I&B Ministry
DTT & DTH high on govt agenda
The Working Group on the I&B sector for the 10th Five-Year Plan has recommended 100 per cent digitisation of production facilities and automation of studio operations at major Doordarshan Kendras in the next five years.
The report, which suggests 100 per cent coverage of the potential TV population in the country with multi channel television services, also advocates efforts to ensure that major TV services of Prasar Bharati are available to people elsewhere in the world through various modes of distribution including webcasting, Direct To Home (DTH) and cable. The extension of coverage, however, should be achieved by deploying a technology that is most cost effective after evaluating all options, the report cautions. Currently, DD1 the main channel of Doordarshan is available to nearly 89.1 per cent of the population, according to the report.
 I&B minister Sushma Swaraj – In favour of fully digitized, automated DD Kendras in five years |
The working group has provided a green signal to Doordarshan to start IT enabled multimedia services like interactive TV, webcasting and data casting on a pilot basis and has advised DD to take up small High Definition Television (HDTV) schemes on an experimental basis.
The report is clearly inclined favourably towards DTH and Digial Terrestrial Television (DTT), and stresses on the conversion of last mile connectivity in the digital mode. “This would require appropriate policy to encourage and promote use of digital set top boxes at the viewers‘ premises, which is essential to enable them to receive digital signals, at least in the initial stages,” the report notes.
The report criticizes the government for treating policies relating to digital television services as a source of revenue, saying these will eventually be counter productive. Maintaining that digital set top boxes be given the same treatment in their promotion and taxation as that given to computer hardware, the report censures the present policy on DTH that has ‘not encouraged any player to come so far and promote the growth of digital set top boxes.‘
 Will DTH in India become a reality in the next five years? |
In its suggestions, the group has noted that digital production facilities at DD Kendras would ensure good quality convergent ready content while automation at the centers would cut down on operational and maintenance costs. The Group has however allowed leeway for other Kendras, allowing them 50 per cent upgradation of current facilities in the 10th Five Year Plan.
The report advises caution on investment in DTT, maintainintg that a commercially viable business model should first be established before the government takes a plunge in these uncharted waters. The report is also keen on improving the technical quality of content and making it easily available to multimedia treatment. Almost half the production facilities at DD‘s Kendras have been currently upgraded from analog to digital; the report however, stresses 100 per cent digitization of facilities in major kendras to enable content distribution in an interactive mode on any platform including the Internet. A shift from manual operations to automated operations both in production and transmission has also been recommended to economise on these costs.
Doordarshan, the report notes, should keep itself abreast with the latest know how in the realm of HDTV to enable its promotion as and when affordable to viewers. The emerging arena of HDTV enables delivery of film quality pictures to viewers‘ homes but is prohibitively priced even in developed countries. The report suggests that DD could take up small projects on HDTV on an experimental basis, as recent market trends in the US show that alternative modes of distribution are catching on very fast.
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.
