NEW DELHI: Living up to its theme of being the cultural channel of Doordarshan, DD Bharati will bring live coverage of the Maha Kumbh Mela from Allahabad on 14 January from 8.30 am on the occasion of Makar Sakranti.

DD Bharati will also telecast live the Sabarimala Sannidhanam, Kerala, Makaravilakku on the same day from 3 pm to 5 pm.

The Mukteshwar Dance Festival will be telecast live from Bhubaneshwar in Odisha from 14 to 16 January, followed by the Rajrani Music Festival live from Bhubaneshwar from 18 to 20 January.

The birth anniversary function of Guru Gobind Singh will be telecast live from Takth Sri Hari mandir Ji Patna Saheb in Patna (Bihar) on 18 January from 9 am to 12.30 pm.

Apart from these live programmes, DD Bharati will telecast a Special Programme on Makar Sankranti from Ahmedabad on 14 January at 5 pm.

DD Bharati commemorates the Republic of India with the series ?Azadi? depicting the freedom struggle through old films and paintings from 14 to 19 January at 10 pm.

A special documentary on the "Maha Kumbha - In Search of the Nectar" will be telecast on 14 January at 5.30 pm, and will be repeated on 20 January at 4.30 pm.

A Special Report on Rajgir Mahotsav, Nalanda, will be telecast on 17 January at 8 pm.

?Rhythms of Goa? on Goa?s Folk Festival will be telecast on 20 January at 6 pm.

As part of its ongoing series on tribute to Indian cinema on its centenary, "Cinema 100", DD Bharati will also laud the works of some eminent filmmakers during the coming days. All the programmes will be telecast from Monday to Saturday at 10.30 pm.

The work of cinematographer-turned-filmmaker Govind Nihalani will be featured on 14 January followed on the next day by lyricist and director Gulzar.

The evergreen legend Dev Anand who was among the many film luminaries that passed away during 2012 will be featured on 16 January. The work of the versatile Naseeruddin Shah will be profiled on 17 January.

Dadasaheb Phalke recipient Asha Bhonsle will be paid a tribute on 18 January. Padma Vibhushan recipient Adoor Gopalakrishnan from Kerala will be featured on 19 January.

Meanwhile, Doordarshan will this weekend telecast its special new year?s eve programme ?Dhoom 2013?, a tribute to one hundred years of Indian cinema, which had been cancelled on 31 December night to pay its tribute to the 16 December Delhi gang rape victim.

The programme aimed at felicitating the vamps of yesteryears - Bindu, Helen, Aruna Irani, Jayashree T, Padma Khanna and others - will now be telecast from 8.30 pm to 11.30 pm on 13 January.

Dhoom 2013 has been conceived and designed by the Additional Director General of Mumbai Doordarshan, Mukesh Sharma.

NEW DELHI: The Human Resource Development Ministry has set up a task force to go into the large number of media schools mushrooming in different parts of the country, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said.

The task force will examine and identify issues related to the problem and suitably suggest remedial measures including setting up of an Accreditation Mechanism.

In her inaugural address at FOCUS 2012 on Digitisation, she said of the four Regional Centres of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) in Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Maharashtra and Mizoram, the two at Amravati (Maharashtra) and Aizawl (Mizoram) had become operational during 2011 with PG Diploma courses being offered in English Journalism. The other two Centres at Jammu and Kottayam (Kerala) were expected to become operational from the next academic session 2012-13.

The regional centres would not only ensure a balanced growth in availability of journalism schools across the country, they would facilitate the Government?s commitment towards inclusive growth.