Sunday 24 August 2014

Final Preperations - ROBOCON 2014 International Contest at Pune




Hon'ble Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Shri Prakash Javadekar will inaugurate the 13th International ABU Asia-Pacific Robot Contest (ABU-ROBOCON) on 24th August, 2014. ABU-ROBOCON 2014 is being organized by Doordarshan at Pune.

ABU-ROBOCON is a unique TV program project where students compete with their hand-made robots. The contest aims at encouraging scientific temperament of undergraduate engineering students in the Asia-Pacific region.


 These events also offer opportunity to broadcasting agencies for advancing their technological skills and international cooperation. ABU-ROBOCON is organized by Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) and its member countries including Doordarshan. It was started in the year 2002 in Japan. Doordarshan has been a part of this venture right from its inception. This is the second time that Doordarshan is hosting an International event after 2008

CEO & ADG(P) DD IN OB VAN WITH THEIR TEAM


Friday 22 August 2014

Shri Prakash Javadekar to inaugurate ROBOCON-Pune 2014 on 24th August, 2014

 Doordarshan to host ABU-ROBOCON 2014 International Contest at Pune from 22nd-26th August, 2014


The Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Shri Prakash Javadekar will inaugurate the 13th International ABU Asia-Pacific Robot Contest (ABU-ROBOCON) on 24th August, 2014. ABU-ROBOCON 2014 is being organized by Doordarshan at the Badminton Hall, Balewadi Sports Complex, Pune from 22-26th August, 2014.

ABU-ROBOCON is a unique TV program project where students compete with their hand-made robots. The contest aims at encouraging scientific temperament of undergraduate engineering students in the Asia-Pacific region. These events also offer opportunity to broadcasting agencies for advancing their technological skills and international cooperation.

This year, broadcasters and ROBOCON teams from 17 countries will be participating in this contest. Prominent participants include Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), Russia State TV & Radio Broadcasting Company (RTR) and Egyptian Radio and television Union (ETU). The theme of ABU-ROBOCON is “A Salute to Parenthood”. Under this theme, a Manual (Parent) Robot takes his/her automatic (child) Robot to a park for games like Sea-saw, swing, pole-walk and jungle gym to be played within a period of three minutes. On the sidelines of this event today, TVRI Indonesia and Prasar Bharati will be holding a meeting for mutual cooperation in the field of broadcasting and exchange of programme and News content.

ABU-ROBOCON is organized by Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) and its member countries including Doordarshan. It was started in the year 2002 in Japan. Doordarshan has been a part of this venture right from its inception. This is the second time that Doordarshan is hosting an International event after 2008.

In the 13th National event that took place from 6-8 March 2014 at Pune, 89 teams from engineering colleges/universities including seven IITs participated. ROBOCON team of Nirma University, Ahmedabad emerged victorious and VJTI Mumbai was the 1st runner-up. The two teams would be participating in this International contest.

Thursday 21 August 2014

Doordarshan organises ABU-Robocon 2014 International Contest In Pune on 24th August,2014

Doordarshan is organising ABU-Robocon  2014 at Balewadi Sports Complex, Pune. This year's theme being "A Salute to the Parenthood". Teams will be developing a parent robot and a child robot and taking them to a park to play games like See-saw, Swing, Pole walk and Jungle gym. Teams from seventeen countries will be participating.



Rules about the contest will be found in the PDF attached below


The theme on Parenthood is chosen to portray the significance of the physical and emotional support as well as the social and intellectual development that parents bring about in their children. Parenthood bestows a wide range of experiences that offer love, security, stimulation, encouragement and opportunities to help a child flourish and grow to achieve its full potential. To know more about the contest, check this video here- 



The contest will be telecast live by DD Sahaydri and DD Sports on 24th August,2014 from 9.00 A.M.The opening ceremony will also be telecast live by DD1.


For more information please visit the website:

Wednesday 13 August 2014

How public broadcasting is missing its audience

The demand from both the poor and those who are now called the neo middle class for information that can help improve their lives is huge. Information on Doordarshan on existing government schemes is in demand, but in the local context they need that to go a step further: where to go in one’s own district to access these? A study that took in districts that included Kalahandi and Kandhamal in Odisha, Dantewada and Bastar in Chhattisgarh, Tapi in the Dangs in Gujarat, Adilabad in Telangana and Krishna in Andhra Pradesh found that the unmet, felt need for public service programming are several. Agriculture, health, vocational training, tutorials for youth and children, employment information, and serials with positive values are among them. These are not on offer on most private channels. Expressed health information needs include: knowing how much incentive money the government gives when a delivery takes place in a hospital, knowing how to handle a child’s wound, when a tetanus shot is required. What a pregnant woman should eat, when she should go for health check-ups, how many iron tablets to take. An award-winning health programme called Kalyani, which tackled all of these, ran for several years and still has high recall, but DD discontinued it. Today the quantum of health information on the broadcaster falls short of the needs. Except in Chhattisgarh, where for reasons explained later, it cannot be accessed.

