Birth of Gyanvani channel for IGNOU: MOU with AIR Resources

‪@wdfindiaDelhi‬
Indira Gandhi National Open University known as IGNOU, a Central University located at, New Delhi, India is the largest open university in the world with 4 million students. It had got approval from Govt. of India for establishing an education channel in the country which involved setting up of 40 nos. of 10 kW FM stations in various places in the country. It was an impossible task for IGNOU to acquire land, construct building, erect towers, set up transmission facility, recruit staff, train manpower and deploy them in a reasonable time frame. They approached Prasar Bharati for help. No one was willing to even touch the project. AIR Resources, headed by Dr. H. O. Srivastava, accepted the challenge and signed a MOU. The terms were to provide turnkey solution to establish the 40 nos. of transmitters in All India Premises at various locations and then operate and maintain for a minimum period of 10 years. This involved consultancy fee (Rs. 35 lakh per transmitter), lease of tower (Rs. 13.5 lakh per annum per tower), land & building charges, setting up of transmitter (actual cost), operation and maintenance (Rs. 13 lakh per annum per station). The MOU with a projected profit of Rs. 128 crores was signed on 2nd August 2001. Prasar Bharati agreed to share the existing infrastructure of All India Radio (AIR), specifically the mast, antenna system, feeder line, and office space in the transmitting centre. Existing studio with a dedicated transmitter link, where available were also offered.
After signing the MOU, AIR Resources established Allahabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Coimbatore, Lucknow and Vishakhapatnam stations in the first two years which extended to 37 stations later. Each GV Station has a range of about 60 km and covers an entire city/town including the adjoining rural areas. The channel enhances and supplements the teaching-learning process. Gyan Vani serves as an ideal medium for niche audience addressing the local educational, developmental and socio-cultural requirements of the people. Since Gyan Vani was able to share and leverage AIR’s existing infrastructure, the radio station was online sooner and at a lower cost than would have otherwise been possible. Perhaps this was the first such wide area broadcast educational channel in the world.