Celebrating 3 Years of PBNS & 1 Year of PBNS Daily magazine

It has been 3 years since PBNS operations began with a modest setup and 200 followers of @PBNS_India twitter handle. The task of revamping Prasar Bharati’s digital presence began from an abandoned cell at ITO and rudimentary infrastructure. After quickly assessing the status of Public Broadcaster’s setup and the margin that needed to be covered in terms of digital activity, status of digital assets, social media presence, and the processes that were being followed by various departments and individuals, fresh processes and changed work patterns got introduced. Soon, these brought very positive results in terms of record digital growth, recognition by ministries, important leaders, influencers, journalists, media houses and many other reputed firms and individuals.

This journey though has not been easy. There have been difficult times and unlimited memories not only of pain but also of the resilient human spirit. And as we usher into the next phase, I acknowledge and appreciate the PBNS colleagues for their accomplishments and achievements as a team so far, applauding especially the collective effort and achievement of having published the ‘PBNS Daily Magazine’ every day in last one year without fail. And this is not the main achievement.True mark of the success of this endeavour lies in the fact that this magazine is liked by a dedicated lot of readers, especially on PBNS telegram platform, and most of them seem to be civil service aspirants. This proves the mettle of the content which is world class in terms of language, coverage, and analysis. Further, the graphics work of the magazine is extraordinarily consistent.

We had initially launched the magazine to provide a fresh stream of accurate and positive stories amidst COVID outbreak. I look back and see that we have been one great unit which was functioning even when most other offices had come to a standstill due to the pandemic. Rather, we took the initiative to burst fake news and bring to light the great efforts put in by our government for the people of this Nation. We had our difficult moments too when Covid impacted us directly but we stood as a team, supporting each other during the hardship. We were also the firsts to cover the stories on the Oxygen Express and create prompt video stories on the various advisories on COVID-19.

We rightly proved that we are a small team, but with capabilities to move mountains. “Today An Eye On” has become a feature sort by many media houses to start their day. We have proved our worth as the solution providers even within our meagre resources. It was our initiative that we provided a News Data Management System, NDMS, for the Organization and lead to huge savings for Prasar Bharati by rationalising agency subscriptions. We designed and built the Consolidated Corporate Website and the Consolidated & monetized News Website with our internal resources leading to further savings for the Organization. The Home Channel of DD Free Dish is also managed and monitored entirely by PBNS 24×7.

We geared up the AIR & DD network by running over 300 training sessions ensuring each station had the required skillset for Digital Operations. Not only this, PBNS has been achieving much more that set revenue targets year after year.

I take this pleasure to thank one and all for you for the support and dedication and also for the extra hours that you worked to achieve the goal and meet our deadlines. I call upon each one of you to join hands in further strengthening our bond and rising to meet the challenges that the year has in store for us. I very well know we together can achieve the impossible.

With unrelenting faith and commitment towards building the right prospective for our Motherland, I call upon you to give your best in the time to come.

Comeback of Regional Languages in Digital World

Language is the most potent and important invention of ingenious mankind. Languages are the tool to code the stories of human endeavours evolving over edges. The diversity of languages around the globe beautifully signify the versatility, uniqueness and robustness of human societies. India is blessed with a heritage which nurtures diversity and its languages. As smartphones penetrate their way into even the remotest areas across the globe, a new market space is being created for different sectors, especially tech-based firms. Not only are the Hyperlocal trends and cultures being brought to the fore but regional populace is being observed and listened to like never before. Thus, regional relativity and digital connectivity together have made the need of running services multilingual, almost immediate.

Global-Tech and electronic giants, media firms, publishing houses, etc. are interested in Indian markets because of the untapped potential here and wide range of target group and consumer base. With more and more exposure to globalisation, digital gadgets, online buying and selling, social networking and strengthening of the digital payments ecosystem, Indian citizenry is waiting for seamless services and flexibility. The readiness is bringing up new multilingual versions of services across almost all sectors giving Indian culture and languages a special priority and global recognition. This will also result in more and more startups in India, more employment, better educational landscape, more networking, branding and advertisement, enhanced digital banking and mobile penetration, better digital literacy, all contributing eventually in boosting India’s economy exponentially.