The scheduling challenge of public service telecasts is that both men and women who work in the fields for a living only have time for TV after 7 pm. That is when they want all their informative programmes—their news, their agriculture shows, the information on job cards, and on other government schemes. Or at least repeats of these. And the delivery challenge also is that if you are giving much of this on a terrestrial transmission, they will not reach the majority population. The hunger is for all kinds of information, women watch food shows on whichever channel they can access them, whether the ingredients are locally available or not. “Without TV”, an old woman in Sambalpur in Odisha said, “We would be backward.” But the segment of viewers most anxious about their unmet information needs is youth in search of vocational guidance and jobs if they are older, and tutorials on TV if they are younger. You have to comprehend this to understand why it was such a blow to many students to have the curriculum-based Gyan Darshan channels go off Doordarshan’s direct-to-home (DTH) platform in June this year because of problems between DD, the human resource development ministry and the Indian Space Research Organisation. They are still off the air, slated to resume in early September. These are the sort of things parents and youth say. In Phulbani in Kandhamal district: “The youth become unemployed even after getting education…Some have passed +2 and some passed +3…There is no resource…Out of 300 and 350 households 5 or 6 persons may be doing a job…and rest around 500 people are getting livelihood by doing daily labour…Many of the households have no agricultural land…” In Ahmedabad: “We have to spend so much on tuition fees, in Juhapura a lot of people cannot afford tuition fees. It would be great if there are programmes on TV that will help us to avoid spending so much money on tuitions and simultaneously help the children to learn and score better in exams.” “We learn only basic English, we don’t have confidence in speaking English when we go out. There should be a channel which will gradually teach us English over a period of time. If we watch it daily for a small amount of time it will gradually teach us proper English.” Or, “There should be a programme which teaches us how to ‘chat’.” In West Godavari in Andhra Pradesh, youth in a village say they scour Monster.com for job information either at Internet centres or on mobiles. Youth: “For bank jobs, government jobs and IT jobs, we refer to Jobsadda.com. Also the newspapers Sakshi and Deccan Chronicle.” Do they watch TV for employment, education, career guidance programmes? “No career guidance programmes, very rarely we get some programmes on these topics.” This demographic segment has little use for Doordarshan. The channels to watch, they say, are Star Movies, HBO, NatGeo and Animal Planet. “We watch English movies for improving our communication skills.” And the other channels mentioned above to improve their general knowledge. A government alive to the change potential of broadcasting has to recognize that it must privilege broadcasting over broadcaster. Today, to access the kind of programming they feel a need for, some Indians at the bottom of the income ladder are bypassing the state-owned broadcaster. They are sometimes opting for DTH platforms other than Doordarshan’s DD Direct, and rejecting terrestrial transmission which gives them only a single channel. In heavily cabled states like Andhra Pradesh, rural viewers opt for cable. Some needs are met by channels like Discovery and National Geographic that are mentioned so often in focus groups, both urban and rural, that along with general entertainment channels like Star Plus, Zee or Colors they can be seen as drivers of platform choice. The cost of subscribing to a DTH platform or digitized cable pinches low-income families, but DD Direct, which might otherwise have been the most affordable platform (because there is no monthly subscription), loses out because cartoons and Animal Planet for the children is a must. DD National in the month monitored for programming break up (August 2012), had less than 1% of its programming hours devoted to programmes for children. Agriculture broadcasting Agricultural programming is a felt need in every state but does not reach its target because the scheduling is wrong, there are power cuts, and the audience’s own platform shift deprives them of local farm programmes on terrestrial transmission. It is supremely ironical that the state which offers the most agriculture programming faces a major challenge in reaching its audience. Chhattisgarh Doordarshan puts out a four-hour public service transmission every day with conscientious dollops of agriculture, health education, news, folk music, and current affairs in its programming mix. Almost 20% of its programming time is devoted to agricultural telecasts. It is an entirely terrestrial transmission. The states which suffer most from the disappearance of terrestrial TV reception are the Hindi-speaking ones that did not have satellite channels. In the run-up to the elections, a few were started—Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. But Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand have only terrestrial transmission. At the Raipur Kendra they believe what they telecast is scarcely watched. Urban Chhattisgarh is on cable, but no cable operator is willing to devote a channel slot to what is only a four-hour daily transmission. Rural Chhattisgarh is pretty much entirely on DTH. Some better-off farmers in Raipur district maintain two TV sets, others configure their TV sets to receive both DTH and terrestrial TV signals. But not every poor farmer knows how to do this. In Andhra Pradesh’s rice bowl where the agricultural distress is palpable, they say farm TV outreach is aimed primarily at production increase whereas their problem is uptake of what they produce at remunerative prices. Here’s the rub: Doordarshan’s local network does produce farm news bulletins telecast early morning, giving neighbouring mandi prices for produce. But again there is a scheduling mismatch. Coastal area farmers tell DD’s Vijayawada Kendra that at 7 in the morning they are in their fields, not in front of their TV sets. The demand for a 24-hour agriculture channel was voiced by focus groups in Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh last year before this Bharatiya Janata Party government came to power and announced a Kisan channel in the 2014-15 budget.. What is now envisaged by DD is a Hindi channel with three tiers of programming. Macro advice on 22 subjects at the national level, then both regional and agri zone-wise programming. The technological and organization challenge will be to cater to other languages and local zones when the delivery mode is satellite. In AP’s Krishna district there is a programme generating facility at Vijayawada to produce software for the terrestrial transmitter. The resigned staff here tell you that they tried to find out at Delhi’s behest if there were still terrestrial viewers left in this region but not had much luck. So the programmes they produce (a grand total of two-and-a-half hours of programming a week) are sent to Hyderabad to use on the regional satellite channel, they also put what they produce on YouTube! Ask farmers in this region if they know of a local Vijayawada transmission and they look blank. In Delhi, DD officials mention another problem: this kind of arrangement cannot respond to a farm emergency. If there is sudden pest attack you have to wait for the next satellite telecast two or three days later to get the solution. Between programming and platform delivery limitations, public broadcasting is missing its audience. This is the second of a series on India’s public broadcaster, based on data and interviews from a five state study conducted by the Media Foundation in Delhi over two years, from the Pitroda Commission report presented in January 2014, on budget documents and on interviews with senior officials in Prasar Bharati and Doordarshan.


