Gems of India Challenge

A short video about your hometown could now win you five lakh rupees. India’s new Gems of India Challenge is betting on ordinary citizens to tell those stories.

1Part 1: What the Challenge Is

Must Know

An MIB initiative

• The Gems of India Challenge is an initiative of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB).
• The pilot launched on 21 July 2026.

What creators submit

• Citizens submit 1-3 minute videos, showcasing their district’s culture, heritage, tourism and history.
• Entries are hosted on MyWAVES, a section of the WAVES OTT platform, from 1-31 August 2026.

The pilot area

• The pilot covers seven Union Territories, the old page said.
• It named Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Goa, and Ladakh.
• That list cannot be right as written. It names only six places, and Arunachal Pradesh and Goa are States, not Union Territories. Check the MIB notice for the true list.

A three-tier prize structure

• Up to 20 district-level winners get ₹50,000 each.
• One state-level winner per district gets ₹2 lakh.
• Top national entries get ₹5 lakh each.

YouTube and Meta as partners

• YouTube and Meta have joined as partners.
• They use their creator networks to publicise the challenge.

2Part 2: Who Judges, Who Helps

Good to Know

Who judges the entries

• District and state jury committees judge entries.
• Members come from culture, heritage, tourism, media and academic backgrounds.

Who supports the rollout

• Prasar Bharati, MY Bharat, State governments and district administrations support the rollout.
• See Prasar Bharati: India’s Public Broadcaster and MY Bharat: Mera Yuva Bharat.

Built on the WAVES ecosystem

• The challenge builds on MyWAVES, itself part of the wider WAVES ecosystem. It is not a standalone platform.
• See WAVES (World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit) for the platform’s origins.

The “Orange Economy”

• Officials have framed the challenge as strengthening India’s “Orange Economy,” its creative and cultural industries.

A small footprint, a wide spread

• The pilot is small, but the old page said it spans three coastlines and two Himalayan borders, from the Andamans to Ladakh.
• See Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Ladakh: Capital, Administration, and India’s Cold Desert.

3Part 3: Why It Is Designed This Way

Great to Know

Rewarding volume and quality differently

• The three-tier awards reward volume at the district level, and quality at the national level.
• Local participation matters as much as polish.

Why Union Territories first

• Starting with Union Territories, not large States, lets MIB test the format on a smaller, more controllable scale before any nationwide rollout.
• See The Union Territories.

A shift toward private creator platforms

• Pairing a government scheme with YouTube and Meta marks a shift.
• State-led cultural promotion increasingly leans on private creator-economy infrastructure, not just Doordarshan or All India Radio.

Mapping culture from the ground up

• A one-district, one-story format could map India’s cultural diversity district by district.
• That would work from the ground up, not through top-down state narratives.

A note on sources

• The old page named no source link for any figure here. Treat the details above as unverified until checked against the MIB notice.

Quick Q&A

• Which ministry runs it? Information and Broadcasting.
• When did the pilot launch? 21 July 2026.
• Where are entries hosted? MyWAVES.
• Top national prize? ₹5 lakh.
• Which companies are partners? YouTube and Meta.