Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Singh Thakur launched PB-SHABD (Prasar Bharati – Shared audio-visuals for Broadcast Dissemination), a news-sharing service from Prasar Bharati in New Delhi. He also launched revamped websites of Akashvani News and DD News and updated News on the Air mobile app.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Thakur said that the SHABD service is being offered free of cost for the first year as an introductory offer and will provide news stories in all major Indian languages across fifty categories. He said, today was a historic day for the information and broadcasting sector of the country. Mr Thakur said that over the years, Prasar Bharti has cultivated an elaborate network of news gathering and news delivery to every corner of the country in every regional language. The Minister said that All India Radio has continued to remain immensely relevant in the age of extensive mobile connectivity and is still a source of accurate information about government schemes and policies.

The Minister said, News on AIR app will have many new features like Personalized news feeds, push notifications for breaking news, multimedia content integration, live streaming for real-time coverage, location-based news delivery and powerful search functionality.

Information and Broadcasting Secretary Sanjay Jaju said that newspapers and news networks are always dependent on multiple feeds and that Prasar Bharati SHABD will be a win-win for everyone. He expressed confidence that SHABD, the revamped websites and App will be beneficial in disseminating information to news organisations and people.

On the occasion, CEO, Prasar Bharti, Gaurav Dwivedi said that Prasar Bharti will make an outreach to media organisations and share audio, video, photo and text-based information gathered by its network.