News Broadcasting
PM Modi headlines News18 Rising Bharat Summit to fire up Gen Z India
MUMBAI: Delhi’s Bharat Mandapam is about to go from red tape to red carpet as PM Narendra Modi steps in as the chief guest and keynote speaker at the News18 Rising Bharat Summit 2025, happening on 8-9 April. And no, it’s not your average panel snooze-fest — it’s a political-meets-pop-culture juggernaut that wants to turbocharge India’s youth ahead of Viksit Bharat 2047.
The theme? “Youthful Aspirations: Dream Big, Achieve More, Rise Together”. And with 420 million young minds in the mix, organisers aren’t playing small.
Featuring 100+ speakers and 75 sessions, the summit pulls in a dizzying array of names. Political heavyweights like Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, S. Jaishankar, Piyush Goyal, and Ashwini Vaishnaw will trade notes with startup honchos, global thinkers, memory champs, astronauts, actors, and even violin prodigies.
“Under the spotlight will be India’s youth, as they architect the nation’s journey to 2047…” organisers announced, hinting at the star-studded guestlist.
Among the blockbuster names? Jeffrey D. Sachs, Børge Brende, Avi Dichter, Scott Kelly, and Namal Rajapaksa will bring in the global heat. On the home turf, corporate firepower arrives via Irina Ghose (Microsoft), Jay Kotak (Kotak Mahindra Bank), Ashish Chauhan (NSE) and Sindhu Gangadharan (SAP Labs).
And it’s not just thought leadership. From Vijay Amritraj to Abhinav Bindra, Kajol to Sunny Deol, Raj Shamani to Shveta Salve, the summit promises a gen-z meets gen-x cocktail of brains, beauty and brawn.
But what makes this event tick isn’t just the headliners — it’s the students. Through a unique initiative called ‘Samadhan’, select faculty and students from top institutes tackled India’s messiest problems — from urban congestion and air pollution to education reform and river rejuvenation. PM Modi will unveil these policy blueprints, fuelling conversations with the changemakers of tomorrow.
“What emerged were five ground-breaking proposals… that are visionary, pragmatic, and future-ready,” said organisers.
Hosted by Network18, Rising Bharat is not just a talking shop. It’s India’s big, bold platform for shaping real action and real outcomes — with a few selfies and song sets on the side. Expect performances from Esther Hnamte, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Ambi and L. Subramaniam, and even a mind-bending moment with mentalist Suhani Shah.
This year, Rising Bharat might just do what Parliament often can’t: get India’s brightest minds across age, industry, and ideology in one room — and get them to agree on something.
Tune in, take notes and maybe even take charge.
https://www.news18features.com/risingbharatsummit/
News Broadcasting
News TV viewership jumps 33 per cent as West Asia war draws audiences
BARC Week 8 data shows news share rising to 8 per cent despite T20 World Cup
NEW DELHI: Even as individual television news channel ratings remain under a temporary pause, the genre itself is seeing a clear surge in audience attention.
According to the latest data from Broadcast Audience Research Council India, television news recorded a 33 per cent jump in genre share in Week 8 of 2026, covering February 28 to March 6.
The news genre accounted for 8 per cent of total television viewership during the week, up from 6 per cent the previous week. The spike in attention coincided with escalating geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which have kept global headlines firmly fixed on West Asia.
The rise is notable because it came at a time when cricket was dominating television screens. The high-stakes stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, including the Super 8 fixtures and semi-finals, were being broadcast during the same period.
Despite the cricket frenzy, viewers appeared to be toggling between sport and global affairs, boosting the overall share of news programming.
The surge in genre share comes even as the government has enforced a one-month pause on publishing ratings for individual news channels. The move followed regulatory scrutiny of the television ratings ecosystem.
While channel-level rankings remain temporarily out of sight, the genre-level data suggests that when global tensions escalate, audiences continue to turn to television news for real-time updates.
