Govt launches broadcast portal in a step towards EoDB

Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, and Youth Affairs & Sports, Shri Anurag Singh Thakur today launched the Broadcast Seva Portal in New Delhi, heralding a new chapter in Ease of Doing Business in the Broadcasting sector. Broadcast Seva Portal is an online portal solution for speedy filing and processing of applications of broadcasters for various kinds of licenses, permissions, registrations, etc.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Anurag Thakur said Government has harnessed technology to bring transparency in the system and make it more accountable. The Broadcast Seva Portal will reduce the turnaround time of applications and at the same time will help applicants track the progress. This portal will reduce the human interface that was required earlier and thus add to capacity building of the Ministry and will be a major step towards Ease of Doing Business.

Shri Thakur further added that the 360 degree digital solution will facilitate the stakeholders in seeking permissions, applying for registration, tracking applications, calculating fees and executing payments. This portal will provide its services under the wider umbrella efforts of Digital India to all stakeholders to private satellite TV channels, teleport operators, MSOs, community and private radio channels etc.

The Minister said “the portal is a giant leap forward in realizing Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mantra of ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’, as this simple and user-friendly web portal provides a broadcaster an end-to-end solution with just a click of a mouse. It will boost the business environment and empower the entire broadcast sector by directly benefiting more than 900 Satellite TV Channels, 70 Teleport operators, 1700 Multi-service operators, 350 Community Radio Stations (CRS), 380 Private FM Channels and others.”

The Minister informed the audience that the test run of the portal received positive feedback from end users. Soon the portal will be married to National Single Window System. The Ministry is open to further improvements that the industry may feel are required.

Shri Apurva Chandra, Secretary, Ministry of I&B said that the new portal has several improvements over the previous version and has incorporating suggestions from stakeholders over a trial period of one month.

The portal would bring Transparency, Accountability & Responsiveness in the ecosystem and all information will be available on a single dashboard. Various services and features of the portal includes:

• End-to-end processing
• Integration with payment system (Bharat Kosh)
• Integration with E-Office and stakeholder ministries
• Analytics, Reporting and Management Information System (MIS)
• Integrated Helpdesk
• Application forms and status tracking
• Downloading letters/orders from the portal itself
• Alerts to stakeholders (SMS/E-Mails)

The broadcasters present at the event welcomed the launch of the portal and said that it will greatly reduce the distance an application has to travel and the effort required in the application process.

It may be noted that improving India’s business climate is one of the key focus areas of the Government of India and the broadcast seva portal exemplifies Government’s commitment to ease of doing business and empowering the broadcasting sector.

The launch event of the Broadcast Seva Portal is available here.

BCS Bureau