Prasar Bharati receives 7.4% increase in Budget

Despite being the host broadcaster for the upcoming Commonwealth Games, Prasar Bharati has received only 7.4 per cent increase in its grants-in-aid amount, while the overall increase in the budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is a paltry 1.4 per cent.

In the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the ministry received an overall allocation of Rs 2,604.18 crore for 2010-11, whereas its budgetary allocation for 2009-10 was Rs 2,568 crore, a paltry 1.4 per cent increase in total allocation.

Prasar Bharati, which is the major contributor to the ministry's income, has received only 7.4 per cent increase in its grants-in-aid amount. While last year it had received Rs 1,635.37 crore, for 2010-11 it has received Rs 1,757.14 crore as grants-in-aid.

The loan amount provided to the public broadcaster for financing its capital expenditure is Rs 227.48 crore, which is less than Rs 355.84 crore, which it had received last year.

At the same time though, allocations for advertising and visual publicity and buildings and machinery heads have witnessed a healthy increase.

Last year, the ministry had received Rs 91.75 crore under the advertising and visual publicity head, while for 2010-11 it has received Rs 106.78 crore, an increase of 16.3 per cent over the previous year.

Similarly for buildings and machinery, Rs 41.12 crore had been allocated in the previous budget, while this time this head has received Rs 62.56 crore, an increase of 52.1 per cent over last year.