The Linguistic Divide is bigger than the Digital Divide but the digital infrastructure is responsible for bridging the gap to create a bigger impact. India is a country with around 425 different languages and dialects. India also has a huge base of internet subscribers and the lack of content in local languages means that users’ experience is highly impacted. Aligning with this, recently Google has announced the addition of eight Indian languages including Sanskrit to Google Translate, with the view to increase the number of regional languages supported by its online multilingual translation service. Besides Sanskrit, the other Indian languages in the latest iteration of Google Translate are Assamese, Bhojpuri, Dogri, Konkani, Maithili, and Meiteilon (Manipuri), Mizo and Sanskrit. This update is part of a bigger plan wherein Google is further expected to add 24 Indian languages to Google Translate, which now supports a total of 133 languages used around the globe. In terms of the technology, these are the first languages that have been added using the zero-shot machine translation, where a machine learning model only sees monolingual text, meaning it learns to translate it into another language without ever seeing an example. Although Google says that this technology is not perfect but the company is working towards improving it. Though this update will only be supported in the text translation feature for now, Google may also work on rolling out voice to text, camera mode, and other features too.

Crises due to Pandemic, Price Rise & Payments

As if Struggle of twin defecits of BOP and budget were not challenging enough for democratic governments, that triple whammy of post-pandemic systemic stress, price inflation and pay more on debts scenarios are here. Countries of South Asia seem to be exceptionally badly affected by these at the moment,except for India, whose deeply democratic values are not only giving it strength to manage the crises reasonably well at home, but also lend a helping hand to those in need of desperate help.

Economies like Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka lie largely dependent on tourism and remittances that dried up due to COVID-19 outbreak. And just when things were beginning to ease up, the Ukraine-Russia crisis caused a global spike in oil and commodity prices. This has caused such economies to face multiple simultaneous problems that include accelerating inflation, widening current account and budget deficits, fast depleting foreign exchange reserves making the nations unable to pay oil bills, and eventually protests and social unrest.

Political turmoil in Pakistan pales in front of looming economic crisis, as food prices are hitting record highs, the value of Pakistan rupee is tumbling uncontrollably, double-digit inflation, low foreign currency reserves and dangers of meeting a serious balance of payment (BoP) crisis. Nepal is also showing classic symptoms of brewing economic crisis as its Forex reserves plunged 18% since July 2021, enough to last for just six months of imports. Inflation is hitting a record high in 67 months due to crop loss due to last floods and war-induced inflation.

Afghanistan has gotten into the hold of Taliban in August last year, who have not shown any intent of changing their ideological bearing on gender and minority issues. Similarly, the iron hold of the Myanmar generals on the nation does not seem to be getting loose anytime soon. The history of Burma weighs heavily on its present despite an educated young populace of digital age.

Sri Lanka stands broke. So much so that Mahinda Rajapaksa, who has long been seen by a large section of the majority Sinhalese as a national Hero who defeated the Liberation Tigers, had to vacate his Colombo Residence, for safety from protesters. The island nation is in turmoil amidst crippling inflation due to the worst economic crisis the country has ever seen since it gained independence in 1948.

Amid such a fiery turmoil in the region, India is trying to help neighbours with resources and aids. It has been promoting a futuristic and planning-oriented economic approach which focuses on nation-building through development, self-reliance in all sectors, modern and innovative economic solutions, digital connectivity, and security solutions.

Multi-Disciplinary Learning Framework is Here

Soft skills and personality have started playing much bigger role in life than one’s academic performances. The rate at which the world order and sciences are changing, it is observed that many career trajectories in the coming years would require employees to have wide knowledge in diverse fields and subjects. Various studies do suggest that exposure to arts and social sciences results in enhanced creativity, improved critical thinking, higher social and moral awareness, problem-solving, social and circumstantial adaptability, better teamwork and communication skills among students.

India has come up with The National Policy on Education (NEP), which promises many solutions to the rising complexities of education, works and life. A broad-based, multi-disciplinary and holistic under-graduation is one such solution, as it includes flexible curriculum, creative combinations of subjects, integration of vocational education and multiple entry and exit points with appropriate certification. NEP envisages multi-disciplinarity in higher education with an aim to produce well-rounded individuals from universities, helping realize the full potential of India’s demographic dividend. Such qualities are in high demand in the 21st-century economy where no sector of the economy works in a silo.

