Lok Sabha Question No. 2272 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-08
Subject: Expansion of DD’s News Broadcast
Ministry: INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING
Asked by: ANWHAR RAAJHAA, GAJANAN CHANDRAKANT KIRTIKAR, ANIL SHIROLE, George Baker, KUNWAR HARIBANSH SINGH, Richard Hay, SUDHEER GUPTA, PARBHUBHAI NAGARBHAI VASAVA, T. RADHAKRISHNAN, NARANBHAI KACHHADIA, BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO, KIRIT SOMAIYA, VIJAY KUMAR S.R., R. GOPALAKRISHNAN, ASHOK SHANKARRAO CHAVAN

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2272

(TO BE ANSWERED ON 8.3.2018)

## EXPANSION OF DD'S NEWS BROADCAST

2272.  SHRI A. ANWHAR RAAJHAA:

SHRI GAJANAN KIRTIKAR:

SHRI ANIL SHIROLE:

SHRI GEORGE BAKER:

KUNWAR HARIBANSH SINGH:

PROF. RICHARD HAY:

SHRI SUDHEER GUPTA:

SHRI PARBHUBHAI NAGARBHAI VASAVA:

SHRI T. RADHAKRISHNAN:

SHRI NARANBHAI KACHHADIYA:

SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO:

DR. KIRIT SOMAIYA:

SHRI S.R. VIJAYAKUMAR:

SHRI R. GOPALAKRISHNAN:

SHRI ASHOK SHANKARRAO CHAVAN:

Will the Minister of INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING

be pleased to state:

- (a) the  names  of  the  countries  to  which  the  programmes  of  Doordarshan India/Doordarshan news are being broadcast presently;
- (b) whether  the  Government  has  decided  to  expand  Doordarshan's  roundtheclock  news  broadcast  to  around  100  countries  and  if  so,  the  details  and objective thereof along with the names of the countries where Doordarshan expansion will take place;
- (c) the total financial implication likely to be involved in this regard and the time by which the said expansion is likely to be started and completed;
- (d) the manner in which the country is likely to be benefited by this move;
- (e) whether  the  Government  has  signed  Memorandum  of  Understanding  with some countries recently in this regard and if so, the details thereof; and
- (f)  the steps taken/being taken by the Government to popularize the Doordarshan in the country and compete with private channels?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE  MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING (COL RAJYAVARDHAN RATHORE (Retd.)

- (a)  Doordarshan  India  /  Doordarshan  News  are  available  in  countries  as mentioned in Annexure due to satellite footprint / natural spill-over.
- (b)  At present there is no such proposal under consideration.
- (c) to (e): Does not arise in view of (b) above.
- (f)   As the Public Service Broadcaster, Doordarshan's programming is focused on  issues  of  public  interest  viz.  health,  education,  empowerment,  social justice  etc.  Thus  Doordarshan's  programmes  cannot  be  compared  with private channels  as both are totally different in their objectives  and programming formats. However, Doordarshan is striving to provide impactful and compelling programmes to become the preferred channel of people.

It is the constant endeavour of  Doordarshan  to modernize its infrastructure and  improve  the  quality  of  programmes.  Reviewing  and  enhancing  the content  quality  is  a  continuous  process.  Doordarshan  has  taken  several measures to improve the quality of content including providing training to its Technical  and  Programming  staff,  capacity  building  of  Content  Producers, improving  the  quality  of  presentation,  enhanced  visibility  on  Social  Media etc.

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## ANNEXURE

## ANNEXURE REFERRED IN REPLY TO  PART (a)  OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2272 FOR ANSWER ON 8.3.2018

## COUNTRIES  COVERED  TRHOUGH  INSAT    GSAT-17  AND  INSAT  -4B  (CBAND)

## ASIA

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, China (partly), Cambodia, Hong Kong, Israel, Malaysia (Partly), Myanmar, Laos, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, India

## CIS

Armenia,  Azerbaijan,  Georgia  (Partly),  Kyrgyzstan,  Tajikistan,  Turkmenistan (Partly), Ukraine, Uzbekistan (Partly).

## Middle East

Bahrain,  Iran,  Iraq,  Kuwait,  Oman  (Partly),  Qatar,  Saudi  Arabia,  Syria,  Turkey (Partly), United Arab Emirates, Yemen (Partly).

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