New broadcast portal for faster clearances, says Anurag Thakur

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Monday launched the Broadcast Seva Portal for facilitating filing and processing of applications for broadcasters. The online platform will help broadcasters get licences, permissions and registrations.

"The portal will reduce the turnaround time of applications and at the same time help applicants track the progress. The stakeholders will not have to run around government departments to get work done," the minister said during the launch event in New Delhi.

The media industry has grown by leaps and bounds, and there are 900 TV channels and over 300 community radio stations. The government portal will facilitate speedy clearing of applications, he added.


This portal will reduce the human interface and add to capacity building of the ministry. It will be a major step towards providing ease of doing business, he said.

"The new portal has several improvements over the previous version and has incorporated suggestions from stakeholders over a trial period of one month. The portal would bring transparency in the ecosystem and all information will be available on a single dashboard," Apurva Chandra, secretary, ministry of I&B said. Joint secretary Vikram Sahay said in 2016, the portal was static and uni-dimensional but has been transformed into a multi-dimensional portal to adhere to the growing expectations of stakeholders in the broadcasting sector.