BIND Scheme

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affair (CCEA), has approved the continuation of Broadcasting Infrastructure and Development Scheme – BIND Scheme for Prasar Bharati. It has approved an outlay of a total ₹ 2539.61 crore up to 2025-26.

It will provide financial resources to Prasar Bharati for expenses related to expansion and upgradation of public broadcasting infrastructure, content development, and civil work of the organization.

About BIND Scheme

• It is a Centre Sector Scheme.
• The scheme will increase AIR FM transmitter’s geographical coverage from 59% to 66% and cover more than 80% of the country’s population.
• Under this scheme, 8 lakh DD Free Dish DTH Set Top Boxed (DTBs) will be distributed to people living in remote, tribal, Left Wing Extremism (LWE) areas, border areas, and aspirational districts.

Significance of BIND scheme

• Employment Generation by way of :
  • manufacturing of DD Free Dish DTH boxes,
  • service related to supply and installation of broadcasting equipment,
  • content generation and content innovation for DD and AIR with people having experience in different media fields including TV/Radio production, transmission-related services, etc.
• Enable public broadcaster
  • to modernization and upgradation of broadcasting infrastructure,
  • development of high-quality content for both domestic and global audiences,
  • Ensure the availability of high-quality content by upgradation of capacity of DTH platforms to accommodate more channels,
  • Upgradation of Doordarshan (DD) and All India Radio (AIR) studios to make them HD-ready.

About Prasar Bharati

• It is India’s state-owned public broadcaster.
• It is a statutory body set up under the provision of the Prasar Bharati Act of 1990.
• Prasar Bharati comprises the Doordarshan (DD) Television Network and Akashvani All India Radio (AIR).
• DD operates 36 TV channels including 28 regional channels and AIR operates more than 500 broadcasting centers.
• Prasar Bharati is an important vehicle of information, education, entertainment, and engagement for the people especially in the remote parts of the country through DD and AIR.
• It played an important role in communicating public health messages and awareness to the public during the Covid-19 pandemic.