Chennai: Finance minister Arun Jaitley and railway minister Suresh Prabhu’s first interview after presenting their budgets this year will be live streamed simultaneously on YouTube and Doordarshan for the first time in India, said Union minister of state for information & broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.

He was speaking to reporters after inaugurating All India Radio’s Vividh Bharathi service on FM (100.5 Mhz frequency) on Friday.

To take information directly to the masses, Mr Rathore said that his ministry had started a separate wing for social media which would update posts about government initiatives and other information for citizens to be able to access regularly.

“We broadcast the Republic Day parade live on YouTube this year which got over 10 lakh hits. This shows the power of the web and we want to capitalise on it,” he said.

He also said that All India Radio would increase its FM coverage in the country from the present 45 per cent to 65 per cent in the next two and a half years with the installation of more FM transmitters.

He hoped that AIR’s Vividh Bharathi service on FM with digital clarity sound would reach farther parts of Chennai and its neighbouring districts.