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The first high definition public TV service was started by the BBC in 1936, and resumed in 1946 after over six years’ interruption caused by World War II (1939-45). But India did not begin till September 15, 1959 and then too with a small studio rigged up on the 5th floor of Akashvani Bhavan. The service, named ‘`Doordarshan’ in Hindi, was inaugurated by Dr.Rajendra Prasad then the president of India.
It must be recalled here that the delay in starting TV in India was because the general thinking of a succession of Finance Ministers was that television was only a status symbol, with very limited utility, and therefore not deserving any special priority in allocation of money needed by a poor country for other more pressing needs,especially of the vast majority in villages.
A dent in this approach was made when New Delhi hosted the General Conference of UNESCO in 1956 where one of the important decisions of that world body was to make a grant of $20,000 to India to set up a pilot project to study the use of TV as a medium of education, rural uplift and community development. The United States Government Provided some essential equipment, and Philips who had a demonstrated close- circuit television at the Industrial Fair in Delhi in 1955 sold the small transmitter at a nominal cost. This helped to clear the initial material and psychological hurdles which had earlier stood in the way of TV’s arrival.
In October 1961, TV took another step forward by launching an Educational Project in co-operation with the Ford Foundation of America and the Directorate of Education, Delhi. 20 lessons each week were broadcast in the morning transmission and repeated in the afternoon. The subjects covered included Chemistry, Physics, Hindi, English, Geography and Social Studies.
For this purpose 250 sets were installed in Delhi schools, and Dr Paul Neurath, well-known social scientist, was invited to make an assessment and measure the impact of the scheme. His findings published later established that TV had proved itself to be a very useful tool for spreading education.
Regular Programmes
The Experimental Service was put on a regular basis in 1961 with P.V. Krishnamurthy as its first Director and later its first Director General when TV became a separate service in 1976. From April 1, 1965 the frequency of the broadcasts was increased to four times a week ,and from August 15, 1965,it was made a daily service of one hour’s duration. At the beginning of the seventies the stage was set for a fairly rapid development of Doordarshan.
Krishi Darshan
Krishi Darshan for rural viewers was inaugurated on January 26, 1967, by the prime Minister, Mrs Indira Gandhi. It was telecast on Wednesdays and Fridays for 20 minutes each day ,and served 80 village (around Delhi) provided with community sets. This pilot project was initiated by the Department of Atomic Energy, in collaboration with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, All India Radio, the Indian Agricultural Research Institute and the Delhi Administration. From July 15, 1970 the duration was increased to 30 minutes, and the programme broadcast on Mondays also.
Planned Expansion
The Bombay TV Centre, with its studios and transmitter located at the old radio transmitter site at Worli, started on October 2, 1972, initially with 2 hours and 15 min daily (7.15 to 9.30 p.m ) which was increased by 15 min from January 14, 1973, and to three hours daily on week days (3 hours 45 min on Saturdays and Sundays ) from April 1, 1973 .A two –hour morning programme was introduced from June 1, 1974 . Of all the Doordarshan centres, Bombay has the most acute language problem, having to cater to a cosmopolitan and varied audience in Hindi, English, Urdu, Marathi, and Gujarati. The rural programmes were also relayed by the Poona Centre when it started functioning from February 2,1973.
After Bombay, the next TV centre to come up was Srinagar which started an experimental service from the Republic Day, January 26, 1973 for one hour (4.30 to 5.30 p.m.) on alternate days, and from 3 to 5.30 p.m. on Sundays. From July 8, the same year, it was made a regular daily two hour service from 7.30 to 9.30 p.m. Within five days (i.e. from July 13 ) it became four hours every day (6.30 to 10.30 p.m.) with an additional special morning transmission (the first Centre to have this) from 11.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. This very rapid escalation in transmission hours was undertaken to counter the propaganda by Pakistan Television which was received very clearly in the valley, and naturally attracted much attention.
Strategic considerations also led to high priority being given to the setting up of our fourth TV centre at Amritsar on September 29, 1973, beginning with a three hour daily service in Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu and English.
Amritsar’s main attraction for people across the international border was the Hindi feature films which were immensely popular , and were sometimes characterised in the Pakistan Press as a kind of cultural invasion. On several occasions when especially good films were to be shown from Amritsar, thousands of viewers were known to have flocked to Lahore all the way from Karachi and other places to be able to enjoy the telecast from Amritsar .
East and South:
The TV Centre at Calcutta went into operation on August 8, 1975 with a three hour daily programme in Bengali, English and Hindi, with one news bulletin of 10 minutes in each language .The TV Centre at Madras . Madras was inaugurated a week later i.e. on August 15, 1975, with a daily two hour service from 7 to 9 p.m. in Tamil and English . 60 to 80% of the output was of an educative nature; like programmes for rural areas , industrial workers and the youth. The seventh TV Centre ,that at Lucknow , was inaugurated on November 27, 1975 with two hours daily programme on week days, and four hours on Sundays .
Television was separated from AIR on April 1, 1976. The new TV set-up was named Doordarshan with this, television expanded. The four metro centers--Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai-have been functioning from the mid-1970s.
National programmes were introduced in 1982 and from then onwards, there has been steady progress with more and more transmitters and programme production centers established throughout the country.
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