Read more at: http://www.livemint.com/Consumer/FlkFHcxr832UZem5kmrKAN/How-public-broadcasting-is-missing-its-audience.html?utm_source=copy

Tuesday 12 August 2014

We're not sacking anybody: Prasar Bharati clarifies on AIR firings

Addressing media reports that nearly 100 casual RJs aged above the age of 35 years will be given the sack by All India Radio (AIR), Prasar Bharati has announced that no radio jockey will be fired. Rather, they will have to undergo a voice modulation test to “prove their versatility in front of the mic”.
Following reports that appeared on Saturday, August 9, 2014 in a section of the press, Jawhar Sircar, CEO, Prasar Bharati had tweeted that AIR Director General Fayyaz Sheheryar has been asked not to fire anyone and that the policy is under review.

In the statement issued, Prasar Bharati said, “As as a gesture of goodwill and recognition of the services of several casual announcers/ RJs/ anchors who have served AIR with devotion and loyalty, we have decided not to disturb any RJ aged above 35. Rather, the review panel of Prasar Bharati has decided to subject them to a skill test, entrusting the task to agencies whose neutrality and credentials are beyond doubt. Those currently on the panel of casual RJs, and also those who are aspiring to join the ranks, may take the skill test as and when it is held.”
Sheheryar maintained that AIR has “no plans whatsoever to sack anybody”. “Let all concerned rest assured that AIR has not such designs,” he added.
However, it is not clear what will be the status of the RJs who do not pass the voice modulation test. Meanwhile, a part-time RJ with AIR Rainbow also confirmed to eachange4media that reports of RJs being sacked were just rumours. The RJ further said that a circular was passed regarding the maximum age limit of RJs, but it was withdrawn.
Prasar Bharati said that the news was a “false alarm”. “Some elements want to indulge in sensation-mongering and spread canards against the management of Prasar Bharati,” it added.

Source and Credit: http://www.exchange4media.com/56945_were-not-sacking-anybody-prasar-bharati-clarifies-on-air-firings.html

Interview with Chief Executive Officer, Prasar Bharati Corporation

Deutsche Welle deal gives DD access to 120 million homes abroad: Jawhar Sircar

Interview with Chief Executive Officer, Prasar Bharati Corporation

Sunday 10 August 2014

“AIR has no plans whatsoever to sack anybody"

 Earlier today, news broke out that public radio broadcaster All India Radio (AIR) had sacked around 100 of its casual radio jockeys (RJs), above the age of 35, working with the Kolkata stations of FM Rainbow and FM Gold.

 The sacking of the RJs is being opposed by the AIR Broadcasters’ Welfare Association, Kolkata, who have appealed to the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) after failing to receive a response from the AIR authorities regarding a rethink of the decision.

