NT BUZZ
As part of the government’s efforts to strengthen India’s creative sector and promote the emerging Orange Economy, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has launched the Pilot Phase of the ‘Gems of India’ Challenge, a national initiative to identify, nurture, and promote grassroots digital creators from across the country.
The initiative builds upon MyWAVES, the citizen creator platform under WAVES OTT, launched by minister for information and broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw to enable citizens to create, upload and share original content while strengthening India’s digital creator ecosystem.
Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Chanchal Kumar acknowledged that “Every district of India has a story waiting to be told, and ‘Gems of India’ gives our creators the platform to tell it. This is as much about celebrating our youth’s creativity as it is about celebrating the extraordinary diversity of our districts.”
The challenge seeks to create a nationwide network of creators by encouraging them to showcase the culture, heritage, tourism, traditions, history and distinctive achievements of their districts through authentic digital storytelling, while celebrating the unique identity of every
Indian district.
To join the challenge, creators can submit videos of one to three minutes in duration via the MyWAVES section on the WAVES OTT platform. The submission window for the Pilot Phase will open on August 1, 2026, and will remain open until August 31, 2026.
The Pilot Phase is being launched across Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, Goa, and Ladakh. This phase is a collaborative effort involving Prasar Bharati, My Bharat, and the respective state and district administrations. Local cultural and educational institutions will also be involved to facilitate creator mobilisation and content development.
To further amplify the initiative, the Ministry is collaborating with YouTube and Meta. Both platforms will help mobilise their creator communities and extend the outreach of the challenge across their networks.
To honour outstanding talent, the programme will confer awards at the district, state, and national levels. There will be up to 20 awards of Rs. 50,000 each per district. One exceptional creator from each district will be also be selected for a state-level award of
Rs. 2 lakh. During the subsequent national rollout, selected state entries will be eligible for National Awards of Rs. 5 lakh each.
To ensure fair evaluation, the district and state jury committees will be constituted by the respective administration. These panels will comprise eminent personalities from the fields of culture, heritage, tourism, media,
and academia.
Based on the insights and experience gained during this pilot phase, the challenge will expand to cover all states and union territories.
