All India Radio mandated by Parliament to inform and educate the public, says Prasar Bharati CEO .

         Speaking on the occasion of Akashavani Annual Awards 2008 presentation function in Chennai on 26-03-2010, Prasar Bharati CEO said as the world's largest public service broadcaster, the AIR does not merely entertain but was mandated by Parliament to inform and educate the public.


                B.S. Lalli, CEO, Prasar Bharati, urged the organisation to better its levels of performance, accommodate the multifarious interests of a diverse listening public and be sensitive to the critical and continually important role of the radio as the only media access to a large swathe of the country's population.


              In this sense, the AIR served as a bridge between the policy-makers and the people for whom the policies were framed, he said.

             Deeming it a “complete fallacy” to regard television as superior to radio, Mr. Lalli said the radio was a more powerful tool in the creative engagement of the audience.

           Noreen Naqvi, AIR Director General, said the AIR had now grown from just six stations at the time of Independence to 233 covering the length and breadth of the country.

          Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting S. Jagathrakshakan informed on the occasion that , Work is also in progress to set up a 10-KW additional FM channel in Madurai to replace the interim 1 KW facility commissioned in 2005 and an additional 10-KW FM channel in Tirunelveli where a stereo studio had already been commissioned, the Minister said after presenting the Akashvani Annual Awards 2008 in various categories.

            Stating that special emphasis had been laid on technical upgrading of the All India Radio network during the Eleventh Plan, the Minister said it was proposed to replace existing transmitters of Chennai A, Chennai B, Chennai Vividh Bharathi, Tiruchi, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin radio stations with DRM transmitters.
 

             A telemetry system in Chennai and new captive earth stations at Madurai and Tiruchi were among the expansion work proposed in the public radio broadcasting sector during the period, Mr. Jagathrakshakan said.

            Referring to the genuine grievances of AIR & DD employees, including career stagnation, he said these complaints would be taken up at the level of Prime Minister and resolved.



    Mr. S.R. Agarwal, AIR Engineer-in-Chief, also participated in the function .

|||||| Thank you for your interest.||||||