I&B Ministry
MIB & Prasar Bharati make up, sign agreement on funds’ release
NEW DELHI: After lot of heartburning and media statements, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Ministry and Prasar Bharati, which runs Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR), have inked an agreement that was required for the release of financial allocation to the pubcaster, PTI reported today quoting an unnamed source.
The agreement or the memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the broadcaster and the ministry in the last week of May, the source added.
Autonomous bodies getting grants-in-aid from the government are required to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the ministry concerned for the release of the financial allocations made in the Union Budget by the federal government.
Besides Prasar Bharati, MIB has also signed MoUs with the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in the last week of May, the source added.
In April, the ministry released Rs 365 crore (Rs. 3,650 million) to Prasar Bharati after it signed the MoU following months of standoff between the two sides on various contentious issues during the time when Smriti Irani was the senior minister. Subsequently she was shifted out of the ministry.
The ministry releases an amount of around Rs 200 crore (Rs. 2 billion) to Prasar Bharati every month and a major share of it goes to payment of salaries.
The MIB had earlier released Rs 1,989 crore (Rs. 19.89 billion) to Prasar Bharati as grants-in-aid for payment of salaries to its employees.
In early March, Prasar Bharati CEO S S Vempati, in response to media reports, had said that Rs 208 crore released by the public broadcaster towards payment of salaries to its staff on 28 February 2018 were from its own reserves.
Reacting to the news report, the ministry had issued a statement saying that the Prasar Bharati had not signed an MoU as required by autonomous bodies for getting grants-in-aid.
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I&B Ministry
Press Sewa Portal digitises 1.5 lakh records, streamlines periodical registrations: MIB
Online system spans 780 districts; Rs 5.6 crore penalties, 88,315 titles cancelled
NEW DELHI: India’s print media registry has quietly moved from dusty files to digital dashboards. The government has digitised more than 1.5 lakh historical records of newspapers and periodicals and shifted registrations fully online through the Press Sewa Portal.
Introduced under the Press and Registration of Periodicals (PRP) Act, 2023, the portal now handles all applications for registering periodicals, replacing the earlier paper-heavy system created under the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867, which has since been repealed.
The digital shift brings a wide range of services onto a single platform. Publishers can now register new periodicals, revise registrations, transfer ownership, file annual statements, pay penalties online and apply for circulation verification without navigating government offices.
As part of the rollout, specified authorities in 780 districts across India have been onboarded onto the platform. Since 1 March 2024, the portal has processed 11,081 applications and issued certificates across different categories.
The transition has also brought stronger compliance. According to government data, Rs 5.63 crore in penalties has been collected through the portal so far. States such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh account for some of the largest penalty collections.
At the same time, the authorities have carried out a major clean-up of inactive or non-compliant publications. A total of 88,315 periodicals have been cancelled nationwide, with Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi among the states reporting the highest number of cancellations.
The government says the system will continue to evolve based on feedback from users. The Press Registrar General of India (PRGI) regularly reviews suggestions to improve services and make compliance easier for publishers.
The full list of registered newspapers and periodicals is available on the PRGI website under the Registered Titles section.
The information was shared in a written reply in the Lok Sabha by minister of state for information and broadcasting and parliamentary affairs L Murugan, responding to a question from Damodar Agrawal.
