MUMBAI: BBC World Service, the radio arm of BBC Worldwide kicks of its integrated India Rising season of special programming from 3 to 11 February. Starting with a four part documentary series ‘India Rising‘ by George Arney, the season aims to get to the heart of contemporary India with key programmes broadcast from the country‘s political, cultural, economic, religious, cultural and scientific heartland.

The coverage will be informed by the findings of a special GlobeScan Survey about political power, corruption, the caste system, gender roles, religion and society.

Highlights of the season include:

Monday 5 February

India Rising (9.05-9.30am)
Running throughout the week, documentary series India Rising explores the stereotypes about burgeoning India, addressing issues of caste, religion and the role of women. George Arney talks to consumer and retail expert Preeti Reddy about the people and places benefiting from the country‘s rise as a global economic power.

Culture Shock (9.30-10.00am)
The weekly magazine programme that explores new trends looks at the "Bollywoodisation" of Indian media. It examines the way stars can become newscasters on TV news channels purely to promote their films.

Outlook (Monday-Friday, 10.00-11.00am)
Daily human interest magazine programme Outlook gives voice to a wide range of Indian citizens. It will feature the climax of the Young Indian Entrepreneur Of The Year, a high profile event involving more than 1,000 aspiring entrepreneurs. BBC World Service has been tracking the contest from the start.

Health Check (12.30-1.00pm)
Health Check visits India‘s premier health institute, the All India Institute Of Medical Sciences, to report on the state of Indian healthcare.

Tuesday 6 February

India Rising (9.05-9.30am)
In Bihar the pace of growth has been slow and parts of the state have been untouched by development. But, even here, there are signs of hope. George Arney talks to Alka Chaudhary of the Confederation Of Indian Industry who is in charge of the Bihar Development Initiative.

The Word (9.30-10.00am)
The weekly programme that explores books and writing visits the Calcutta Book Fair, one of the world‘s biggest book events.

Digital Planet (12.30-1.00pm)
This weekly technology programme comes from Calcutta. The city is home to an increasing number of software companies, which operate within an intriguing employment climate in the Communist-run state of West Bengal.

Wednesday 7 February

India Rising (9.05-9.30am)
In India, more people have access to a TV than a flush toilet. In the last 15 years there‘s been a huge expansion in the number of TV channels and internet use is soaring. George Arney looks at the impact on Indian identity and culture.

Discovery (12.30-1.00pm)
In the first of a four-part series on the role of science and technology in Indian society, Geoff Watts talks to leading scientists, including the President of India, about science education and what India needs to do to make the biggest possible global impact.

On Screen (9.30-10.00am)
This weekly film magazine programme comes from three different centres of the Indian film industry: Mumbai, home of Bollywood movies; Chennai, base of the massive Tamil film industry; and Kerala, a city with a rich film tradition.

Thursday 8 February

India Rising (9.05-9.30am)
George Arney asks if upheaval and tension is inevitable as India embarks on a path of rapid industrialisation. He talks to Amitabh Behar, Executive Director of the National Centre for Advocacy Studies.

The Beat (9.30-10.00am)
The weekly programme exploring global popular music reflects India‘s contemporary music scene which goes beyond Bollywood and Yogic classical music to embrace rock and pop.

Friday 9 February

Close Up (9.30-10.00am)
Lucy Duran travels across India and discovers the country‘s rich variety of music. She is joined on her journey by Indian sitar player Viram Jasani, who played the tabla drums on Led Zeppelin‘s first album. He is now a director of Asian Music Circuit, the leading promoter of Indian music in the UK.

Science In Action (12.30-1.00pm)
Science In Action comes from The Indian Science Institute in India‘s science capital Bangalore.

