I. Private telecom operators form radio advisory body.BOOK
II. Broadcasting authority in place soon, says minister.
III. Broadcast bill will address grievances on DTH.
IV. Broadcasting corporation board ready by October.
V. Communists to oppose broadcasting bill.
VI. Paper comments on new autonomy for AIR, Doordarshan.
VII. New Broadcasting Act goes into effect.
VIII. Radio, TV staff said to be “cynical” about new Act.
IX. Broadcasting Act to come into force in mid-September.
X. Article sees Broadcasting Act as “pretence.”
BROADCASTING REFORM IN INDIA: A Case Study in the Use of Comparative Media LawMonroe E. Price, Stefaan G. Verhulst, Editors
The private telecom players in India have decided
to form “Radio Advisory Council of India (RACI)” to ensure private sector
participation in radio frequency spectrum management.
The proposed body would “advise” the telecom department’s
(DOT) standing advisory committee on wireless communication (SACFA) on
spectrum allocation for private wireless industry.
Radio frequency spectrum is a scarce resource which
has to be shared “appropriately” between the government and the industry
to promote the growth of telecommunication and broadcasting in the country.
RACI will synthesize the interests of the various
telecom associations like Cellular Operators Association (COAI), Paging
Services Association (IPSA), Telecom Industry and Services Association
(TISA), Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association (TEMA) and chambers
of commerce and industry.
“RACI will provide the much-needed single point
interface for the government and the private wireless industry,” industry
sources said, adding that interests of radio amateurs and private broadcasters
would also be protected by the entity.
Ericsson, Siemens, Motorola, Nortel, Shyam Telecom
are some of the companies working on establishing the RACI. The Pacific
Tele-communications Council-India (PTCI) is facilitating the establishment
of the body, Secretary-General Anil Prakash said.
PTI news agency, New Delhi, October 27, 1997
II. Broadcasting authority in place soon, says minister.
India’s Federal Information and Broadcasting Minister
S. Jaipal Reddy on [28th September] said he was determined to prove sceptics
wrong by setting up an autonomous broadcasting authority in the country.
“My passion is that electronic media should be liberated
from the government,” Reddy said.
“We will definitely have the authority soon and
I am convinced to make 1997 as the broadcasting year of India,” he said
while addressing the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) here in the financial
capital of India.
Reddy said “once the Prasar Bharati (broadcasting
authority) comes into existence, the ministry need no longer “act as a
midwife”for advertisers.”
“I am using this forum to advertise for Doordarshan
(state television), which has the largest terrestrial network in the world
covering 90 per cent of Indian population,” he said.
However, he regretted that Doordarshan could only
get 5bn rupees out of the 47.5bn rupees advertising expenditure incurred
by the companies.
Reddy presented the ISA gold medal to S. M. Datta,
former chairman of Hindustan Lever, the largest advertiser in the country,
for his contribution to Indian advertising.
PTI news agency, New Delhi, September 28, 1997
III. Broadcast bill will address grievances on DTH.
India’s federal Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
on [29th September] submitted before the Delhi High Court that the new
broadcast bill to be introduced in the winter session of parliament would
address all grievances concerning direct to home (DTH) licensing.
Terming the new bill as most liberal, Senior Advocate
K. K. Venugopal, who appeared for the ministry, contended before the High
Court that it proposes to grant licences to persons who want to use DTH
devices, which at present stands banned.
Counsel for the News Television (India) Ltd, Senior
Advocate Kapil Sibal said he would like to contest the 16th July notification
banning the use of DTH devices as it was not sure when the broadcast bill
would be introduced in parliament and whether or not it would be enacted.
However, a division bench comprising Justice A.
B. Sahrya and Justice J. B. Goel said they would like to know the progress
in the matter in two weeks’ time and posted the matter for further hearing
on 20th October.
Venugopal tried to quell the apprehensions of other
parties, saying at present a parliamentary committee was looking into the
bill and has already held over 50 sittings on the bill, and added that
there should not be any doubt as to why the government would not introduce
the bill in parliament after taking so much of pain.
