By Amit Das

AIR (All India Radio) officially known as Akashvani has pioneered broadcasting right from the British days. The person responsible for the name of All India Radio is none other than Lionel Fieldon who was responsible for starting broadcasting in India. AIR today is the division of Prasar Bharathi an autonomous corporation of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Government of India. The AIR used to be part of the government until recently when it was decided to give autonomy to free it from government control. The Doordarshan is the TV wing of Prasar Bharathi which was also owned by the Ministry but again to free it from government control, it was made autonomous.

EARLY HISTORY

 The history of news broadcasting in India is much older than that of All India Radio. The first ever news bulletin in the country went on the air from the Bombay Station on July 23, 1927 under a private company, the Indian Broadcasting Company. A month later on August 26, 1927 another bulletin in Bengali was started from the Calcutta Station. Until 1935, two bulletins, one each in English and Hindustani were broadcast from Bombay and a bulletin in Bengali was broadcast from Calcutta. The Indian Broadcasting Company went into liquidation in March, 1930 following which broadcasting came under the direct control of the Government of India. The service was designated as the Indian State Broadcasting Service. It was renamed All India Radio on June 8, 1936.

 DEVELOPMENT

The real breakthrough in news broadcasting came after January 1936 when the first news bulletin from the Delhi Station went on the air on January 19, 1936 coinciding with the starting of its transmission. Besides, news bulletins in English and Hindustani, talks on current affairs were also started from the Station in both the languages. The Central News Organization was set up on August 1, 1937. Mr. Charles Barnes took charge as the first News Editor in September and he later became the first Director of News. The outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 gave an impetus to the development of the Organization. The Monitoring Service was set up in 1939 to monitor foreign broadcasts. In 1943, the External Broadcast Unit was set up under the Director of News. By 1945, the Central News Organization was handling news bulletins in different Indian languages as well as in the External Services. After Independence, news broadcasts of AIR grew both in quantity and quality. More emphasis was laid on national and regional news bulletins.

BULLETINS

 The News Services Division (NSD) broadcasts from Delhi 179 daily news bulletins in English, Hindi and 33 languages for a duration of 21 hours and 42 minutes. This includes 56 bulletins in external services in 22 languages. In Hindi, 22 news bulletins are broadcast for duration of two hours 20 minutes while 26 news bulletins are put out in English everyday for a duration of 2 hours and 40 minutes. These include two Sports news bulletins one each in Hindi and English. Apart from Hindi, 48 news bulletins in 18 Indian languages for duration of 8 hours and 05 minutes are broadcast everyday. Language bulletins have over the years become the main source of national, international and regional news for the masses in small towns and villages. The evening bulletins in Dogri, Kashmiri and Urdu include a commentary on topical subjects.

ADVANTAGES

 Broadcasting, in its significance, reach and impact, constitutes the most powerful medium of mass communication in India. Its importance, as a medium of information and education is particularly great in a vast and developing country like India where the reach of the printed word is not very wide or deep. While the total circula¬tion of all the newspapers in India, including both English and Indian language papers, is around 8 million, there are, according to a recent estimate, nearly 400 million (out of a total population of 625 million) potential listeners to All India Radio. Broadcasting in India is a national service, developed and operated by the Government of India. All India Radio (also known as Akashvani) operates this service, over a network of broadcasting stations located ail over the country. As a national service, catering to the complex needs of a vast country. All India Radio seeks to represent in its national and regional programmes, the attitudes, aspirations and attainments of all Indian people and attempts to reflect, as fully and faithfully as possible, the richness of the Indian scene and the reach of the Indian mind.

  STATUS

 By March 31, 2012 Akashvani network consisting of 277 stations and 432 broadcast transmitters (148 are MW (Medium Wave), 236 FM (Frequency Modulation) and 48 SW (Short Wave) transmitters provided coverage to 99% of the population spread over the country. AIR originated programming in 23 languages and 146 dialects . In External services, it covered 27 languages; 17 national and 10 foreign languages. AIR started the first FM service in 1977 and then gradually increased the network with its channels viz. AIR FM Gold, AIR FM Rainbow, etc. By mid 2013 number of stations increased to 376 and transmitters to 546. In India, All India Radio - the public service broadcaster, had monopoly on Radio Broadcast, till 2000. In May 2000, the Government of India opened the sector for participation by the private FM broadcasters and offered 108 frequencies in 40 cities for open tender bidding.

 WHAT NEED TO BE DONE

 　　We would need to examine both the private broadcasters and the government funded publicly owned All India Radio to reform further. Mainly it is found out that the public service broadcasters’ programs are found to be wanting more entertainment and should make listeners more interested in listening to these programme. There is a need to reform the private broadcasting to such an extent that it can provide more news and takes more interest in the public welfare. 　　More quality educational programs should be broadcast in the commercial sector and more entertainment to be provided by the government funded AIR. This will help in solving who has to do what. This will to an extent set right the situation as far as listeners are concerned. The government of India has to constitute a committee to examine the broadcasting scenario and suggest suitable remedies to the growing broadcasting needs of the country. 　　There is a need to look at the broadcasting systems of the advanced countries in Europe and more particularly in Scandinavian countries and compare our broadcasting with them. In these countries, there is a more co-operative form of ownership exists which would provide more non-commercial programs and such a thing has to be emulated as well. This will improve our public service broadcasting as well as providing room for improvement in the private radio sector. 　　Finally, the government need to regulate the public service as well as private broadcasters so that these are free from doing any kind of harm to the public interest. It is hoped that the broadcasting scenario will improve further in India in fulfilling the needs of the citizens of the country.

(The author works as a Manager at Hindustan Construction Corporation and currently doing studies on Public Broadcasting) - See more at: http://www.orissadiary.com/ShowOriyaColumn.asp?id=51948#sthash.xeJq3Z9a.dpuf

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