I&B Ministry
I&B Ministry asks TV channels to follow Supreme Court orders in condemning lynching, mob violence
MUMBAI: The country has seen an alarming increase in the incidences of lynching in the last few years. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has once again sent out an advisory to TV channels to comply with the Supreme Court’s directions to electronic media to condemn lynching and mob violence.
The relevant extract for TV channels from the Tehseen S Poonawalla vs Union of India and others reads: “The central and state governments should broadcast on radio and television and other media platforms including the official websites of Home Department and Police of the States that lynching and mob violence of any kind shall invite serious consequences under the law.”
The MIB advisory also requests channels to run the following messages in the form of a scroll: Mob violence and lynching is a serious crime and invites serious consequences under the law. Mob violence and lynching is a serious criminal offence and invites stringent punishment under the law.
The ministry mentioned that Doordarshan had already begun implementing the apex court’s order.
The MIB had previously directed TV channels to carry the warning in September 2018 to adhere to Supreme Court’s verdict on lynching, cow vigilantism and mobocracy. TV channels were asked to refer to the Supreme Court judgement dated 17 July 2018 and 24 September 2018. It also urged TV channels to “ensure widest possible outreach of the directions of the Supreme Court”.
The Supreme Court on 17 July 2018 had decried cases related to lynching and said mobocracy won’t be tolerated in civil society. It said, “No citizen can take the law into his hands nor become a law unto himself.”
In this regard, the Supreme Court bench headed by the then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra had also ordered the centre and states to take strict action against lynching and mob vigilantism. It had warned people that indulging in it would attract the ‘wrath of law’.
In the last few years, there have been rising instances of lynching over fake news. One of such was the Dadri lynching in 2015 when a mob of around 50 people lynched a 52-year-old Muslim villager on the pretext of storing beef at his home. Similarly, two young travellers in Guwahati, Assam were also lynched on the allegation that they were child kidnappers.
I&B Ministry
Prasar Bharati opens AIR to private content under new policy
NIPP introduces revenue share, sponsored and gratis models
MUMBAI: Radio may be the oldest voice in the room, but it’s learning some very modern tricks. In a bid to stay tuned to changing listener habits, Prasar Bharati has opened the doors of All India Radio to private players under a newly rolled-out content framework. The initiative, titled Notice Inviting Programme Proposals (NIPP), marks a significant shift in how the public broadcaster approaches programming moving from a largely in-house model to a more collaborative, market-aligned ecosystem. Issued by Akashvani’s Directorate General in April 2026, the policy invites private producers, content owners and aggregators to pitch programmes across formats, from radio dramas and documentaries to quiz shows, storytelling and music-led content.
At the heart of the framework lies a three-pronged participation model designed to balance creative freedom with commercial viability. The most prominent route is revenue sharing, where advertising and sponsorship income generated by a programme is split between the producer and the broadcaster. The structure tilts in favour of creators offering a 70:30 split when producers bring in advertising, and 65:35 when monetisation is handled by Prasar Bharati.
Alongside this sits the sponsored model, where producers fully fund and monetise their content, subject to compliance with advertising norms and the AIR Broadcast Code. For those less commercially inclined, a gratis route allows content to be submitted free of cost, with Prasar Bharati retaining all monetisation rights effectively turning the platform into a national distribution channel for diverse voices.
The move comes as legacy media grapples with intensifying competition from private FM networks, streaming platforms and digital audio ecosystems. By repositioning AIR as both a public service broadcaster and a content marketplace, Prasar Bharati appears to be recalibrating its role in a rapidly evolving media landscape.
Importantly, the framework does not dilute editorial control. All submissions must adhere to the AIR Broadcast Code, and proposals are evaluated through a layered process that weighs storytelling quality, production capability, audience appeal and revenue potential. Only proposals crossing a defined threshold move forward, signalling that while access has widened, the bar remains firmly in place.
Operational discipline is another cornerstone of the policy. Producers are required to maintain broadcast-ready content, deliver episode banks in advance and navigate a structured approval process. Crucially, all production costs are borne by the content provider, reinforcing Prasar Bharati’s positioning as a distribution and oversight platform rather than a commissioning entity.
What elevates the initiative further is its scale. The framework spans multiple clusters and stations across India, covering both metro and regional markets, with specific language mandates and submission channels. This not only expands the content pipeline but also deepens linguistic and cultural representation, an area where AIR has historically held an advantage.
In effect, NIPP signals a quiet but meaningful transformation. AIR is no longer just broadcasting to the nation, it is inviting the nation to broadcast with it, blending legacy reach with contemporary content economics in a bid to stay relevant in an increasingly fragmented audio universe.