 However, AIR has come out with a statement that says that the RJs are not being removed, and rather there will be a voice modulation test for RJs aged above 35. A statement issued reads, “The news item ‘All India Radio Sacks 100 RJs aged above 35’ is apparently based on a news conference held by members of the All India Radio Broadcasters Welfare Association (AIRBWAK), Kolkata. It is a false alarm. Some elements want to indulge in sensation-mongering and spread canards against the benevolent management of Prasar Bharati.” 

On the other hand, media reports state that the move to do away with casual RJs/presenters had started in December 2013 with a communiqué from the AIR director general on the age limit for RJs of the two FM channels. This was followed by another circular in March this year on the same issue. 

But Prasar Bharati now states that as a gesture of goodwill and recognition of the services of several casual announcers/RJs/anchors who had served AIR with devotion and loyalty, the review panel of Prasar Bharati has decided to subject them to a skill test, entrusting the task to agencies that are neutral. Those currently on the panel of casual RJs as well as those aspiring to join the ranks will take the skill test as and when it is held.

The statement further adds, “AIR has no plans whatsoever to sack anybody. Let all concerned rest assured that AIR has no such designs. It may be added that casual RJs/announcers whose voice quality/texture has begun to wither or those whose performance could impair the professional interests of the organisation may have to go.” It added that a casual jockey/artist of AIR is engaged temporarily on assignment basis for a certain shift or show, on fee payable as per the rate card. They are not entitled to regularisation of any form.


Read more at: http://www.televisionpost.com/printradio/all-india-radio-under-fire-for-sacking-100-rjs-in-kolkata/ | TelevisionPost.com

Thursday 7 August 2014

Sh.Jawhar Sircar to deliver William Carey Lecture

British Baptist Missionary William Carey to be remembered on his 253rd birthday



KOLKATA: British Baptist Missionary William Carey, who was the driving spirit behind the spread of modern English education in Kolkata, will once again be remembered on his 253rd birthday on August 17. The Bible Society has organised for a Carey Lecture to be delivered by Jawhar Sircar, the CEO of Prasar Bharati.
Sircar has been researching on old Kolkata for a long time and will focus his lecture on the Bengal Renaissance and the role of Carey behind it.
This will be followed by a dance drama, Dhrubojyoti Tumi directed by danseuse Alaknanda Roy. The performers are inmates of correctional homes.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/British-Baptist-Missionary-William-Carey-to-be-remembered-on-his-253rd-birthday/articleshow/39813207.cms

Wednesday 6 August 2014

When the days began and ended with radio shows

  • East Nook, the building where the studios of AIR Madras were located, from June 1938 to July 1953. The building no longer exists. Photo: The Hindu Archives
    East Nook, the building where the studios of AIR Madras were located, from June 1938 to July 1953. The building no longer exists. Photo: The Hindu Archives
  • On June 16, 1938, AIR Madras station on Marshall’s Road, Egmore, was inaugurated by C. Rajagopalachari, then Governor of Madras, Lionel Fielden, controller of broadcasting, and Sir Andrew Clow, member of communication in the Viceroy's Executive Council. Photo: The Hindu Archives
    On June 16, 1938, AIR Madras station on Marshall’s Road, Egmore, was inaugurated by C. Rajagopalachari, then Governor of Madras, Lionel Fielden, controller of broadcasting, and Sir Andrew Clow, member of communication in the Viceroy's Executive Council. Photo: The Hindu Archives
  • An audio ensemble for AIR Madras. Photo: The Hindu Archives
    An audio ensemble for AIR Madras. Photo: The Hindu Archives
Owning a radio set was a matter of pride in the early 1940s. So much, the arrival of a ‘radio potti’ called for celebration in many homes.

Until the advent of television in the 1970s, radio was the only medium of entertainment and communication for many city residents.

Many All India Radio (AIR) listeners still recall those golden days when they listened to programmes like ‘Oli Chithiram’, in which the track of an entire movie would be aired, and ‘Thenkinnam’, a late evening programme of Tamil songs.

And there were avid listeners, like 72-year-old A.K. Pattabiraman, who would walk to Independence Day Park in Nungambakkam to listen to the daily evening news bulletin.

“I was a fan of the resonating voices of Janaki and H. Ramakrishnan. In those days, the cricket commentary of Melville de Mellow, V.M. Chakrapani and Koothapiran brought the game alive,” he says.
For many, the day dawned with ‘Vande Mataram’ played on the radio at the start of the day’s programmes.

Lalitha Sudhakar (62) of Guindy says, “My love for radio started when I was hardly eight, and I would listen to almost all the programmes throughout the day. Whenever I had to travel out of the country, I would eagerly wait to return and listen to B.H. Abdul Hameed’s crystal clear Tamil on AIR or Radio Ceylon.”

