The Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act, 1990, mentions that 'Akashvani' means the offices, stations and other establishments, by whatever name called, which, immediately before the appointed day, formed part of or were under the director-general, All India Radio, of the Union ministry of information and broadcasting. The Prasar Bharati Act came into force on November 15, 1997.
NEW DELHI: India's public service broadcaster Prasar Bharati has decided to drop references to its radio service as ' All India Radio ' and substitute it with ' Akashvani ', said an internal order issued on Wednesday.
"This is a very old decision of the government which was not operationalised earlier. We are now operationalising it," said Prasar Bharati CEO Gaurav Dwivedi.
The Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act, 1990, mentions that 'Akashvani' means the offices, stations and other establishments, by whatever name called, which, immediately before the appointed day, formed part of or were under the director-general, All India Radio, of the Union ministry of information and broadcasting.
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The internal order said: "The aforesaid statutory provision which has replaced the name AIR to the 'Akashvani' may be brought to the notice of all so that names and titles get in tune with the provisions of the Prasar Bharati Act of 1990 passed by the Parliament". It seeks "compliance with immediate effect" to the statutory provision which had replaced the name of AIR (All India Radio) to Akashvani.
All India Radio was referred to as 'Akashvani' by Rabindranath Tagore in a poem he wrote for the inauguration of the Calcutta shortwave service in 1939. A private radio station named 'Akashvani Mysore' was set up on September 10, 1935, states the Prasar Bharati website.
Akashvani's home service comprises 470 broadcasting centres located across the country and broadcasts in 23 languages and 179 dialects, covering 92% of India's area and 99.2% of its population.
