New Delhi, Jan. 27: Bypassing its own science communication division, the ministry of science and technology has asked the National Geographic Channel to showcase Indian science and technology through a year-long, on-air and off-air campaign.

The ministry plans to spend Rs 2 crore on the Science Safari campaign that includes production and telecast of a series of films highlighting the achievements of the Indian scientific community, science minister Kapil Sibal announced here today.

After four months of production work, the channel is expected to air one long film and 15 short films for eight months beginning this May. The ministry will begin to telecast them on Doordarshan and regional channels after February 2007, Sibal said.

The programmes will also be made available to schoolchildren through CDs, he added.

Ministry sources claimed that concerns about the quality of the programmes produced by the science communication unit had led the ministry to approach National Geographic. The unit had “its own way of producing programmes” and appeared “not available” to take up such an assignment, they said.

But independent sources, who were part of the decision-making process, said the communication unit had raised questions about why its mandate was being handed over to a foreign channel. “Quality is a very subjective thing. It also depends on the amount of investment that goes into the production,” a source said.

Sibal said he had tried “for months” to launch such an initiative with the ministry’s unit, but it “wasn’t successful”.