AIR readies axe for foreign broadcast

[icernet-admin at listserv.cddc.vt.edu]

Now, though, Prasar Bharati _ realising that there may not be anyone out
there actually listening to the programmes _ is planning to pull the plug on
its External Services Division.The first broadcast was on October 1, 1939;
the British used it for wartime propaganda in languages their
allies/soldiers understood well, including Pashto, Burmese, Chinese, Dari.
Other languages were added on over the years _ including Burmese, Thai and
Bahasa, the language of Indonesia _ but none was removed from the service.
Today, the broadcasts continue in the same languages, eating up Rs 50 crore
annually on maintainance of transmitters and Rs 7 crore on software. The
broadcasts are aired through 19 transmitters in the country _ which,
officials say, have outlived their purpose and stretched their budgets. The
16 units (each language is treated as a unit) employ a supervisor, writer
and anchors/newsreaders, depending on the duration of broadcasts. Half the
staff are students of language from the universities as officials concede it
is difficult to find the right people for all the languages beamed by the
external services.

Source:
http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems.asp?ID=IEH20040124112801