AIR to get Rs 75 crore in Annual Plan 2016-17 of I and B Ministry

All India Radio will receive Rs 75 crore for development of new content out of a provision of Rs 390 crore earmarked as grant-in-aid for Prasar Bharati for 2016-17. This includes Rs 50 crore for the North East Region. A budget of Rs four crore has been set aside for supporting community Radio stations which includes Rs 20 lakh for the north east region. In addition, there is a grant-in-aid of Rs sixty crore including Rs eight crore for the North East Region, according to the Annual Plan of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry for 2016-17.

A sum of Rs 12 crore has been set aside for strengthening the Electronic Media Monitoring Cell which will soon increase its capacity to monitor all TV channels in the country. Infrastructure Support Cell in the Ministry renamed as Digitisation Mission has a budget of Rs five crore in the Annual Plan, while Rs 4.5 crore has been set aside for automation of the broadcasting sector. Thus the total budget in the Annual Plan for the broadcasting sector is Rs 475.50 crore including Rs 58.2 crore for the north east.