By the 16th July notification, the government had
banned use of any device to receive television programmes from satellite
telecast at a frequency more than 4800 MHz.
Earlier, on 19th December 1996, the government had
issued a notification saying anybody wanting to receive satellite programmes
over and above 4800 MHz frequency would have to apply for licence from
the government.
A petition filed in the High Court by Satish Thapar
had alleged that though he had applied for the licence, the government
was neither granting him the licence nor rejecting the application.
Appearing for the Department of Telecom (DOT), Additional
Solicitor-General Dr A. M. Singhvi and Rakesh Tiku endorsed the arguments
of Venugopal and said that the ban was imposed only for the period till
parliament enacted the broadcast bill.
Dr Singhvi said the broadcast bill clearly proposes
to grant licence to DTH services but with certain conditions attached to
it.
The bill also specifies as to who would not be entitled
to get a licence to operate DTH services.
PTI news agency, New Delhi, September 29, 1997
IV. Broadcasting corporation board ready by October.
The much-awaited constitution of the “Prasar Bharati”
[Indian Broadcasting Corporation] board of directors, which would govern
the functioning of India’s television network “Doordarshan” and All India
Radio (AIR), would take place by 15th October, Federal Minister for Information
and Broadcasting Jaipal Reddy announced here on [20th September].
With the setting up of the director board, the government
would cease to have any control over the electronic media, he said while
speaking on “democracy and unity of India” at a function to mark the birth
centenary of late Dr N. B. Parulekar, founder-editor of daily ‘Sakal,’
here.
The minister noted that the Prasar Bharati Act had
come into operation this month after being in deep freeze for seven years
and described it as a step taken by the United Front (UF) government to
“fortify” democracy.
Reddy asserted that under the act, the Doordarshan
and the AIR would be as autonomous as the British Broadcasting Corporation
(BBC).
Reddy stressed the need to “regulate” private satellite
channels saying that “we need to have an authority to regulate and not
censor news beamed by these channels.”
PTI news agency, New Delhi, September 22, 1997
V. Communists to oppose broadcasting bill.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) will
oppose the proposed broadcasting bill in parliament, party politburo member
Prakash Karat said here on [21st September].
“The bill is a charter for outright privatization
of the country’s electronic media and it should not be passed by the parliament
at any cost,” Karat said at a seminar here on Prasar Bharati [Indian Broadcasting
Corporation] organized by the All India Radio newscasters association.
He said through the legislation, which seeks to
regulate the private broadcasting networks, an attempt was being made to
destroy the public broadcasting system in the country.
Karat regretted that the joint select committee,
which is looking into the broadcasting bill, had so far received representations
only from private broadcasters.
“We have come to know that the committee is likely
to close evidence after a visit to Calcutta and have told our (CPI-M) members
to request for an extension so that more shades of public opinion are heard,”
Karat said.
PTI news agency, New Delhi, September 21, 1997
VI. Paper comments on new autonomy for AIR, Doordarshan.
The United Front government and particularly its
information and broadcasting minister, S. Jaipal Reddy, deserve kudos for
fulfilling their promise, made during the election, to grant autonomy to
Akashvani (All India Radio [AIR]) and Doordarshan [television].
Restraining oneself from the temptation to improve
one’s image through these powerful electronic media for political reasons
or otherwise—despite being fully empowered to do so—is a very big sacrifice.
If we go through the past record of these official media, particularly
of Doordarshan, we will find that whichever party and its leaders wanted
bigger coverage of their activities to gain publicity that would influence
the people, they always managed to have deeper access to the Doordarshan
authorities. We need not probe deep to find the nexus between opening new
stations or centres and commissioning new relay centres, and the electoral
preparations of the leader concerned or his party. Hence, this self-imposed
indifference to or aversion from this most powerful media system deserves
accolades.
