Introduction
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (“MIB”), on 4th April 2022, launched the revamped Broadcast Seva Portal as a single point facility for various stakeholders of the broadcasting sector.
Key Aspects
The portal will help facilitate the stakeholders in seeking permissions, applying for registration, tracking applications, calculating fees and executing payments.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting 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. Additionally, the Broadcast Seva Portal is also planned to be linked to the National Single Window System operated by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade for end-to-end facilitation.
Some of the stated features of the portal includes:
- End-to-end processing
- Extension of portal to DTH operators, local cable operators and digital media
- Revamped user interface
- Integration with Bharat Kosh payment system
- Integration with various stakeholder ministries
- Alerts to stakeholders through SMS/E-Mails
Our Take
This is a positive initiative by the MIB for streamlining the approval processes on its erstwhile Broadcast Seva Portal by extending it to the DTH sector. While the new portal promises to streamline existing approval processes, the MIB should also consider undertaking an exercise to re-engineer the existing processes instead of digitizing the same onto the portal.
Additionally, for increasing transparency, there should have been a clear stipulation on the timelines involved for processing and approval by each ministry/department (Ministry of Home Affairs, Department of Telecom, Department of Space, etc.) involved in the approving/rejecting of applications uploaded on the portal. All applications breaching the stipulated timelines should ideally be granted “deemed approval” lest they are specifically rejected on account of objections raised by the different departments.
Links: https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1813176
Recognition
