MYSURU: With the state assembly election round the corner, the state Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department (RDPR) all set to launch a new Kannada information channel exclusively dedicated to promote various government schemes and welfare programmes. This channel will have its uplink and down link centers in the Mysuru city beside state of the art studio and editorial offices. The proposal has been sent to the state Finance Department (FD) for the final approval.According to the senior officials who are familiar with the developments, Abdul Nazir Sab State Institute of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (ANSSIRD &PR) of the city has been identified as the nodal agency to run this proposed channel which is the brain child of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj minister H K Patil.Even though H K Patil was not available for comments, sources in the RDPR have confirmed that department has already finalised the draft proposal. "ANSSIRD & PR will host the new channel. As per the rule, no government can have its own channel. So, RDPR in its proposal forwarded to Finance Department has sought permission to tie up with any of the private agencies,' explained an officer."The proposed channel expected to come up before December this year keeping in mind next year's state assembly election. As infrastructure is readily available in ANSSIRD & PR, it is not a difficult task," he said.Programmes: speaking to this newspaper, a senior officer from the RDPR informed that as per the proposal, this channel will be developed in line with Loksabha and Rajya Sabha TV channels. "One of the concerns of the state government is that most of its projects, welfare schemes lack publicity. This channel will be dedicated to take all the information related to new government schemes, initiatives, projects to the living room of the general public," explained a senior officer.Programmes: according to the sources, initially RDPR is planning to utilise the STCOM center at ANSSIRD & PR to produce programmes. This center has been set up by the state government with technical assistance and support from ISRO. "Through this STCOM center, ANSSIRD & PR is producing programmes for various stake holders. Now RDPR wants to expand the reach of these programmes and reach out every house hold in the state through cable and Direct To Home (DTH)," informed a senior officer.

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