With this autonomy, it won’t be out of place to
expect better professional performance from the people manning Akashvani
and Doordarshan so that they can effectively withstand the competition
from the various satellite channels and foreign radio stations. They are
expected now to give news, views and news analysis more impartially, and
in real terms they will be acting as the media for disseminating accurate
information and knowledge.
However, this decision has been taken by the United
Front government, which is unaware of its own state, lost in various diversions
caused by the perpetual threat to its instability. The ad hoc attitude
prevailing in the general governance seems to be ruling the roost despite
Akashvani and Doordarshan having gained autonomy. The new corporation,
for which the notification was issued about one and half months ago - and
the bill for which had lain idle for about one and half decades until the
Prasar Bharati [Indian Broadcasting Corporation] Act—is still waiting to
be constituted. There is no knowing how this new system will function,
since its basic format is still to be developed. Even the names of the
members of the new corporation have not yet been finalized.
The most burning issue, which is on the verge of
surfacing, is why the government is working on bringing in a new act on
broadcasting laws and still enforcing the old act in toto? However, there
is no sense in prematurely raising this issue. But there is a lurking suspicion
that this new arrangement will be held pending, just like the bill for
the Prasar Bharati, since there is no guarantee of its functioning within
any specified time schedule. Nevertheless, despite these shortcomings,
the constitution of the Prasar Bharti Corporation and the grant of autonomy
to Akashvani and Doordarshan are very welcome events.
“Welcome to autonomy,” ‘Hindustan,’ Delhi, September 16, 1997
VII. New Broadcasting Act goes into effect.
The Prasar Bharati [Indian Broadcasting Corporation]
Act granting autonomy to All India Radio [AIR] and Doordarshan [TV] has
come into effect today. A notification to carry out the act passed by the
parliament in 1990 was issued on 22nd July by the government. The act was
pending implementation and a national debate was on about the efficacy
of granting such autonomy to the electronic media.
Under the act, a committee headed by the vice-president
of India is to constitute the Prasar Bharati Board to control both the
organizations. The present chairman of the Press Council, Mr Justice P.B.
Sawant, has expressed the hope that reliability of news bulletins in both
the media would improve with the implementation of the act. The minister
for information and broadcasting, Mr Jaipal Reddy, has already said that
the Prasar Bharati Board will be set up soon.
Our AIR correspondent reports that, according to
independent observers, the implantation of the act will usher in a new
era of broadcasting in the country.
All India Radio, New Delhi, September 15, 1997
VIII. Radio, TV staff said to be “cynical” about new Act.
India’s much-talked about media policy Prasar Bharati
Act comes into force on [15th September] amid speculations whether the
state-owned All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan [TV] are really going
to be “freed” by an act being implemented without any changes seven years
after its inception. The employees of the two media, who will come under
the new board to be finalized by a three-member selection committee, are
cynical about the act which is slated to grant autonomy to AIR and DD.
“Autonomy and freedom depends on the board and its
chai rman and how they are going to defy government interference,” says
Ashok Panigrahi, general secretary, Programme Staff Association (PSA),
AIR and DD. A clause in the Prasar Bharati Act still allows the government
to withhold the broadcast of a programme on some specified grounds.
The federal minister for information and broadcasting,
S. Jaipal Reddy, has said earlier that the constitution of the board depends
on the three-member selection committee.
A senior DD official said autonomy would be seen
only in the style of the broadcast and not in its entire functioning “there
cannot be much difference through a change of nomenclature-there is still
nothing concrete on how it is going to free the two media.”
“There have been a lot of changes in the electronic
media scenario over the past seven years,” said Panigrahi.
Reddy agreed that there was scope of improvement
in the Prasar Bharati Act and assured that suitable amendments if necessary
could be brought about after 15th September. He was speaking at a seminar
recently on “post-Prasar Bharati scenario—what is to be done?”
But as of now everyone is just wondering what the
future is going to be like. The act, legislated in 1990 by the National
Front government, provided for constitution of a board comprising a chairman,
an executive member, member (finance), member (personnel) and six part-time
members. The directors-general of AIR and DD will be ex-officio members.
