NEW DELHI: President Pranab Mukherjee said today that the government was committed to deeper penetration of electronic media in remote and distant areas. 

In his address to the joint sitting of Parliament at the start of the Budget Session, he said auctions will be conducted for 135 vacant channels in 69 existing cities of FM Phase-II as part of the first batch of FM Phase-Ill.

This will also facilitate migration of FM Phase-II to FM Phase-Ill, he said in a speech that outlines the policies of the government, Mukherjee said during his hour-long speech in the Central Hall of Parliament. 

Mukherjee said this will take private FM radio to cities having a population of more than 100,000 and border towns of Jammu and Kashmir, North-eastern region and island territories in a phased manner.

He said the Government had envisioned an ambitious umbrella programme, Digital India, to prepare India for technology based transformation and citizen centric transparent governance with service orientation.  

Measures were being taken to accomplish digital inclusion in rural areas, small towns, north-east and other remote areas, opening up immense job opportunities in the areas.