‘Vanoli Anna’ Koothapiran was an unforgettable name among child listeners for over two decades.
Recalling his stint, he says, “Most programmes were broadcast live, and announcers had to be alert. Small children became radio stars with their performance in shows like ‘Siruvar Isai Arangu’ and ‘Pappa Malar’.”

Dramas were another popular segment among listeners. Vijaya Thiruvengadam, former AIR director, says: “We produced writer Kalki’s ‘Alaiosai’ into a serial, with veteran actors like V.S. Raghavan lending his voice. ‘Indru Oru Thagaval’ by Thenkatchi Ko Swaminathan and ‘Pazhagu Tamil’ were very popular in the 1990s.”

Suki Sivam, writer and orator, says, “My father Suki Subramanian was a radio drama producer. In those days, when the title music of popular serials like 'Dubash Veedu' and 'Kaapu Kati Chatram' were played on radio, people would rush home to turn on their sets.”

Tuesday 5 August 2014

Prasar Bharati signs MoU with Germany’s Public Service Broadcaster Deutsche Welle




Historic day for DD! 1st down linking MoU signed with Germans for reaching 120 million TV homes in Europe & Asia. 
MoU facilitates Distribution of DD's overseas India channel on DTH platform of Hotbird-13B satellite 

MoU facilitates projection of India’s view point to Global audience 





Prasar Bharati (PB), India’s Public Service Broadcaster today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany’s Public Service Broadcaster. The agreement between the two entities would facilitate for the first time the availability of Doordarshan programmes on a ‘Free to Air’ basic package mode, on a DTH Platform. This would entail coverage of DD through whole of Europe, Asia, North Africa and even upto Australia would be covered as zones. This would also provide DD a viable DTH distribution platform. The initiative assumes importance in view of providing a platform to project India’s view point to a global audience in a cost effective manner.



Speaking on the occasion, CEO Prasar Bharati Shri Jawhar Sircar said the MOU provided an important platform to position DD content globally. The content for the platform would be created based on the consultation with various stakeholders and the taste of the target audience. Congratulating Prasar Bharati on the occasion, Secretary Culture Shri Ravindra Singh said, MOU had given an opportunity to project India’s soft power to the world.

The MoU entails distribution of ‘India Channel’ on DTH Platform of Hotbird-13B Satellite and the reciprocal distribution of DW-TV on DD Freedish. Hotbird-13B is an extremely popular DTH platform in Europe. It has a reach of 120 million homes in the whole of Europe, Northern Africa and the whole of Middle East, having a total number of 1543 TV channels of which 1117 TV channels are Free-to-Air. 124 English channels are available on this satellite, prominent amongst which are BBC, CNN, CCTV, RT, France24, VOA TV, Euromans, Sky News, Bloomberg TV, Al Jazeera, etc. Placing DD on Hotbird DTH Platform will also give it full access to the Middle Eastern GCC Countries, where Indians work and reside in large numbers. DD will be offered in the basic package of the DTH service which does not require any individual to either subscribe to it or to pay for viewing the channel.

The function was attended by Senior officers of Prasar Bharati, I&B Ministry, Ministry of External Affairs. 

