I&B Ministry
No new channels added in December 2017
BENGALURU: Since 31 October 2017, the number of licences issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has remained the same. According to an MIB status report, permitted private satellite TV channels having valid permission in India stood at 877 as on 31 December 2017. No new licences were issued in November and December 2017.
The government had issued licences to 45 channels in 2017 as compared to 75 in the previous calendar year. In all, permission has been granted to 1,099 channels. Permission was cancelled for 222 channels, with 66 in 2017 alone. 44.4 percent or 389 of the permitted channels were news and current affairs channels; 488 channels were non-news and current affairs channels.
Of the 877 channels, 778 channels were permitted to both uplink from and downlink into India. Of these, 369 or 47.4 percent were news channels and 409 were non-news channels. Sixteen channels, of which 5 (31.25 percent) were news channels and 11 were non-news that have been permitted for uplink from, but not downlink into, India. Sixty-eight channels have been permitted only to downlink into India and not to uplink from the country. Of these 68 channels, 15 (22.1 percent) were news channels.
Nine new channels (one news channel and 8 non-news channels) were allowed between 1 August and 31 August 2017. In September 2017, two licences and just one licence in October 2017 were granted.
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.
