About TRAI

• The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was established in 1997 by an Act of Parliament, called the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997, to regulate telecom services, including fixation/revision of tariffs for telecom services which were earlier vested in the Central Government.
• TRAI’s mission is to create and nurture conditions for growth of telecommunications in the country in a manner and at a pace which will enable India to play a leading role in emerging global information society.
• One of the main objectives of TRAI is to provide a fair and transparent policy environment which promotes a level playing field and facilitates fair competition.
• The TRAI Act was amended by an ordinance in 2000, establishing a Telecommunications Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) to take over the adjudicatory and disputes functions from TRAI. 
  • TDSAT was set up to adjudicate any dispute between a licensor and a licensee, between two or more service providers, between a service provider and a group of consumers, and to hear and dispose of appeals against any direction, decision or order of TRAI.

Why in News?

• Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released recommendations on ‘Inputs for formulation of National Broadcasting Policy-2024’.
• Last year, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting requested TRAI to provide its considered inputs under Section 11 of the TRAI Act, 1997 for formulation of National Broadcasting Policy.
• The Authority has recommended the following recommendations for the National Broadcasting Policy-2024.

Vision

• To foster a competitive, affordable and ubiquitous ecosystem for sustained growth of the broadcasting sector, catering to the diverse needs of consumers that facilitates quality content creation, promotes democratic values and cultural diversity, enables inclusivity and literacy, attracts investments, safeguards intellectual property, develops resilient indigenous infrastructure, adopts emerging technologies, generates employment and drives socio-economic development through innovation and collaboration for strengthening India’s soft image and positioning ‘Brand India’ globally.

Mission

• In pursuit of establishing India a global leader in the broadcasting sector, this policy intends to target broad roadmap for 10 years with special focus on the next 5 years. 
• The National Broadcasting Policy-2024, envisages to achieve the following:

Propelling Growth

• Establishing a robust broadcasting ecosystem by enabling growth-oriented policies and regulations through data-driven governance.
• Supporting creation of a resilient, adaptive and tech-agile infrastructure fostering R&D, technology innovation and indigenous manufacturing.
• Facilitating level-playing field and healthy competition; promoting ease of doing business and stimulating economic growth by enabling the reach of broadcasting services to all, positioning India as an ‘Uplinking Hub’ for television channels, attracting investments, generating employment opportunities and promoting skill development. 

 Promoting Content 

• Supporting quality content production and distribution for television, radio and OTT broadcasting services, encouraging proliferation of Indian content, both locally and globally, by harnessing the power of emerging broadcasting technologies and making India a ‘Global Content Hub’. 
• Establishing India as a preferred destination for content creation.
• Enabling quality content production in public service broadcasting to inform, educate and entertain the masses. 
• Promoting and facilitating the growth of Indian content through films, animation, visual effects, gaming, music and state-of-the-art post-production infrastructure.

Protecting Interests 

• Combating piracy and safeguarding the rights of content creators and intellectual property holders through copyright protection. 
• Fulfilling social responsibilities by ensuring awareness and enabling provisions for disseminating information to all strata of society; and environmental responsibilities through green broadcasting practices and disaster preparedness. 

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2027036