Sunday 3 August 2014

Thrilling action in the 20th Commonwealth Games continued on the 10th day

Thrilling action in the 20th Commonwealth Games continued on the 10th day of Games as well and it was yet another glorious day for Indian athletes as Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinnappa clinched Gold in Women’s Doubles in Squash, Boxers Laishram Devi, Mandeep Jhangra, Vijender Singh and Laishram Devendro Singh winning Silver medals in Boxing, Rajinder Rahelu bagging a Silver in Power lifting, Arpinder Singh in Men’s Triple Jump and Saika Khatun in Women’s Power lifting grabbing a Bronze each and Indian shuttlers P.V. Sindhu and R. M. V. Guru Sai Dutt fighting it out for Bronze medals in Women’s and Men’s Single Badminton even respectively.
On 02.08.2014, AIR broadcast breaking news every time India won a medal in Athletics, Badminton, Boxing, Power lifting and Squash. Listeners were kept constantly updated from the Badminton courts where two Indian shuttlers won Bronze medals, Paruppalli Kashyap entering the final of Men’s Singles and defending champions Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Poonappa making it to the final in women’s doubles. Indian performance in Table Tennis, Squash, Athletics, and Boxing where India got 4-Silver medals, Power-lifting and Hockey where India’s Men’s team defeated New Zealand 3-2 to reach the final were also highlighted with detailed results and analysis.
Live commentary on the Men’s and Women’s Singles semi-final matches and Women’s Doubles semi-final match of the Badminton event was broadcast by AIR. Radio commentary on the Men’s Singles and women’s Singles Bronze medal matches of the Badminton event involving Indian athletes were also broadcast on 02.08.2014. Live commentary of both the Semi-finals of the Men’s Hockey event and Final match of the Women’s Hockey were also broadcast by All India Radio.
Daily Highlights at 7.05 am had sound bites of prominent Indian performers including Silver medallist Seema Punia in Athletics, Silver medallist Table Tennis pair Achanta Sharath Kamal and Amalraj Anthony Arputharaj and Bronze medallist Boxer Pinki Rani.  World-record holder in Sprint Usain Bolt, Olympic gold medallist Boxer Nicola Adams, Indian shuttlers Guru Sai Dutt, Srikant Kidambi, Parupalli Kashyap, Table Tennis players Antony Amalraj, Achanta Sharath Kamal, Squash stars Saurav Ghoshal, Deepika Pallikal, Joshna Chinnappa, Boxers Vijender Singh, Mandeep Singh, L. Devendro Singh, Laishram Devi, and Hockey player Poonam Rani were among the prominent players featured in this highlights capsule.
Programme “Post Card from Glasgow” broadcast late night on 02.08.2014 contained interviews with an officer of Indian origin from Singapore Air force, Historical facts related to Commonwealth Games held in Edinburgh, Scotswomen who had travelled to India many times, a family from Hyderabad in Edinburgh, cultural activities in Edinburgh and a conversation with a Scottish Band group that visited India last year. E-mail messages received from listeners were also included in this broadcast.
Feedback is constantly pouring in from the listeners through e-mail. Contents of a few e-mail messages received in its airatglasgow@gmail.com account created for CWG-2014 are reproduced here:-
M.  Md. Fakre Allam
Yesterday night the way you guys describe about Games village, it was amazing. I recall my past school days. when i used to participate in interstate school meet, Thanx guys.
Through out guys i want put a question in front of all Indian,If a reporter from England is fan of Indian hockey, then why not we all. Now its time please come forward and support our Hockey team. they need support.”


Kush Kapoor

“All of you there are doing a great job...giving every insight that is there for the games....one request that please continue this good work in the ASIAN GAMES as well.”

Ajay Kumar, Hyderabad

 “ i just wanted to say best of luck to all Indian athletes & Soon They Return Back to Home Safely....”

Annand singh, Banda, U.P.

“I Salute your efforts, You Rock! 

I really enjoy your "PostCard from Glasgow" program every night. 
Your conversation with people from different nationality are amazing. 

There are millions of listeners who listening your program in India, may be they are not able to send you mail but they support Indian players. 

From those who are unable to send you mail, I'm sending behalf of them... 

So keep it up.....”


Ujjwal Goyal, Delhi

“Gud day to whole air glasgow team.
I wish greetings to whole team of india and AIR india team.
The postcard team and capsule team you both are done such a splendid job here. Basically in the postcard program apart from sports the interviews from indian origin foreign settled persons and even foreign persons are such a superb very gud as they shows such a huge love for INDIA.
Again My wishes with you all and i too just like my other listener friends want a group photo of whole AIR  GLASGOW team and wish my best wishes to INDIAN Team.”


Ankit Nain, Bagpat, U.P.

 “ thanks air team in glasgow team you read my mail in your
post card program.
bus app log uhe vaha kya haal-chal batadeya kero.......kabhi kabhi
appna bhe ki app kshe ho man to lagreha hai scotland ke tour par.
                     ram - ram and Namaste”

N R Prasad, Bangalore

“India has done great at CWG @ GLASGOW - 2014 !!

I wish them all the best to every participant at CWG, let each one them bring laurel to India....

Last time in 2010, India had won 38 Golds & finished 2nd @ CWG; Let India finish first position in this CWG....

I wish to add here that participation in good spirit is more important than winning / loosing and that is EXACTLY India has done it so far !!

Let this CWG turn out to be a

(G)reat tournament for Indians with
(L)ingering Memories
(A)wesome in winning
(S)ilver
(G)old
(O)ff-course, 
(W)ith Tricolor flying high !!”

