News Broadcasting
UP Tak Hosts ‘Viksit UP Baithak’ with Key Voices of UP
MUMBAI: When conversations move from drawing rooms to the ground, change tends to follow. UP Tak, the digital-first news platform of the India Today Group, is hosting the Viksit UP Baithak today in Jhansi, putting the spotlight firmly on the aspirations, anxieties and ambitions shaping Uttar Pradesh’s next growth chapter.
Designed as a forum for frank and future-facing dialogue, the baithak brings policymakers, administrators and grassroots voices to the same table to debate what a more prosperous and self-assured Uttar Pradesh should look like. From jobs and industry to health, education and sport, the discussions aim to move beyond slogans and into lived realities.
The line-up features a mix of senior officials and sector experts, including Awanish Kumar Awasthi, former IAS officer and Advisor to the chief minister; Sanjay Kumar Khatri, IAS, CEO of the Bundelkhand Industrial Development Authority; and state ministers Hargovind Kushwaha and Manoharlal Panth (Mannu Kori) from the Labour Service Scheme Department. Voices from academia, industry and civil society are also part of the conversation, with participants such as Mukesh Pandey, vice-chancellor, Abhinav Gaur, director, Shatam Jeeva, Rajeev Babbar, president, Laghu Udyog Bharati, and Mukesh Mishra, MD and chairman, Royal City Developer.
Adding a sporting lens to the development debate, coaches Ashok Dhyanchand and Subodh Khandekar, along with player Shivam Anand, are contributing perspectives on talent, infrastructure and opportunity at the grassroots level.
Explaining the intent behind the initiative, Tak Channels managing editor Milind Khandekar said the Viksit UP Baithak was conceived as a space for “honest, informed and forward-looking discussions” at a time when the state is undergoing rapid change. He noted that bringing decision-makers and experts together allows challenges to be addressed through practical solutions rooted in real experience.
All sessions, interviews and panel discussions from the baithak will be streamed on the UP Tak Youtube channel, opening up the dialogue to viewers across the state. By taking the conversation beyond the venue and into the digital public square, UP Tak aims to ensure that the debate on Uttar Pradesh’s future is not just heard, but shared.
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.
