News Broadcasting
I&B minister Anurag Thakur launches Broadcast Seva Portal
Mumbai: Union minister of information and broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur on Monday launched the Broadcast Seva Portal in New Delhi to facilitate ease of doing business in the broadcasting sector. Broadcast Seva Portal is an online portal solution for speedy filing and processing of applications of broadcasters for various kinds of licenses, permissions, and registrations.
The 360-degree digital solution will facilitate the stakeholders in seeking permissions, applying for registration, tracking applications, calculating fees and executing payments. The services will be provided under the wider umbrella efforts of Digital India to all stakeholders including private satellite TV channels, teleport operators, MSOs, community and private radio channels.
The Broadcast Seva Portal aims to bring transparency, accountability, and responsiveness to the ecosystem, with all information being made available on a single dashboard.
Various services and features of the portal include end-to-end processing, integration with payment system (Bharat Kosh), integration with e-office and stakeholder ministries, analytics, reporting and Management Information System (MIS), integrated helpdesk, application forms and status tracking, downloading letters/orders from the portal itself, and alerts to stakeholders (SMS/e-mails).
Speaking on the occasion, Thakur said the government has harnessed technology to bring transparency to the system and make it more accountable. “The Broadcast Seva Portal will reduce the turnaround time of applications and at the same time will help applicants track their progress. It will reduce the human interface that was required earlier and thus add to capacity building of the ministry and will be a major step towards ease of doing business,” he said.
The minister informed the audience that the test run of the portal has received positive feedback from end-users. Soon it will be coupled with the National Single Window System. The ministry is open to further improvements that the industry may feel are required.
MIB secretary Apurva Chandra shared that the new portal has several improvements over the previous version, having incorporated suggestions from stakeholders over a trial period of one month.
The broadcasters present at the event welcomed the launch of the portal and said that it will greatly reduce the distance an application has to travel and the effort required in the application process.
Improving India’s business climate is one of the key focus areas of the Government of India and the Broadcast Seva Portal exemplifies the Government’s commitment to ease of doing business and empowering the broadcasting sector.
“The portal is a giant leap forward in realising prime minister Narendra Modi’s mantra of ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’ as this simple and user-friendly web portal provides a broadcaster with an end-to-end solution with just a click of a mouse. It will boost the business environment and empower the entire broadcast sector by directly benefiting more than 900 Satellite TV Channels, 70 Teleport operators, 1700 Multi-service operators, 350 Community Radio Stations (CRS), and 380 Private FM Channels and others,” Thakur added.
News Broadcasting
Rajesh Sundaram joins NDTV Profit as senior editor, assignment
The 32-year newsroom veteran has launched channels on three continents and covered everything from 9/11 to South African television
MUMBAI: NDTV Profit has bolstered its newsroom with a hire who has done rather more than most. Rajesh Sundaram, a journalist with over three decades of editorial, managerial and consultative experience across India and international markets, joins as senior editor, assignment, tasked with sharpening the network’s newsgathering and real-time response.
Sundaram’s career reads like a tour of Indian media’s most formative moments. He began at Businessworld in 1994, moved to Zee News as bureau chief across Mumbai and Chennai, then joined NDTV in 2002 as part of its political bureau during a particularly febrile period in Indian politics. A stint as India correspondent for Al Jazeera International followed, where he covered key geopolitical developments and got his first serious taste of the global newsroom.
What sets Sundaram apart, however, is his serial channel-launching habit. At NewsX, he helped get the operation off the ground. At Headlines Today, part of the India Today Group, he served as editor. At News Nation, he helped launch the Hindi news channel and its digital ecosystem. He then crossed continents to lead the launch of ANN7 in South Africa as editor-in-chief, overseeing both television and digital. Back in India, he launched Tamil news channels News7 Tamil and Cauvery News, and later served as principal consultant for the launch of Marathi channel Lokshahi. Most recently, he helped build and lead the Press Trust of India’s video service and content studio, before stints consulting for Business Today and The Himalayan Times.
Rahul Kanwal, chief executive and editor-in-chief of NDTV, left little doubt about what Sundaram is expected to deliver. “The assignment desk is where a newsroom’s intent becomes action,” he said. “Rajesh brings a rare combination of field experience and leadership in building news operations at scale.”
Sundaram has reported from across India and the world, covering elections, civil conflicts, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the 2008 US presidential election.
At NDTV Profit, he will lead the assignment desk, driving editorial coordination and real-time response across markets and breaking developments. For a business news network sharpening its focus on speed and multi-platform delivery, it has hired a man who has built newsrooms from scratch on three continents. The assignment desk is in good hands.