Description: https://ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/images/cleardot.gif
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Saturday 2 August 2014

9th day at Glasgow Commonwealth Games

On the 9th day of competition of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, action in many events was in full swing and it was yet another glorious day for Indian athletes as Seema Punia clinched Silver in Women’s Discus throw, Pinki Rani a Bronze in Boxing and Achanta Sharath Kamal and Amalraj Anthony Arputharaj the Silver in Table Tennis.
On 01.08.2014, AIR was the fastest in transmitting breaking news instantly every time India won a medal in Athletics, Boxing and Table Tennis. Listeners were kept constantly updated from the Badminton courts where three Indian shuttlers reached the Semi-finals in singles and Delhi Commonwealth Games champions Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Poonappa made it to the last four in women’s doubles. Indian performance in Table Tennis where Achanta Sharath Kamal  reached the Men’s singles semi-finals, Joshna Chinnappa and Deepika Pallikal reaching the Finals of Women’s Doubles in Squash, India losing its Bronze medal match to Australia Lawn Bowls Men’s fours, the Indian Women’s Hockey team beating Scotland 2-1 to take the 5th place, Men’s 4  x 100 relay team’s disqualification in Athletics, Sahana Nagraj losing in Women’s high jump finals and four Boxers reaching the finals were highlighted with detailed results and analysis.
Listeners got a taste of Live action from the athletics arena where Women’s and Men’s 200 metres sprint events were held in the early hours of 01.08.2014 in India. Live Commentary of the Badminton Quarter-final Men’s Singles featuring R M V Guru Sai Dutt and Women’s Doubles match featuring Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa were also broadcast on the same day. Live commentary of both Semi-finals of Women’s Hockey was also broadcast by All India Radio.
Daily Highlights at 7.05 am had a bouquet of sound bites of prominent Indian performers including Gold medallist Vikas Shive Gowda in Athletics, Wrestling Gold medallists Yogeshwar Dutt and Babita Kumari, Silver medallist Geetika Jakhar and Bronze medallist Pawan Kumar and Gymnastics Bronze medallist Dipa Karmakar. Indian shuttlers P. C. Thulasi, R M V Guru Sai Dutt, Srikant Kidambi, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, India’s Badminton team coach Madhumita Bisht, Table Tennis medal hopefuls Manika Batra, Achanta Sharath Kamal, Squash stars Deepika Pallikkal, Joshna Chinnappa and Harinder Pal Sandhu, Indian medal hopes in Lawn Bowls Samit Malhotra and Kamal Kumar Shrama and Indian Hockey stars Manpreet Singh and Rupinder Pal Singh were among the prominent players who featured in this highlights capsule.
Programme “Post Card from Glasgow” broadcast late night on 01.08.2014 contained interviews with Indian badminton player R M V Guru Sai Dutt about the Athletes’ village, a chat with Pakistani Badminton players Mh. Irfan and Ms. Palwasha and people from other walks of life in Glasgow. E-mail messages received from listeners were also included in this broadcast.
Feedback is constantly pouring in from the listeners through e-mail. Contents of a few e-mail messages received in its airatglasgow@gmail.com account created for CWG-2014 are reproduced here:-
Mohammad Ziaullah:
“As- Salm alqukum,

aap ki awaz ki meethas se Hamre EID mai Char Cahn Lag gayee-- Janab aap Hamare Tarf Har Hindustani Players and AIR listener ko EID ki Mubarak Baad-- post ka from Glasgow is windows of culture exchange-- Great concept by AIR team.”
Brajesh Singh:
be the best in commonwealth ....because i like badminton n their
players ...keep it up n grab the gold. n thnks 2 air team to be
updated at glassgow “
Ankit Nain:
“i want to say that india is doing good this year, rajeev tomar who won
silver is also from baghpat(district and lockshaba), baghpat is the
lokshaba from where the prime minister ch. chran singh is elected.
lagta hai eshe bar jese sona ki barish horahi hai...   thanks for accepting my mail”
Tamal Dutta:
      “1st of all thnks for reading my msg in yesterday's program!!!!! that s why i got encouraged to send another msg.....i know u will read this one also....i want to congratulate Vikas Gowda for Ending a 56-year wait, became only the second Indian male athlete to win a track-and-field gold medal at the Commonwealth Games after d legendary Milkha Singh....Athletes like Gowda can afford themselves to train in US..but not everybody can afford...if our govt send some best athletes like Krishna Poonia / say Babita Kumari/ Yogeswar etc we can win many more medals...but all congrats to Gowda for sacrificing everything for d sake of  d country!!!!”

Vinay Gupta:

“Thank you very much for giving latest and true information from XX CWG 2014  
And special thanks for Hockey and badminton commentary & post cards from Glasgow .”

Gaurav Kumar:

“Sir mai Gaurav Kumar Rajouri Garden Delhi se. Sir aapne mere pichla mail samil kiya iske liye dhaneywad .
Sir aapki team ne jo Lawn Bowl ke bare mai jankari di jaise aap ki team ne btaya ki kayi khiladi Jharkhand se hai aur pehle kabdi aur football jaise khel khelte the is ke liye aapki team ka dhanywad . aise bat kahi aur se pata nahi lag sakti .

Sir i hope AIR will continue this effort in coming Asian Olympic.” 

