Move over Krishi Darshan: Now Kisan TV to entertain farmers

New Delhi, March 15 (IANS) Move over Krishi Darshan! Nearly 50 years after one of the longest-running programmes on public broadcaster Doordarshan, the government will start beaming a 24/7 dedicated channel for farmers from April 14 that coincides with Baisakhi or the harvest festival.

"Practical, informative, interactive, entertaining and fun-to-watch! This is the agenda we have set for Kisan TV, which will run as an independent channel," a senior official told IANS, asking not to be quoted due to the high-profile that the launch has acquired in the government.

"We are already doing the tests since Jan 30. We are planning a soft launch on March 23 and the final launch will happen on April 14," the official said, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself may inaugurate it as it is among his pet projects.

Initially, the channel will be in Hindi. However, it is learnt that depending on the importance of a particular programme (like a programme on crop varieties), it will be dubbed or sub-titled for different regions of India.

Among the various features of the channel, it will showcase success stories of farmers for others to emulate, demonstrate how technology can be deployed for better yields and the marketability of produce, host quiz shows and invite experts for interactive sessions, officials said.

"It will also have some new components, like a ticker from the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange, daily mandi bhav (market rates for commodities) and weather updates. All this will be given a lot of prominence and importance," the official said.

"It will also cater to other needs of the farming community by informing it about new agriculture practices, new technologies, various government schemes, credit availability, organic farming and the ill effects of unbalanced fertiliser use," the official said.

"If you have an image of Krishi Darshan to perceive what the new channel will be like, I'm sure you're going be surprised. We will also have cookery shows, daily soaps, fiction serials, song-based programmes and game shows - a complete channel for our kisans," the official added.

"As a result, Krishi Darshan, which will continue, will see some better programming," he said, referring to the programme that was launched on Dordarshan in 1967 on Jan 26 - India's Republic Day - and has been one of the longest running offerings from the public service broadcaster.

The government has also provided budgetary support of Rs.25 crore in 2014-15, as per the revised estimates and another Rs.45 crore for the next fiscal.

"Kisan TV, dedicated to the interests of the agriculture and allied sector will be launched in the current year. It will disseminate real-time information to farmers on new farming techniques, water conservation, organic farming," Finance Minisrer Arun Jaitley had said last year.

(Aparajita Gupta can be reached at aparajita.g@ians.in )