There would also be a representative of the Information and Broadcasting
[I and B] Ministry.
The government issued a gazette notification on
22nd July this year announcing that the Prasar Bharati Act would come into
force on 15th September. “We just have the notification. The board has
not been formed. We don’t know who is going to be there. Nothing is known
yet,” said an official.
The I and B minister’s assurance of “quick legal
steps” to set up the board does not give a time frame. The selection committee
comprises the vice-president, chairman of the press council and a government
nominee.
PTI news agency, New Delhi, September 14, 1997
IX. Broadcasting Act to come into force in mid-September.
The seven-year old Prasar Bharati Act [Broadcasting
Corporation of India Act] aimed at granting autonomy to India’s national
TV network [Doordarshan] and All India Radio (AIR) will come into force
on 15th September as notified and “quick legal steps” would be taken to
set up the board of the new Broadcasting Corporation of India, Information
and Broadcasting Minister S. Jaipal Reddy said on [7th September].
In an interview to PTI, he said the Prasar Bharati
board, to be finalized by a three-member selection committee comprising
the vice-president, chairman of the Press Council of India and a government
nominee, would be notified.
“Doordarshan (TV network) and AIR will then be handed
over to the new board,” he said.
Asked how soon the board would be constituted, the
minister did not indicate any time frame, saying “it all depends on the
selection committee.”
The act, legislated in 1990 by the National Front
government, provides for constitution of a board comprising a chairman,
an executive member, member (finance), member (personnel) and six part-time
members. The directors-general of All India Radio and Doordarshan will
be ex-officio members.
There would also be a representative of Information
and Broadcasting Ministry and two from the employees of the proposed corporation.
Government had issued a gazette notification on
22nd July this year announcing that the Prasar Bharati Act would come into
force on 15th September.
Options for Doordarshan and AIR staff
On the option given to the employees of Doordarshan
and AIR of remaining with the government or joining the proposed corporation,
the minister indicated that the pay scales and service condition of those
opting to join the autonomous body would not be to their disadvantage.
These would be finalized by the new board, he said.
Those choosing to remain with the government would
be absorbed in other departments.
General superintendence, direction and management
of the affairs of the corporation will be vested with the board.
The minister maintained that Doordarshan and AIR
“will not be under the control of the government at all.”
Federal government’s powers
Under the act, however, the federal government has
the power to give directions to the corporation “from time to time as and
when occasion arises” as it may think necessary in the interests of sovereignty,
unity and integrity of India.
The federal government also has powers to issue
directions to the corporation where security of the state is involved or
matters relating to preservation of public order “requiring it not to make
a broadcast on a matter specified in the direction or to make a broadcast
on any matter of public importance specified in the direction.”
No move to reverse DTH ban
Responding to questions on direct-to-home (DTH)
operations, which have been banned in the country through a government
notification, the minister indicated that there was no move to withdraw
this order. “Such a proposal (for withdrawing the ban notification) has
not been mooted yet,” he said.
The minister had earlier stated that the ban order
was only a “ temporary measure,” contending that all aspects of the broadcast
bill would be examined by the 30-member joint select committee of parliament.
Reddy said the broadcast bill, which was introduced
on the last day of the budget session and later referred to the joint select
committee under the chairmanship of Mr Sharad Pawar, could be submitted
on the first day of the winter session of parliament and indicated that
there would be no further extension.
The committee, which was to have submitted its report
in the monsoon session, has been granted time till the last day of the
winter session.
PTI news agency, New Delhi, September 7, 1997
X. Article sees Broadcasting Act as “pretence.”
The declaration to enforce the Prasar Bharati Act
has grown into a problem for the government. With only 17 days left for
it to be enforced, by way of preparation, nothing has been done except
the holding of a few meetings, although ways of grappling with the problem,
which has been invited voluntarily, are being explored. As such, it is
quite possible that under some pretext its enforcement on 15th September
may be deferred. Also, the possibility is that after the notification of
the names of the chairman and members of the Corporation, other formalities
may be postponed for three to six months.
