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Renowned physicist and Director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) Ajit Kumar Mohanty has been appointed as the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and the secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy. Mohanty succeeds K N Vyas to the posts that oversee India's nuclear programme and forays into harnessing atomic power for civilian needs. "The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Dr Ajit Kumar Mohanty, Director, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, as Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy and Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission tor a tenure up to the age of 66 years i.e. till 10.10.2025 or until further orders, whichever is earlier," said a government order issued late on Saturday. Mohanty was appointed as the BARC director in March 2019. Born in Odisha in 1959, Mohanty completed his graduation in 1979 with Honours in Physics from the MPC College in Baripada and post-graduation from Cuttack's Ravenshaw College. In 1983, he joined the Nuclear
Television consumption by Indians increased nine per cent to 999 billion weekly viewing minutes on the back of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, rating agency BARC said on Monday. The average time spent by every viewer increased to 4 hours and 2 minutes a day in 2020 from 3 hours 42 minutes in 2019, the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) said attributing the rise in viewership to the lockdowns where people were forced to be indoors for an extended period. The general entertainment channels (GEC), the biggest category of TV viewing, gained nine per cent by viewing minutes, movie watching was up 10 per cent, kids reported a 27 per cent increase, while music (-11 per cent) and sports (-35 per cent) showed a decline. News, where BARC's own record came in for a lot of scrutiny with the arrest of its former chief executive Partho Dasgupta leading to a stopping of the rating publishing, saw a 27 per cent increase, it said. BARC CEO Sunil Lulla said the peak of TV viewing was in March
A court here on Wednesday remanded Partho Dasgupta, a former CEO of rating agency BARC who has been arrested in the Television Rating Points (TRP) scam, in 14 days' judicial custody. Dasgupta, who was produced before the court after his police custody ended, also filed a bail application. His lawyer Kamlesh Ghumre argued that Dasgupta was CEO of the Broadcast Audience Research Council but there was a board of directors and a disciplinary committee above him. He was not the "whole and sole of the BARC," the lawyer said, adding that he could not have manipulated the rating system. The court will hear the bail plea on January 1. Mumbai police have alleged that Dasgupta misused his official position and manipulated the TRP of certain TV channels. TRP was rigged by bribing some of the sample households from where viewership data is collected to tune into particular channels, as per the police case.
Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh said those involved in the racket used to bribe people and ask them to keep some channels switched on even when they weren't watching