Now that Doordarshan has acquired a whole bunch of new, invisible channels, it should mean more indigenous programmes on science, environment and development. This was borne out to some extent in the first week itself, but it meant nothing in practical terms. Nobody could see the programmes unless they were hooked onto the channels by extraordinarily patriotic cable-operators.

Though one of the new channels is devoted to enrichment, one fails to detect any interest in technology or environment in the first week's fare. The potential of this educational channel is tremendous, if imaginatively handled.

The business and current affairs channel, on the other hand, ran reruns of Viraasat -- a programme shown earlier on Doordarshan -- twice a day. It also ran daily a short series called Unique Villages.