broadband base swells past 1.06 billion as Jio and Airtel tighten grip on the market.
MUMBAI: India’s telecom sector is ringing in steady growth once again adding millions of new connections every month while the race for broadband supremacy continues to heat up like a fiercely contested cricket match. According to the latest data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on 1 April 2026, the total telephone subscriber base in the country reached 1,321.31 million at the end of February 2026. This marked a net addition of 7.31 million subscribers during the month, translating into a monthly growth rate of 0.56 per cent.
Wireless subscribers (including mobile and Fixed Wireless Access) stood at 1,273.31 million, registering a net addition of 6.97 million and a growth rate of 0.55 per cent. Within this, urban wireless connections grew to 730.75 million (growth 0.70 per cent), while rural wireless subscribers reached 542.56 million (growth 0.35 per cent).
Wireline subscribers, though much smaller in scale, showed slightly faster growth. The total wireline base increased to 47.99 million, with a net addition of 0.34 million and a monthly growth rate of 0.70 per cent. Urban areas continued to dominate wireline connections with a share of 89.41 per cent.
Overall tele-density in India improved to 92.66 per cent. Urban tele-density stood at 150.68 per cent, while rural tele-density edged up to 60.02 per cent.
The broadband subscriber base crossed a significant milestone, reaching 1,059.05 million at the end of February 2026. This reflected a healthy net addition of 6.33 million subscribers and a monthly growth rate of 0.60 per cent from January’s figure of 1,052.72 million.
Segment-wise, mobile wireless access continued to drive the majority of growth with 996.52 million subscribers. Fixed Wireless Access (including 5G FWA) added 16.51 million, while wired broadband stood at 46.02 million.
Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. maintained its commanding lead with 519.64 million broadband subscribers. Bharti Airtel Ltd. followed with 364.14 million, Vodafone Idea Ltd. with 129.36 million, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. with 28.70 million, and Atria Convergence Technologies Ltd. with 2.38 million.
Together, these top five players command a massive 98.60 per cent share of the total broadband market.
In the wireless (mobile) segment, private operators continued to dominate with 92.59 per cent market share, leaving public sector undertakings (BSNL and MTNL) with just 7.41 per cent.
Out of the total 1,257.29 million wireless (mobile) subscribers, 1,177.60 million were active on the peak Visitor Location Register (VLR) date, representing an impressive 93.66 per cent activity rate. Bharti Airtel led in this metric with 99.42 per cent of its subscribers active.
Meanwhile, 14.47 million subscribers submitted requests for Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in February, indicating healthy competition and customer churn across zones.
While urban areas still lead in absolute numbers, rural connectivity is slowly catching up. Rural wireless tele-density stood at 59.46 per cent, compared with the much higher urban figure of 142.32 per cent.
Fixed Wireless Access using 5G technology also showed promising traction, growing to 11.93 million subscribers. Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are the primary players driving this segment.
The data paints a picture of a maturing yet still rapidly expanding telecom ecosystem. With total telephone subscribers now well past the 1.32 billion mark and broadband users comfortably above 1.06 billion, India continues to solidify its position as one of the world’s largest and most dynamic digital markets.
From bustling city streets to remote villages, more Indians are staying connected than ever before proving that when it comes to telecom, the country’s appetite for growth shows no signs of hanging up anytime soon.
