Lok Sabha Question No. 50 (STARRED), answered on 2016-02-26
Subject: Archives of News Items
Ministry: INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING
Asked by: CHARANJEET SINGH RORI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 50 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.02.2016

## ARCHIVES OF NEWS ITEMS

## 50.     SHRI CHARANJEET SINGH RORI:

## Will the Minister of INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING

be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  any  mechanism  to  maintain  archives  of  newsitems both in print and video format, if so, the details thereof;
- (b) if  not,  whether  the  Government  proposes  to  introduce  a  mechanism  for maintaining archives of news-items to make it accessible to future generation;
- (c) if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  financial  implications  assessed  by  the Government in this regard; and
- (d) the other steps taken/being taken by the Government to maintain the archives of news-items?

## ANSWER

THE  MINISTER  OF  FINANCE;  MINISTER  OF  CORPORATE  AFFAIRS AND  MINISTER  OF  INFORMATION  &  BROADCASTING  (SHRI  ARUN JAITLEY)

(a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the table of the House.

* * * * *

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION No. 50 REGARDING ARCHIVES OF NEWS ITEMS FOR ANSWER ON 26.02.2016

Press Information Bureau (PIB), an attached office under the Ministry of Information &  Broadcasting,  is  the  nodal  agency  of  the  Government  of  India  to  disseminate information  to  the  print  and  electronic  media  on  government  policies,  programmes, initiatives and achievements. It has an Information Centre located at Connaught Place, New Delhi which houses print records of historical value. The hard copies of press releases  issued  by  PIB  since  independence  to  1997  are  available  in  the  Information Centre which are now being digitized. Press releases are being issued by PIB in the digital form since January, 1998. Besides, at present 22 leading newspapers are being kept  at  the  Information  Centre,  Connaught  Place,  New  Delhi  in  bound  form.  The Information Centre is open to general public.

With  regard  to  audio  archives  of  news  items,  bulletins  of  All  India  Radio  (AIR) broadcast from Delhi and different Regional News Units located in various States are preserved in text as well as electronic formats. At the headquarters of AIR in Delhi, text  copies  of  major  news  bulletins  of  All  India  Radio  broadcast  from  Delhi  are preserved for a period of five years. The text and audio format of these bulletins are also  available  on  News  Service  Division  (NSD):  AIR  website  www.newsonair.com for a period of three months. Major Hindi and English news bulletins broadcast from Delhi have also been preserved in electronic form on CDs (audio format) from June, 2006 to October, 2015. Regional News Units (RNUs) of All India Radio preserve the text copies of news bulletins as well as audio recordings for one year.  RNUs now also upload their bulletins on NSD website.

Doordarshan News (DD News) as a 24 hours news channel and Public Broadcaster of the  country  maintains  the  archives  in  print/video  format.  News  bulletins  are  being preserved  as  archives  in  print  format  since  2010.  All  daily  News  Bulletins  are preserved  in  visual  format  for  6  months  and  stored  in  local  server  of  DD  News. Coverage of  VVIPs  such  as  Hon'ble  President,  Vice  President  and  Prime  Minister, including  their  major  domestic  and  foreign  tours,  are  archived  and  preserved. Recordings of news coverage, which have longer implications and recall value, are also archived and preserved in DD News Tape library.

Electronic  Media  Monitoring  Centre  (EMMC)  keeps  the  record  of  the  channels monitored for a period of 90 days.

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