NEW DELHI: Kisan TV, which was earlier slated to launch on Baisakhi Day (14 April), has been postponed to May. This is not the first time that the launch date of the 24-hour channel, devoted to farmers and rural India, has been pushed forward. The channel, which will be run by Doordarshan, was initially slated for launch in Makar Sankarti Day on 14 January.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley said that the delay had been caused as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not in the country, though DD sources had earlier informed Indiantelevision.com that the channel may be launched on 21 April.

Jaitley said the preparations for the launch of the channel were at an advanced stage and that the trial runs were on.

A budget of Rs 100 crore had been set aside in July last year in the Budget but a sum of Rs 90 crore had been allocated for this in 2015-16.

Jaitley was speaking after inaugurating Delhi’s Vividh Bharati channel of All India Radio (AIR) on FM Mode.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, which also examines issues linked to I&B Ministry said in a recent report that emphasis should be laid on local dialect on regional basis so that farmers all across the country are able to access the channel in their local language/dialect, thereby getting benefited by this laudable initiative of the Government.