Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore inaugurates BES EXPO 2017

Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore has said that Digital Technology Platform acted as a equalizer ensuring level playing field and providing equal opportunities for all irrespective of age, region and economic background.Digital Technology apart from providing better services also ensured transparency that enabled plugging of leakages at every levels so that the intended benefits trickle down to every citizen. The Minister stated this, today, at the inaugural ceremony of the 23^rdInternational Conference & Exhibition on Terrestrial and Satellite Broadcasting with the theme Hybrid Technologies in Broadcasting- BES EXPO 2017. Shri Subash Chandra, Member of Parliament and Shri R S Sharma, Chairman Telecom Regulatory Authority of India was also present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Col. Rathore said that while Digital Technology offered immense opportunities to reach out to people, it also posed many challenges with regards to content regulation, illegal broadcasts that demanded innovative solutions to address the concerns. The Over the Top (OTT) applications has democratized the reach of the content providing a wide range of services especially to young people with smart gadgets. The OTT applications were a concern for regulatory authority as they were not governed by any law. Adding further, the Minister said that the Government was committed to Digitization and the latest Budget had included Digital Economy as one of the key themes that had allotted Rs 10,000 crores for the Digital India program launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister.

The Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore along with the other dignitaries felicitated the winners of the awards constituted by Broadcast Engineering Society in various categories such as broadcasting, engineering, training and innovation. The life time achievement award was conferred to Shri BB Srivastava for his outstanding contributions to the FM industry.

CP/GV