The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) is expected to launch this week four online portals, including a central repository of videos prepared by the government, a new website for registration of newspapers and magazines, and a centralised website for all government advertisements.
All four portals, HT has learnt, are ready to go live and are awaiting a formal launch by I&B minister Anurag Thakur.
The National Video Gateway of Bharat, abbreviated as NaViGate Bharat, is a platform where all videos prepared by different central government ministries and departments will be hosted. It currently has about 2,500 videos related to different ministries.
In the draft rules under the recently notified Press and Registration of Periodicals Act, 2023, the MIB had proposed creating a “Press Sewa Portal” to allow for communication between the Press Registrar General of India (called the registrar of newspapers of India (RNI) under the extant act) and the owners, publishers and printing presses of periodicals.
All applications for certificate of registration need to be submitted to the Press Sewa Portal under the draft rules.
HT has also learnt that the new website of RNI and certain modules of the PSP — intimation by printers, submission of applications for title verification or registration with related functionalities — are ready to go live. Other features of the PSP, such as processing of applications, are expected to launch during the second phase in April. The new RNI website will be renamed as the website of PRG, as under the new act.
The PRP Act has not been enacted by the MIB yet, nor have the rules under it been notified. Both the Act and the rules are expected to go into effect in March.
The Central Bureau of Communication (CBC), which is responsible for all government advertising, is also ready to launch its “Transparent Empanelment, Media Planning and E-billing System” (TEMPEST).
This new website has been developed by BECIL. This portal will allow print media, television media (including Doordarshan), radio and community radio to apply for empanelment, check rates for renewal in one portal.
However, the new e-billing feature, which will be integrated with the finance ministry’s Public Financial Management System (PFMS) that maintains a centralised database of all payments made by the central government, will be delayed due to the stability issues it may face on going live.
Until March 31, the MIB will continue using the present NIC system for bulk of the billing alongside the new system.
From April 1, all billing for government campaigns, including those of Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, will be done through the new system.
MIB’s broadcasting division has also created a new link on the Broadcast Seva Portal to allow local cable operators (LCOs) to register themselves to get the national registration number. This link has already received “entries” from 28 LCOs.