The NEP aims at de-compartmentalize Indian education and breaking the rigid and artificial barriers between professional vs liberal education. It rightly points out that even in ancient times, good education was described as the knowledge of the 64 kalas or arts. This included knowledge in scientific fields like chemistry and mathematics, vocational fields such as carpentry and clothes-making, professional fields such as medicine and engineering, as well as soft skills such as communication, debate and discussion. Hence, students from humanities’ background are needed to be equipped with the latest technological know-how to suit to the needs and produce greater and holistic results.

Several institutions like IIT Bombay and others have already introduced an interdisciplinary undergraduate course that includes liberal arts, science and engineering in one programme. Others have also started exploring the possibilities of offering multidisciplinary courses. Under multi-disciplinary system, UG education can be of 3 or 4 years with multiple exit options and appropriate certification is provided within this period. For example, a certificate after 1 year, advanced diploma after 2 years, bachelor’s degree after 3 years and bachelor’s with research after 4 years. An Academic Bank of Credit is in the process for digitally storing academic credits earned from different HEIs, so that these can be transferred and counted towards final degree earned. The NEP also envisions setting up of Model public Universities for holistic and multidisciplinary education at par with IITs and IIMs, called MERUs (Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities) which aims to attain the highest global standards in quality education. Students being able to use learnings in leading a well balanced life can be achieved by such holistic approach towards studies in youth years. Naturally, this is bound to impart the abilities and skills of lifelong learning, a must have for the VUCA world!

Committed to Global Peace

India has a long and deep tradition of contributing to UN peacekeeping. Over 200,000 Indians have served in 49 of the 71 UN peacekeeping missions established around the world since 1948. More than 90,000 Indian Army soldiers have served in various parts as a part of these imperative missions globally. Extending support to UN peacekeeping endeavors, the Indian Army, which is the world’s third-largest troop contributor to peacekeeping operations, has contributed outstanding force commanders, elite military contingents, impartial observers, and dedicated staff officers. Continuing the role of extending support at a time of exigency to the friendly nations, the Indian Army in February this year, dispatched an infantry battalion as a part of the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) in the oil-rich Abyei region of Africa, which sits between northern and southern Sudan. The UNISFA is authorized to protect civilians and humanitarian workers in the region.

India has also been a regular contributor of women peacekeepers on UN missions. In 2007, India became the first country to deploy an all-women contingent to a UN peacekeeping mission and from 2007 to 2016, there were nine rotations of all-female police units from India, whose main responsibilities were to provide 24-hour guard duty, public order management, conducting night patrols and helping to build the capacity of local security institutions. India has further contributed to the UN mission by providing doctors for medical care of the local population in missions around the world. Currently, there are more than 6,700 troops and police from India who have been deployed to UN peacekeeping missions, the vast majority of them are in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in South Sudan.

The main duty of many peacekeepers includes protecting civilians who are under physical threat by patrolling in high-risk areas and by escorting humanitarian convoys that bring assistance to those most in need. In this manner, Indian peacekeepers ensure that the much-needed help reaches local populations safely. The contingent is also well known for its frequent mobile veterinary clinics in various parts of Upper Nile State. Thousands of cows, goats, donkeys, sheep, and other animals, including the occasional dog, have been given precious veterinary services rarely available to cattle owners in the country. The multifaceted work by Indian engineering troops includes rehabilitating arterial roads in the region, including the 75-kilometer-long route from Malakal to Abwong via Balliet in South Sudan.

Time and again, India has contributed to the peacekeeping efforts of the United Nations, not for any strategic gain, but in the service of an ideal. The daunting tasks that include protecting civilians, undertaking a variety of engineering assignments, and offering health services, are some of the capabilities of 1,160 Indian peacekeepers who were recently decorated with UN medals for their exceptional service in South Sudan. Besides, India has deployed its peacekeeping battalion in countries like Cambodia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Lebanon, Ethiopia-Eritrea, Congo, Sudan and Golan Heights. Further, Observers and staff personnel have made their contributions to the global peace efforts in Central America, Iran, Yemen, Iraq, Kuwait, Liberia, Lebanon, Mozambique, Congo, Ethiopia-Eritrea, Sudan and Golan Heights.