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Friday 1 August 2014

8th day of competition of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games


8th day of competition of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, action in many events was in full swing and it was a glorious day for Indian athletes with Vikas Gowda,  Babita Kumari and Yogeshwar Dutt clinching Gold.
On 31.07.2014, AIR was the fastest in transmitting breaking news instantly every time India won a medal in Wrestling, Gymnastics and Athletics. Listeners were kept constantly updated from the Badminton courts where five Indian shuttlers reached the quarter finals in singles and Delhi Commonwealth Games champions Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Poonappa made it to the last eight in women’s doubles. Indian performance in Table Tennis where Achanta Sharath Kamal and Anthony Amalraj reached the semi-finals, Joshna Chinnappa and Deepika Pallikal reaching the last four in Squash, Lawn Bowls Men’s fours where India lost to England in the semi finals and the men’s Hockey team reaching the semi finals with an emphatic 5-2 win over South Africa were also highlighted with detailed results and analysis.
Daily Highlights at 7.05 am had a bouquet of sound bites of prominent Indian performers including silver medallist wrestlers Sakshi Malik, Satyavrat Kadian and Bajrang, boxers including Beijing Olympic medallist Vijender, Pinki Rani, Leishram Devi, L Devondro Singh and Mandeep Jhangra who are through to the semi finals, our women’s Hockey team’s young drag-flicker Jaspreet Kaur and ace forward Rani Ramphal. Interviews with prominent Indian shuttlers Jwala Gutta, Ashwini Ponnappa and K. Srikanth, Table Tennis medal hopefuls Achanta Sharath Kamal and Sahil Shanker Shetty, Squash stars Deepika Pallikal and Saurav Ghoshal, and India’s first woman to win a medal in Gymnastics, bronze-medallist Deepa Karmakar were featured in this highlights capsule.
Programme “Post Card from Glasgow” broadcast late night on 31.07.2014 contained interviews with three research scholars from London of Indian origin, a human interest story from Scotstoun sports centre, a chat with an Indian origin badminton player presently representing Australia, a story on lawn bowls and museums of Glasgow and a short chat with an Indian-origin taxi driver in Glasgow. E-mail messages received from listeners were also included in this broadcast.
AIR has been receiving an overwhelming response from listeners via email. Contents of a few e-mail messages received in its airatglasgow@gmail.com account created for CWG-2014 are reproduced here:-
Rameshwar Mhamane:
“I am recently listening to this programme. I like the discussions about india from people who have been staying there. Also like the idea that all Asian stay united.this inspires us.”
Ranjeet Kumar from Sirsa, Haryana:
“I am Ranjeet kumar from Desu jodha, sirsa haryana. Mujhe aap ka CWG Postcard bahut achha lagta hai. Khaskar jo aap alag-alag countary ke logo se baat karte h or Bharat kebare me unke vichar puchhate hai. Aur khaskar aapka present karne ka tarika Mujhe bahut pasand hai.”
Tamal Dutta:
 “i listen to your program almost but everyday. i like d program vry much as i come across various people in d show. but i had 1 objection not only to u people but to d media in all over India. last day when 4 indians reached d finals of wrestling AIR news/ other news like times of india gave d headlines that 4 more silver assured for India. i want u to ask u people that whether u gave d headlines like this when India reached finals of 2011 WC final/2014 20-20 WC final that India will at least get d runners up trophy???? i think u people should v told 4 more Golds r up for grab in wrestling then our wrestlers also would v got confidence & who knows may be India could v won atleast 2 golds out of 4 if not 4.....media persons should take every sports equally then only we can be superpower!!! i hope u read this message today & i hope all d Indians arise now...thnks in advance for reading my message....”

Gomesh Komawat, Sikar, Rajasthan:
“Mera name gomesh kumawat h. Or m Rajasthan sikar se hu .. M an computer engineer. Jinendra ji aapko bahut 2 dhnyawaad ki aapne mera mail saamil kiya ..Glasgow m India ka achha pradarshan chal RHA h but jaise ki kal vignesh(mass comm.) ne Jo kha use sunkr bahut achha LGA ... To m bhi yhi khna chahta hu england ek small country hote hue bhi 1st position pr chal RHA h .. To India itna piche kyu h ... To plz plz meri request h ki is message KO government tak phuchayein jaaye .. Taaki India technical or games m improvement kr skein... Or aapka ye program sunkr bahut accha LGA .. Meri aapse ek request or h ki m aapki saari team ki ek photo Facebook pe ho jaaye to bahut achha Lgega ... Meri or se Krishna poonia KO best wishes ki wo India k liye gold jeete ... Saare jahan se achha hindostan h hamara ....thnks a lot sir”
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