I&B Ministry
Prasar Bharati revenues on the upswing: Economic Survey
NEW DELHI: Indian pubcaster Prasar Bharati arrested a trend of declining earnings in 2004-05 with national broadcaster Doordarshan earning its highest revenue (Rs. 6,700 million) since 2000-01, according to the Economic Survey today.
In the economic report card of the government, the government, while presenting a rosy picture of a buoyant economy, said the total expenditure of Prasar Bharati in 2004-05 rose to Rs.16, 920 million from Rs.16, 700 million in 2003-04.
The Economic Survey stated, With total receipts increasing from Rs.6740 million in 2003-04 to Rs.8310 million in 2004-05, there was an improvement of 8.8 percentage points in the ratio of total commercial receipts to total expenditure.
The Survey added that the declining trend in commercial receipts was reversed and Doordarshan earned the highest revenue since 2000-01 amounting to Rs.6700 million.
In the Budget for 2005-06, the government has provided a sum of Rs.12, 920 million to cover the resource gap of Prasar Bharati.
With the government tabling the economic report card a day ahead of the Union Budget on 28 February 2006 and painting a rosy picture, the 30-share Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex closed firm at 10,282 with a gain of 81 points from its Friday’s close.
The capital markets responded positively on Monday to the reports of over eight per cent (8.1 pc) GDP growth rate expectations reported in the Economic Survey.
However, the Survey suggested that though the economy was on a roll, there were some warning signals too, which were the risk of hardening interest rates, higher inflation and fiscal deficit in the face of global oil crisis.
Without tackling the major problem of power, it would be difficult to move on to high 8-10 per cent growth, the report card of the government said.
A news agency reported that the voluminous document advocated unburdening the industry from high level of taxes and decorative exemptions that provided perverse incentives. It also favoured levying user charges and cutting unwanted subsidies.
Services sector growth continued to be broad based, according to the Economic Survey
Among the three sub-sectors of services, trade, hotels, transport and communication services continued to lead by growing at double-digit rates for the third successive year.
However, community, social and personal services, which include public administration and defence, reflecting the process of fiscal consolidation and increasing efficiency of fiscal expenditure management, experienced a growth deceleration of more than a percentage point.
Macroeconomic Overview
In a robust demonstration of its nascent strengths, the Indian economy, after growing at 8.5 per cent and 7.5 per cent in the two previous years, is projected to grow at 8.1 per cent in the current year 2005-06.
Growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at constant prices in excess of 8.0 per cent has been achieved by the economy in only five years of recorded history and two out of these five are in the last three years.
After dipping below 1.0 per cent in 2004-05, mostly on account of erratic rainfall, agricultural and allied sectors growth in 2005-06 is projected at 2.3 per cent.
With farm prospects good — India is still essentially an agrarian economy — some significant dimensions of the dynamic growth in recent years are a new industrial resurgence, a pick up in investment, modest inflation in spite of spiraling global crude prices, rapid growth in exports and imports with a widening of the current account deficit and laying of some institutional foundations for faster development of physical infrastructure.
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.
