I&B Ministry
MIB gives permission to two new channels – Khalsa and Nireekshana TV
MUMBAI: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) after being lenient for couple of months in awarding channel licenses, is back to being strict. In the month of October, two new channels received licenses while none saw their licenses cancelled as on 31 October 2018.
The two channels are Khalsa channel and Nireekshana TV. Nexgen Telelinks got the permission for uplinking and downlinking Khalsa channel (non-news) in Hindi and all Indian scheduled languages on 9 October 2018. Shopping Zone India TV got the permission for uplinking and downlinking Nireekshana TV (non-news) in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu and scheduled Indian languages on 18 October 2018.
On the other hand, Jain TV, PBN (earlier Samachar 24X7) and Dheeran TV channels, which were present in the list of permitted private satellite TV channels in the list up to 30 September 2018, were not in the new list till 31 October 2018.
The 14 licenses which were cancelled earlier by MIB due to security denial by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) are still now under stay order from the court.
After cancelling permission to 252 channels, the number of private satellite TV channels having valid permission in India stands at 866 as on 31 October 2018. 483 channels are non-news channels and the remaining 383 are news channels.
Of the 868 permitted private satellite channels, TV channels permitted for uplinking from India and also to downlink into India are 766 among which 362 are news channels and 404 are non-news channels. 11 non-news channels and five news channels are permitted for uplinking from India but not downlink into the country. 84 TV channels are uplinked from abroad which only have downlinking permission in India. This category includes 15 news and 69 non-news channels.
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.
