HVK Archives: New Government policy on Prasar Bharati
New Government policy on Prasar Bharati - Organiser
Venugopalan
()
May 3, 1998
Title: New Government policy on Prasar Bharati
Author: Venugopalan
Publication: Organiser
Date: May 3, 1998
Venugopalan recently interviewed the Union Minister of State for
Information and Broadcasting, Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.
During the past about one month of your working in the Ministry,
what drawbacks came to your notice? And what are your priorities?
The intermediaries had established a vested interest in our
Ministry. There was no transparency and corruption was the order
of the day. Transparency is our top priority. People are entitled
to know the truth. We will only encourage Indian ethos and stop
at all costs the encouragement of obscenity through any medium.
We have taken many steps in that direction' An advertisement
under artyline title invited readers to have ree and frank
talk with the opposite sex. We have stopped its publication. We
have requested private TV channels and newspapers to desist from
publishing this sort of obscence trash. Different sectors have
welcomed this bold step of the Government.
About 23 companies have deprived the Doordarshan of crores of
rupees of revenue. We have decided to proceed against them
legally. Some top bureaucrats have also been involved in this
racket. Along with the legal action against the defaulting
companies, departmental action has also been initiated against
the officials. Defaulting companies have also been blacklisted.
The companies floated by politicians top the list of defaulters.
ABCL is the top defaulter.
Is the departmental action against the bureaucrats a mere
formality? Will Doordarshan be able to recover its financial
loss?
To recover the financial; loss, the defaulting companies have
been served with the recovery notice. The action against the
officials will send out a clear signal to other bureaucrats not
to indulge in this sort of nefarious activity in the future.
Another message which this action shall convey is : Not only the
Government has changed, but the governance has also changed.
The Prasar Bharati Ordinance is about to lapse. Will it he
retained or a new law be enacted?
The Government is seriously considering the various, aspects of
Prasar Bharati Ordinance. Any Government decision will take into
consideration that the people's hopes and aspiration are fully
met.
Doordarshan and AIR are important for the Government to highlight
its point of view. Will the Government control be totally removed
after it is granted autonomy? Or is the Government rethinking on
granting it total autonomy?
We are not in favour of Government control. But the Prasar
Bharati must be accountable and guidelines for it have to be
fixed. The autonomy talk is not of recent origin. It started in
1977 when the then Janata Government's Minister of Information
and Broadcasting, Shri L.K. Advani, did some exercises on this
subject. We are for the autonomy, but at the same time we want to
establish a mechanism by which the Prasar Bharati is made
accountable for its lapses. At least this sort of autonomous
corporations should be accountable to Parliament.
The popularity graph of Doordarshan vis-a-vis private TV channels
is taking a nosedive-whether it relates to telecast of good
programmes or advertisement revenue. What policy the Government
will pursue in this regard?
This is an age of competition and Doordarshan is not lagging
behind. There is no dearth of competent directors or technicians.
We lack in the sphere of taking advantage of their talents. Our
efforts are to make Doordarshan and other media the first
preference of the people. It should not be forced upon them. In
the competition race Doordarshan should not lag behind, but we
are not in favour of any compromises. We also do not want that in
the name of modernity we telecast programmes based on obscenity
and western culture and win the competition race.
Doordarshan has an important role to play for rural areas. There
being no competition for AIR, the villagers have to listen to it.
But Doordarshan does not telecast any popular rural programmes.
Neither Doordarshan nor private TV channels have been able to
attract rural audience. What direction the Government policy will
take on it?
No, we do not agree with this thought. Doordarshan is the second
most popular media in the world. It has a large number of
viewers. But we have to do a lot more to attract more viewers.
The lack of popular programmes is the main reason for small
viewership. Krishi Darshan like programmes for rural viewers are
becoming quite boring. We are trying to have interesting
programmes. To make the programmes lively, it is planned to visit
different rural areas and shoot the programmes there. If we
consult the experts in different areas, the programmes will
surely become more interesting. For this we need coordination
among different departments-and we are now trying for that. We
are about to start an employment-oriented programme for rural
unemployed. Many producers have expressed a desire to make such
programmes.
What efforts the Government is making in liberating film industry
>from the grip of mafia?
It is a fact that film industry is dominated by mafia. Good
directors and producers have been sidelined. Our aim is to free
the film industry from mafia grip. We also want the competent
people to have proper opportunity. The people who wish to project
India and its ethos should get proper opportunity. The
Government will cooperate with them.
The talk of Doordarshan's accountability is all right. But to
whom the private TV channels will be accountable? A few days ago,
one such TV channel had telecast a map of India without Kashmir.
What action will be taken against such traitorous foreign
channels?
We have brought the private TV channels under the review of our
rules and regulations. Obscene advertisements will also be
covered by it, We frankly told the owners and representatives of
these channels at a meeting recently what our attitude will be.
It is not necessary to have a female model in an indecent pose
for a tyre advertisement. We have taken a serious note of the
foreign channel which telecast Indian map without Kashmir,
although this happened at the time of the previous Government.
But we are determined to take strong action in these matters.
Doordarshan is not producing any good programmes in regional
languages. This has encouraged private channels. Bureaucracy is
responsible for not paying adequate attention to the regional
languages. What will the Government's action be in this regard?
We shall take out the bureaucracy from regional languages
programme production. We have 34 departments which have many
experts. We want to utilize the experts' talents usefully, and we
will have good programmes. Doordarshan watching should not be
compulsory for the people, but it should be their first choice is
our aim. Therefore, the standard of regional languages programmes
will be kept high.
What are you planning to do immediately?
Due to Prasar Bharati issue, there are many decisions which
cannot be taken at once. But after talking to Shri S.S. Gill, CEO
of Prasar Bharati, I had made two suggestions. He took action on
it. In the name of regional languages programmes, we are
telecasting boredom. In the name of Rajasthan you have lehnga-
choli wearing women and in the name of UP you see four drummers
facing you. These sort of below standard programmes take the
viewers to national programmes.
We are having a survey conducted so that interesting programmes
could be telecast. After evaluating the programmes on private and
other TV channels can we take a solid step in this direction. We
have already made a beginning in this regard.
Any time limit for the change?
The time limit is fixed. Within a month the results will show
themselves.
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