Monday, August 22 2005 15:17 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Government today (August 22, 2005) said the proposal to set up a Media Commission was being examined.

"The proposal and its various aspects are under examination," Information and Broadcasting Minister, S Jaipal Reddy, informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

Channels: Reddy said a Group of Ministers (GOM) has been constituted to examine the proposal for review of the existing 'Uplinking Policy.'

The GOM is yet to finalise its recommendations, he said, adding, a timeframe cannot be indicated in this regard.

To another question, he said at present 14-free-to-air private TV channels, in addition to 19 Doordarshan channels, are available on DD Direct, Doordarshan's DTH platform.

The private channels are being carried without any carriage fee and are included in the bouquet in order to reach out to wider audience and make service popular, Reddy said.

Prasar Bharti, as a Public Service Broadcaster, is not driven by commercial consideration alone, he said, adding, it is hosting private TV channels free of charge for a period of two years as an exploratory measure.

Cable: The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 as amended till date does not provide for fixation of rates for pay channel, Reddy said.

However, he said Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued Tariff Orders from time to time under TRAI Act, which regulates the charges payable by cable subscribers to operators and by the operators to Multi System Operators/Broadcasters.

Doordarshan: Sixty-three Doordarshan (DD) Studio Centres and 206 Radio Centres are operational in the country, and of these, nine Studio Centres and 79 Radio Centres are fully digitalised while nine DD Studio Centres and 59 Radio Centres are partially digitalised, Reddy said.

During 2005-06 and 2006-07, ten studio Centres of DD are targeted to be fully digitalised and 22 partially, he said, adding, with regard to All India Radio, 61 and 66 Studio Centres are to be completely digitalised during 2005-06 and 2006-07 respectively.

Monuments: There are 3,660 Centrally protected monuments/sites under maintenance of the Archaeological Survey of India, Reddy said and added that maintenance works for 1,256 monuments would be taken up during 2005-06.

To another question, he said National Mission for Manuscripts, set up by Government in February 2003, is taking up survey of Manuscripts. The survey has been carried out in 30 districts of Orissa, 13 in Uttar Pradesh and 10 in Bihar, he said, adding, 6.5 lakh manuscripts were in 37,000 repositories, ranging from big libraries to small private collections.

Similar surveys are being undertaken in Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Kerala, he said.

Qutub: European Union in Collaboration with Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee, has selected Qutub Minar for improving its seismic residence. They have proposed to perform non-destructive tests and install dynamic monitoring equipment at Qutub Minar next month.