I&B Ministry
Cinema 24×7 gains most, Media Worldwide, Malai Murasu and Anaadi in 10 new channels’ list
NEW DELHI: As many as 10 private television channels got clearance in August and early September 2017, with Cinema 24×7 Pvt Ltd being the largest gainer with seven general entertainment slots.
The other three are — Bangla Talkies by Media Worldwide Ltd, and two news channels: Malai Murasu Seithikal by Chennai Murasu Pvt Ltd, and Anaadi TV by Asnani Builders and Developers Ltd.
Following cancellation of permission to 216 channels, the total number of permitted private TV channels in the country is 881 as on 5 September 2017, which includes 10 channels which had been granted stay by the courts of law.
Thus, the total number which had received clearance from the government stands at 1097. As many as nine channels were cleared in August and one earlier this month. The ministry of information and broadcasting has not revealed the 216 channels licences of which have been cancelled.
The list of 881 includes 387 news and 494 GEC channels. While 780, including 367 news channels, have been permitted to uplink and downlink from within the country, 84, including 15 news channels, have been uplinked overseas and downlinked in India. A total of 17 channels including 12 GECs are uplinked from India but beamed overseas.
Of the channels which have stay orders, five belong to Mahua Media Private Ltd and four belong to STV Enterprises Ltd.
But, this total is far short of the claim made last year that India will have 1500 channels by the end of March this year.
The number of total channels had grown from 869 in February-end 2016 to 892 in February-end this year but had fallen by 10 since. In fact, the number had risen to 899 by the end of December 2016 when the total cancellations were 155. By January-end this year, the number had fallen to 889 of which 12 banned channels had obtained stay orders from the courts.
The list of the channels permitted as on 5 September 2017 along with their area and language of operation and the names of owning companies has been placed on the ministry’s site.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee for Information Technology which goes into issues relating to information and broadcasting had last year noted that the State Finance Commission while drafting its proposals for the 12th Plan (2012-17) had assumed that the number of permitted TV channels would rise to 1500.
Meanwhile, the Committee was told that the present set up of Electronic Media Monitoring Centre had developed logging and recording facility for 900 TV channels and is thus fully equipped to start monitoring of all permitted channels available on public domain.
The Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd. (BECIL) is configuring all available free to air channels in the content monitoring system of the EMMC.
I&B Ministry
Government sets up AI governance group to steer policy
AIGEG to align ministries, assess jobs impact, guide AI deployment.
MUMBAI: If artificial intelligence is the engine, the government is now building the dashboard and making sure everyone reads from the same screen. The Centre has constituted a new inter-ministerial body to coordinate India’s approach to AI, formalising a key recommendation from its governance framework and the Economic Survey. The AI Governance and Economic Group (AIGEG), set up by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, will act as the central platform to align AI-related policy across ministries, regulators and departments, an attempt to bring coherence to what has so far been a fragmented and fast-evolving landscape.
The group will be chaired by union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, with minister of state Jitin Prasada as vice chairperson. Its composition reflects both technological and economic priorities, bringing together the principal scientific adviser, the chief economic adviser, and the CEO of NITI Aayog, alongside key secretaries from telecommunications, economic affairs and science and technology. A representative from the National Security Council Secretariat is also part of the group, while the MeitY secretary will serve as member convenor.
At its core, AIGEG is designed to do two things: coordinate and anticipate. On the policy front, it will review existing regulatory mechanisms, issue guidance across sectors and ensure companies remain compliant with evolving legal frameworks. Beyond that, it will oversee national initiatives on AI governance, with a focus on enabling responsible innovation rather than merely regulating it.
The economic dimension is equally central. The group has been tasked with assessing how AI-driven automation could reshape jobs identifying which roles are most at risk, where those impacts may be geographically concentrated, and whether technology will augment or replace human labour. Based on these assessments, it will develop mitigation strategies and transition plans, signalling a more proactive stance on workforce disruption.
In parallel, AIGEG will work with industry stakeholders to chart a long-term roadmap for AI adoption, categorising use cases into “deploy”, “pilot” or “defer” buckets depending on readiness factors such as data availability, skill levels and regulatory clarity. The aim is to move from broad ambition to structured execution deciding not just what can be built, but what should be built now.
The group will function as the apex layer in India’s AI governance architecture, supported by a Technology and Policy Expert Committee that will track global developments, emerging risks and regulatory priorities. Together, the two bodies are expected to shape both the pace and direction of AI adoption in the country.
In a landscape where technology often outruns policy, the creation of AIGEG signals an attempt to close that gap ensuring that India’s AI journey is not just rapid, but also coordinated, accountable and economically grounded.
