The Centre on Thursday said the United Progressive Alliance allies were not covered in the reshuffle of the Council of Ministers in view of the upcoming assembly elections in various states."It was not that big a reshuffle. Only the portfolios were shuffled," Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said while briefing media on the Cabinet meeting."It was not that big a reshuffle. Only the portfolios were shuffled," Information, Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said
The National Recruitment Agency will prove to be a boon for crores of youngsters, the PM said.
'The concept is going to work well for this season.'
As the strike by the Film and Television Institute of India students entered the fifth day, the Information and Broadcasting ministry on Tuesday offered to discuss "all relevant issues" after they stuck to their demand for revoking the appointment of actor and Bharatiya Janata Party member Gajendra Chauhan as chairman of its governing council.
Industry sources indicate DD Direct Plus has a subscriber base of around nine million. The DTH operator's reach is second largest after Dish TV, which has a gross subscriber base of 10.9 million.
At present private radio stations are not allowed to broadcast news. The government's new move comes at a time when it is in the process of finalising the process for the third phase of FM radio expansion in India.
State and UT governments have been given the flexibility to take a decision on re-opening of schools and coaching institutions after October 15 in a graded manner.
Faced with mounting complaints from television viewers and women outfits about objectionable contents, the government has ordered channels airing TV shows 'Big Boss' and 'Rakhi ka Insaaf' to broadcast them only between 11 pm and 5 am, virtually bracketing them as only for adult viewing.
Belying expectations, Prasar Bharti has earned only Rs 58.19 crore (Rs 581.9 million) as revenue during the Commonwealth Games last month.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi was hospitalised at Raiganj in West Bengal on Sunday following a chest pain. Hospital sources said the minister felt uncomfortable while coming from Malda to Raiganj. His condition was, however, said to be stable.
In his letter dated July 6, 2010, Thomas had also advocated a discussion on use of the scarce S-band spectrum with Indian Space Research Organisation in a special meeting attended by representatives of DoT, Department of Space, Information and Broadcasting Ministry, and Indian Meteorological Department.
The government said if the apex court considers it necessary to lay down guidelines for mainstream electronic and print media, it is the 'need of the hour' that the exercise should start first with web based digital media.
'He was full of Hindustan, its tehzeeb and its culture.'
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has been given the responsibility of promoting the Unique Identification Number project, officials said here on Friday.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi was admitted to AIIMS following a severe heart problem early Monday morning.
"For the Lok Sabha elections, we are making meticulous planning on all fronts including electronic voting machines (EVMs) and the voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT)," he said.
BJP would observe the next 10 days -- from Sunday to September 17, the birthday of the PM -- as 'seva parva'.
Coming out in defence of its deal with UK-based SIS Live for telecast of the Commonwealth Games, Prasar Bharti on Monday said the selection of the company was made with the approval of Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is planning to put stringent entry-level restrictions on broadcasters launching new television channels. The move is to ensure only serious players enter the business and have effective utilisation of the limited bandwidth available for broadcasting.
Amid questions over how the then Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson fled India, the central government said on Thursday that the group of ministers set up on the Bhopal gas tragedy issue will look into all aspects related to the incident and facts would be presented before the nation.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved 'Mission Karmayogi', dubbed as the biggest bureaucratic reform initiative, aimed at capacity building of government employees to make them more "creative, proactive, professional and technology-enabled". The core guiding principles of the competency-driven programme will be to support a transition from "rules based to roles based" HR management to prepare the Indian civil servant for the future, according to a government statement.
The government has cleared well known journalist Mrinal Pande's name for the post of Prasar Bharati chairperson, a month after the previous chairman Arun Bhatnagar's resignation was accepted by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
The 76-page "Review of Existing Television Rating System in India" tries very hard to justify why a committee was formed to examine the currency an industry uses to buy and sell advertising time.
Informing that the Cabinet had approved a resolution in this regard, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told media persons that the high court verdict will be just one step in the legal process and that it did not necessarily end with the judgment unless it is acceptable to all sections.
In an interesting turn of events, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni decided not to announce the 57th National Awards for films, though it is customary for the minister to do the honours, considering the prestige attached to the awards and the fact that it is the President of India who gives away the awards.
Strongly refuting the charge, Information and Broadcasting Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said the government has nothing to do with the internal developments of the channel and the opposition was raising the matter as it has no issues to flag in the House.
The committee is scheduled to meet on Thursday.
A high definition format for television viewers to enjoy the Commonwealth Games and efforts for auction of 3G spectrum were some matters that kept the Information and Broadcasting Ministry busy in 2009.
'How come our I and B Minister or our most popular Hon'ble PM (according to PEW) are maintaining stoic silence. High time!' he said.
This will be the second merger of an associate bank with the SBI after a similar exercise with the State Bank of Saurashtra in August 2008.
The government's move is aimed at implementing the provisions incorporated in the Cable Television Network Rules 1994. Introduced by Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni, the paper suggests that if 'a product that uses a brand or logo, which is also used for promoting cigarettes and tobacco products, then the visual of the advertisement should depict only the product being advertised and not prohibited products in any form or manner.'
With already around 500 television channels on air, the ministry is now concerned about streamlining the process of allowing the opening of new channels.
The petition challenges the constitutional validity of the government order, the channel said in filing to the stock exchanges.
The MTA will now be placed before the National Development Council, highest policy making body in the country headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Top Information and Broadcasting ministry officials were in for a surprise on Monday as Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, who took charge last week, made an unannounced punctuality and cleanliness check early morning.
An advisory, by the information and broadcasting ministry to the states said there have been reports of "security threats due to TV content" aimed at inciting communal and terrorist violence.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a proposal to increase reservation for women to 50 per cent in panchayats.
To believe that the key job of his senior ministers is to ensure that his image be kept intact whatever be the outcome of his policies is to expect too much even of someone as ambitious as Narendra Modi, asserts Rashme Sehgal.
Pakistan has rejected reports that Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin-Laden is hiding inside the country's geographical boundaries.
