In accordance with the law, public broadcaster Prasar Bharti has decided to stop referring to its radio service as “All India Radio” and replace it with “Akashvani.”
An internal order issued by Akashvani Director General Vasudha Gupta on Wednesday seeks “compliance with immediate effect” to the statutory provision which had replaced the name of AIR (All India Radio) to Akashvani.
“This is a very old decision of the government which was not operationalised earlier. We are now operationalising it,” Gaurav Dwivedi, Chief Executive Officer, Prasar Bharati said.
According to the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act, 1990, ‘Akashvani’ refers to the offices, stations, and other establishments, under whatever name they may be known, that, immediately prior to the designated day, were a part of or were under the Director-General, All India Radio of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
The Prasar Bharati Act came into force on November 15, 1997.
“The aforesaid statutory provision which has replaced the name AIR to the ‘Akashvani’ may be brought to the notice of all so that names and titles get in tune with the provisions of the Prasar Bharati Act of 1990 passed by the Parliament,” the internal order said.
Famous poet Rabindranath Tagore referred to All India Radio as “Akashvani” in a poem he had written for the launch of the Calcutta shortwave service in 1939.
According to the Prasar Bharati website, Akashvani Mysore, a private radio station, was founded on September 10, 1935.
Akashvani’s home service, which covers 92% of the country’s area and 99.19% of the population, consists of 470 broadcasting centres dispersed throughout the nation and broadcasts in 23 languages and 179 dialects.