Akashvani Imphal engineer Nandakumar Singh wins ABU engineering award

Nongmaithem Nandakumar Singh, Director of Engineering and Head of Office at Akashvani Imphal, has won the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union's Broadcast Engineering Excellence Award 2026, a rare international honour for an engineer working in Manipur's public broadcasting network.

The award recognises engineering work that delivers public-service broadcasting at low cost. According to India Today NE, it was formally presented at the ABU prize ceremony in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on November 1, after a special video on his projects was screened at the ABU Technical Committee meeting there on October 30.

Home-grown tools for Doordarshan and AIR

News On AIR, the public broadcaster's news service, said Singh's notable innovations include DDPlayout, an indigenous automated playout software adopted by several Doordarshan Kendras, and DDSlowMo, an inexpensive slow-motion replay system used at national-level sporting events.

His other work cited by the reports includes custom broadcast automation, remote monitoring of transmitters, streamlined live-streaming workflows, virtual news automation software and a hardware controller for slow-motion replays. India Today NE also reported that he has built Android apps based on traditional Manipuri board games, bringing indigenous games to mobile phones.

From Sagolband to Colombo

Singh is from Sagolband Salam Leikai in Imphal West, The Sangai Express reported. He studied Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering at NIT Raipur and joined the Indian Engineering Services in 1998.

This is not his first recognition. The Broadcast Engineering Society (India) earlier gave him the Padmavati Ganeshan Award in 2013 and the Dr Vassumal Hazarimal Merani Award in 2026 for innovation in digital broadcast technology.

About the ABU

The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union brings together around 224 broadcasting and media organisations across 66 countries. Its 63rd General Assembly and associated meetings are being held in Colombo from October 30 to November 3 under the theme "Media for Peace and Humanity: Truth, Trust, and Transformation".

Prasar Bharati described the award as recognition of India's contribution to broadcast engineering in the Asia-Pacific region. For Manipur, it is also a reminder that some of the technology behind national broadcasts is being built in Imphal.