I&B Ministry
Day 12: Phase III FM bids slow down with moderate increase in winning price
NEW DELHI: The twelfth day of the e-auction for the first batch of FM Phase III cities continued to slow down even though the cumulative provisional winning price rose marginally to touch Rs 987 crore against the aggregate reserve price of about Rs 425 crore at the end of 48 rounds.
A total of 86 channels in 56 cities – dropping by one channel compared to yesterday – became provisionally winning channels with cumulative provisional winning price. Thus the summation of provisional winning prices surpassed the cumulative reserve price of the 86 channels by Rs 562.19 crore or 132.3 per cent.
Overall, cumulative provisional winning price exceeded the total reserve price of the first batch of 135 FM channels in 69 existing cities – Rs 550.18 crore – by Rs 436.89 crore or 79.4 per cent.
The Auction Activity Requirement remained for the second day at 90 per cent, raised after the 37th round on 7 August.
The thirteen cities for which bids have still not come are Asansol, Gulbarga, Mangalore, Mysore, Puducherry, Rajahmundry, Siliguri, Tiruchy, Tirunveli, Tirupati, Tuticorin, Vijaywada and Warangal.
The demand over the price in most cities fell by up to three per cent and four per cent below the excess demand at the price in 48th round in Hyderabad.
The Percentage Price Increment (in INR) applicable for the Next Clock Round rose to five per cent in Aurangabad and Kolhapur but was just one per cent in Amritsar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Delhi, Hisar, Jaipur, Mumbai, Nasik and Pune.
The highest Provisional winning price – the same as the Clock round price at the start of the twenty-eighth round – was in Delhi – Rs 156.22 crore (for just one channel), followed by Mumbai – Rs 97 crore, both showing marginal increase compared to yesterday.
Among cities recording more than Rs 10 crore, it rose sizeably in Chennai at Rs 46.03 crore and Pune at Rs 38.05 crore and marginally in Jaipur at Rs 26.70 crore, Chandigarh at Rs 17.94 crore, Cochin at Rs 11.86 crore and Nasik at Rs 10.30 crore.
Thus Mumbai remains the only city, which may soon cross the Rs 100 crore figure.
Bengaluru at Rs 106.04 crore; Ahmedabad at Rs 42.68 crore, Hyderabad at Rs 18 crore, Patna at Rs 17.89 crore and Lucknow at Rs 14 crore remained static.
I&B Ministry
MeitY & Reliance Foundation launch e-SafeHER cyber training for Women
Programme aims to train one million rural women in cyber safety over three years
NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has partnered with Reliance Foundation and C-DAC Hyderabad to launch ‘e-SafeHER’, a nationwide cyber security awareness programme aimed at empowering one million women across rural India.
Anchored under the Information Security Education and Awareness Programme, the initiative will focus on building digital confidence and safe online practices among women who are increasingly using digital platforms for financial transactions, livelihoods and essential services.
The programme will be rolled out through a community-led model, with training delivered via women’s self-help groups and grassroots networks. C-DAC Hyderabad will develop and localise training content, while Reliance Foundation will drive on-ground implementation using its rural outreach platforms.
Speaking on the launch, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology secretary S Krishnan said, “e-SafeHER is an exciting opportunity to bring together knowledge and collaboration to build a cyber secure Bharat. Through this initiative, women from even the remotest regions will be empowered to participate safely in the digital ecosystem.”
Echoing this, Reliance Foundation director Isha Ambani said the initiative aims to equip women with the skills needed to navigate the online world safely. She added that the goal is to enable one million “Cyber Sakhis” who can confidently adopt digital tools to improve their lives and livelihoods.
The programme will begin with pilot training in Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, before scaling nationwide through a phased approach. It will use multilingual content, audio-visual modules and blended learning formats to ensure accessibility and engagement.
Designed for long-term impact, e-SafeHER will be integrated into existing digital literacy and women’s empowerment programmes, avoiding the need for parallel infrastructure. The initiative also aims to drive measurable behavioural change, from improved awareness of cyber risks to safer digital transactions.
By combining policy, technology and grassroots reach, the programme looks to bridge not just the digital divide, but the digital safety gap, ensuring that inclusion goes hand in hand with security.