Saturday 10 February

Feluda: The Golden Fortress (8.00-9.00pm)
BBC World Drama brings Bollywood stars Rahul Bose and Anupam Kher to the airwaves in Satyajit Ray‘s detective play. Ten-year-old Mukul has started having vivid dreams of what he presumes to be a past life. Here, within sight of a golden fortress, he lived in a house with gold and jewels buried under the floor. A para psychologist takes the boy off to Rajasthan, hoping to retrieve his memories and the hidden treasure. But nefarious scoundrels are also on the boy‘s trail and it‘s a race to see if Feluda and co will get to the boy in time.

The Ticket (7.05-8.00pm)
The weekly arts and culture magazine looks at what‘s hot and happening in India, from theatre and cinema to the revival of Indian classical music.

Sunday 11 February

India - Brother Or Bully? (1.00-2.00pm)
This debate will link commentators in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. To most of the world India is an emerging power, a secular democracy, a nation of one-billion aspirants. But what do its neighbours think?

A dedicated India Rising website, bbcnews.com/india goes live on Monday 22 January 2007.

MUMBAI: Zee Business has been ranked as the No: 1 business news channel as per TAM‘s Elite Panel report. TAM‘s Elite panel comprises data collected from viewership trends amongst the elite class. Further, Zee Business has retained the No: 1 slot for the last 7 weeks running and is miles ahead of the second most popular business channel.

Zee Business has a whopping channel share of 38 per cent whereas CNBC TV-18 with 25 per cent, Awaaz with 21 per cent and NDTV Profit with 17 per cent are way below Zee Business, the new leader in business news in India. This data is sourced from TAM Wk 46-52, TG: Tam Elite 4+, Markets: Mumbai & Delhi combined.

Commenting on the occasion, Mr.Harish Doraiswamy, CEO - Zee News Ltd said, "It is a matter of great pride that the channel has attained a leadership position. It is heartening to note that the audience, which matters prefers to watch Zee Business. The channel has been an innovator in its programming and its strong content line up coupled with its action-packed weekend programming has shown the desired results. I envisage it as the beginning of a long journey".

Zee Business has loyal viewers and some of its programmes like Wheelocity, Mandi Live, Money Guru & Aaj Ki Badi Khabar are household names now.

Elite Panel includes a mix of cable, DTH and CAS homes. It is a special initiative from TAM, which measures the TV viewership behavior of the most precious set of consumers that the companies target. It consists the cream of the viewers in Mumbai and Delhi. An Elite Household in the panel is SEC A1 owning AC, PC and car.

MUMBAI: Amrita TV, the Malayalam satellite channel set up in April 2005, has within a short span of time, established itself for innovative and quality programming targetting the entire family .Recently various forums presented Amrita TV with accolades including the Best Channel Award.

The Forum for Better Television, presented Amrita TV with six Awards in the telefilms category out of which ‘Errul megangalkkum sooryres mikalkkum madhyee‘ won three awards for best tele-film, best script writer, best editing ;while Neermathalathende pookal bagged three awards for best direction, best cinematography and best sound recording. Both these tele -films are in-house productions of the channel.

The Kerala Film Audience Council also presented the best tele-film Award to Neermathalathende Pookal, an in-house production. The LIVE Chancellor awards honoured Amrita TV with best TV channel award. The other Awards comprised the best interview-based programme for Samagamam , an interactive show of the channel which is running since April 2005, and has been recognized as a channel identity programme; and special jury mention for Ularakal, an investigative current affairs programme --both these programmes are produced in-house by Amrita TV.

The Chitram Television Awards adjudged Amrita TV as best TV channel. It also bestowed the best anchor award for Samagamam.

A commissioned serial of the channel - Chitrashalabham- got three Awards for best direction, best serial and best actress.

To maintain the quality and integrity of the channel‘s programming character nearly 74 per cent of Amrita TV‘s programmes are produced in-house by its team of talented and experienced directors.In May 2006, Amrita TV was bestowed with 15 of the 29 Kerala state awards for excellence in television in different categories--the first channel to be so honoured in its very first year of operation.