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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  I&B ministry sees 5.9% hike in 2017-18 budget allocation
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I&B ministry sees 5.9% hike in 2017-18 budget allocation

The budget comes at a time when the ministry is set to complete the last phase of cable digitization and switch off analog signals across the country by 31 March 2017

Arun Jaitley set apart Rs4,409 crore for the information and broadcasting ministry for 2017-18. Photo: PTIPremium
Arun Jaitley set apart Rs4,409 crore for the information and broadcasting ministry for 2017-18. Photo: PTI

New Delhi: Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday set apart Rs4,409 crore for the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry for 2017-18, 5.96% more than what he allocated last year.

According to the revised estimates for 2016-17, the annual budget of the ministry stood at Rs4,161 crore.

Out of this, a total of Rs2,996 crore will go to public broadcaster Prasar Bharati, up from this year’s Rs2,766 crore. However, grants-in-aid for the broadcaster will be Rs40 crore less—from Rs390 crore this year to Rs350 crore next year.

Also Read | Highlights of Union Budget 2017

Prasar Bharati runs Doordarshan and All India Radio. Doordarshan operates 35 channels including regional, state, national and international channels and a multi-channel free-to-air direct-to-home (DTH) service, DD Free Dish. All India Radio’s home service includes 415 stations located across the nation.

The I&B ministry has earmarked Rs80 crore (up from the earlier Rs60 crore) to DD Kisan, Doordarshan’s channel dedicated to farmers and agriculture. “We have planned a series of programmes for DD Kisan. The channel will go HD (high definition) in March this year. DD Kisan reaches 80 lakh farmers every week and horticulture, dairy, rural economy remain our focus areas," said Supriya Sahu, director general at Doordarshan. 

Also Read | Union Budget 2017: The winners and losers

The budget comes at a time when the ministry is set to complete the last phase of cable digitization and switch off analog signals across the country by 31 March 2017, bring in a new information and communication policy and provide further assistance to the film sector and film makers.

The ministry had recently set up a film promotion fund, under which any movie selected in the competition section in any international film festival will be given financial aid, including India’s official nominations for the Academy awards. The aid will be given for promotional activities related to the film, the value of which will range from Rs7.5 lakh to Rs1 crore, depending on the stature of the film festival.

Also Read | Budget 2017: Modi looks to spend more on India’s poorest with eye on elections

In 2017-18, the government intends to spend a total amount of Rs207 crore on film sector, up from Rs134 crore last year. This will include dissemination of film content, infrastructure development, development of National Museum of Indian Cinema among other projects.

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Published: 01 Feb 2017, 05:36 PM IST
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