DD Kisan

About DD Kisan

DD Kisan is the agriculture television channel of Doordarshan, India's public service broadcaster, operated under the Prasar Bharati corporation and funded by the Government of India. Launched on 26 May 2015 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it is a 24-hour satellite channel dedicated exclusively to farmers and the agriculture sector, with the stated objective of serving the farming and rural community of India, reaching the remotest parts of the country, and creating a holistic environment for the sustainable and inclusive growth of farmers. The channel broadcasts primarily in Hindi from its base in Noida and is available free of charge to viewers across the country.

History and launch

The idea of a dedicated television channel for farmers originated as an election promise. Ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party declared in its manifesto that, if it came to power, it would set up a dedicated 24-hour channel for Indian farmers. After the National Democratic Alliance government took office under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the proposal moved forward. The 2014 Union Budget earmarked 100 crore rupees for the channel to fulfil the election promise, with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry crowd-sourcing ideas on the channel's contours and content. A soft launch was planned for March 2015 with a firm launch around Baisakhi, the harvest festival, but the channel was formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi in New Delhi on 26 May 2015, and has been on air since that date.

Before DD Kisan, the public broadcaster's main farmer-oriented service was Krishi Darshan, a programme telecast on DD National. Krishi Darshan, launched on 26 January 1967, was one of the longest-running programmes on Indian television and the principal televised source of agricultural information for rural India for decades. DD Kisan superseded this limited slot with a full-fledged channel carrying agriculture content round the clock.

Ownership and public service mandate

DD Kisan is owned by Prasar Bharati and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. Its mandate is to inform and educate the rural populace and to reach the farming community in the remotest parts of the country. The channel is designed to disseminate real-time inputs to farmers on new farming techniques, water conservation and organic farming, to share best farm practices from different parts of the country, and to provide a platform for direct interaction between farmers, agricultural experts and farm scientists. From the 2014-15 financial year up to November 2022, the government reported that 318.64 crore rupees had been allocated to the channel and 264.72 crore rupees utilised. For the financial year 2023-24, 9.85 crore rupees were allocated to the channel under the Broadcasting Infrastructure and Network Development scheme, of which 9.82 crore rupees were spent.

Content philosophy and crowdsourcing

Unusually for a public broadcaster channel, the contours of DD Kisan were shaped through public consultation. Before the launch, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry invited suggestions from citizens on the channel's content and format. Ideas that emerged from this crowdsourcing exercise and were incorporated into the channel included quiz shows for farmers, the sharing of best farm practices from different parts of the country, a bottoms-up approach that involved agriculturists directly in programming, invitations to the general public to suggest programmes, and real-time interaction with experts and farm scientists. The stated philosophy behind the channel was to treat the farmer not merely as a recipient of advisories but as a participant in the programming, a departure from the one-way instructional style of earlier agricultural broadcasts.

Flagship programmes

The channel's schedule combines core agricultural non-fiction, fiction and reality programming. Among its most popular programmes, as identified by Prasar Bharati, is Mausam Khabar, a daily live weather bulletin covering climatic trends and projections along with crop-wise advisories for different agro-climatic zones. Mandi Khabar tracks the trends of commodities across the mandis, or wholesale markets, of India, along with advisories for small and medium farmers, helping them decide when and where to sell their produce. Chatt Par Bagwani is a guide to terrace gardening aimed at urban and semi-urban viewers, while Apna Pashu Chitkitsak addresses animal husbandry and veterinary care, an important source of rural income. The channel also airs quiz shows for farmers, programmes on best farm practices, and a bottoms-up approach involving agriculturists, and it invites programme suggestions from the general public.

Interaction with experts and scientists

A defining feature of the channel's concept, crowd-sourced before launch, was real-time interaction with experts and farm scientists. DD Kisan carries phone-in and interactive segments in which farmers can put questions to agricultural scientists, meteorologists and extension workers. This builds on the tradition of agricultural extension broadcasting in India, which began with programmes like Krishi Darshan, but extends it to a continuous, channel-wide format. The channel works in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on farmer education content, and it coordinates with the All India Radio network, which broadcasts the 30-minute interactive programme Kisanvani six days a week in regional languages on over 96 stations, and the Kisan Ki Baat programme on the FM Gold channel in Delhi.

AI anchors and technological innovation

On its ninth anniversary in 2024, DD Kisan introduced two artificial-intelligence news anchors named AI Bhumi and AI Krish, who can reportedly speak in 50 Indian and foreign languages. According to the agricultural ministry, the computer-generated anchors are designed to work like human presenters, reading news 24 hours a day and 365 days a year without stopping or getting tired. The introduction of AI presenters was part of a broader refresh of the channel's look and style on its anniversary, positioning DD Kisan among the first Indian television channels to deploy AI anchors for regular news delivery. The channel is broadcast in high definition, downscaled for the standard-definition feed.

Distribution and reach

DD Kisan is carried as a free-to-air channel on satellite, cable and direct-to-home platforms across India, including on Doordarshan's DD Free Dish DTH service and on terrestrial DVB-T2 transmitters, making it accessible even in areas without cable or paid DTH. This free availability is central to its mission of reaching farmers in remote areas. The channel's programmes are produced at Doordarshan's production facilities, and its broadcast operations are based in Noida.

Digital and YouTube presence

The channel is streamed live on YouTube, and all programmes are uploaded to its dedicated YouTube channel after telecast for offline viewing, making its content accessible digitally across the globe. Prasar Bharati maintains a dedicated YouTube channel for DD Kisan where viewers can access the live stream and the full library of programmes, including Mausam Khabar, Mandi Khabar, Chatt Par Bagwani and Apna Pashu Chitkitsak. The channel also maintains a social media presence for programme updates and agricultural advisories.

Place in Doordarshan's national channel family

DD Kisan is one of the seven national channels of Doordarshan, alongside DD National, DD News, DD India, DD Sports, DD Bharati and DD Urdu. It is the only national channel dedicated entirely to agriculture and the rural economy. While regional Doordarshan channels carry agricultural content in regional languages, DD Kisan provides the network's national, round-the-clock farmer service, fulfilling a mandate that no private commercial channel has taken up at this scale.

Current status

DD Kisan continues to operate as a 24-hour agriculture channel under Prasar Bharati, broadcasting from Noida with live streaming on YouTube and free-to-air availability across India. A decade after its launch, it remains the country's only national television channel devoted exclusively to farmers, carrying weather bulletins, market information, farming techniques and expert interaction to the agricultural community, and it has adopted AI presenters as part of its ongoing modernisation.