WCD ministry to have its own TV channel

The Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) could soon have its own television channel. The ministry is in the process of acquiring equipment for the channel, and if the process goes well, the channel could go live by February or March, DH has learnt.

If it launches, the WCD’s channel will be the second such after the education ministry’s channels for students.

Officials said that the Gujarat government also runs a similar channel, and the WCD ministry’s programmes will be similar to those.

"The Gujarat government runs a bouquet of 16 channels known as Vande Gujarat, which telecasts programmes relating to health, skill development, women and child development and rural development,” an official involved in the matter said.

"The WCD ministry has now decided to make this a pan-India programme.”

Nutritional programmes, pregnancy care, information about the government’s WCD programmes, early childhood education and programmes on family planning will be available on the channel.

The channel will be available on DTH platforms across TV screens as well as on social media platforms, officials involved in the process said.

Apart from the Doordarshan viewers, subscribers of dish television, social media users, as well as subscribers of Jio mobile will also be able to access the channels, officials said.

A technical hurdle officials said that they are facing currently is with the shortage of semiconductors. “The plans for a channel faced delays earlier due to the Covid pandemic,” a WCD ministry official said.

While talks for the channel are going on, there is also a probability that the ministry acquires an hour or two to transmit its programmes in channels that are already available currently.

Currently, among central government ministries, the ministry of education has 12 DTH channels, named Swayam Prabha, telecasting round-the-clock educational programmes through the GSAT-15 satellite.