Premier “under great pressure” to enforce the act
Officials of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
themselves admit that this declaration was made hastily. For this haste
they hold Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral responsible, not their minister,
S. Jaipal Reddy. According to these officials, Mr Gujral was under great
pressure from his intellectual friends to enforce the Prasar Bharati Act.
This hasty decision has now entangled the government
in an imbroglio. Ways of escaping this situation are being frantically
searched for. At the government’s instigation, some officials are assessing
the mood of some of the workers’ associations of Doordarshan [TV] and All
India Radio [AIR] and checking to see if court cases might be involved.
The sources in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting believe that
by tacitly seeking their opinion, the government itself seems to be prompting
the associations to challenge the Act in the law courts.
Autonomy for the Doordarshan and AIR had been awaited
long before the Prasar Bharati Act. And now, after six years, when the
government at last seemed to be veering round to enforcing this act, it
appears that it is now eliminating the purpose for enforcing the act—right
at the initial stage too. It has now accepted the recommendation made by
the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Jaipal Reddy, that to maintain
the continuity of the administration in the new set up, the present director-general
of Doordarshan, K.S. Sarma, should continue to hold his post. The government
has accordingly announced that Mr Sarma will continue to be the director-general.
In other words, while the Gujral government appeared so impatient to corner
the credit for granting autonomy to Doordarshan that it avidly declared
the enforcement of the Prasar Bharati Act without due preparation, at the
same time by retaining one of its IAS officers as the director-general
of Doordarshan it has also evinced its desire to keep intact its right
to intervene.
“Standard procedure not followed” in appointments
Even the Doordarshan officials object to this dubious
stance of the government. They complain: “When O.P. Kejriwal was made the
director-general of AIR, the post vacated by him—director (news)—was filled
by appointing the most senior officer of the cadre, Sahib Singh. Why was
this procedure not followed in Doordarshan? For continuity to be maintained
in the administration, Mr Sarma should have been allowed to depart and
in his place the most senior deputy director-general should have been appointed
as the director-general. Why was this standard procedure not followed?
Later on, if the Prasar Bharati Corporation wanted, it could have retained
or changed the director-general. All our deputy director-generals are also
joint secretary level officers. These officials wonder why the government
is afraid of appointing a Doordarshan officer as director-general when
it is willing to give autonomy to Doordarshan. According to them, the government’s
decision to allow Mr Sarma to continue as director-general for the time
being is confusing as this ‘time being’ may stretch to a period of one
full year or more. Doordarshan officials and workers are sensing one more
danger: Many of them are on the threshold of promotion; they fear that
the government will defer their promotion until the enforcement of the
Prasar Bharati Act, and then it can conveniently say that now it is not
its responsibility but that of the corporation. And there is no knowing
what might happen in that situation.
Meanwhile, along with the extension granted to Mr
Sarma the recommendation has also been made to grant an extension to the
secretary of information and broadcasting, N.P. Navani. For this also the
Prasar Bharati pretence has been used conveniently. Mr Sarma’s extended,
additional term was going to end on 31st August and Mr Navani is also due
to retire on that very day. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
now wants to retain Mr Navani on his present post, and the prime minister
is seriously considering the suggestion.
Confusion over new roles of AIR, Doordarshan
Doordarshan officials do not know what their functions
will be when the Prasar Bharati Act is enforced. They have not been told
anything about their roles in the new set up, nor do they know what the
basic structure of the set-up will be. The Doordarshan and AIR employees
have not yet been given the option whether to remain where they are or
join the corporation. For about the last 10 years, there was a Prasar Bharati
cell in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting; this is now almost
defunct. Recently, following the declaration of the enforcement of the
Prasar Bharati Act from 15th September, yet another cell was created in
the ministry, but nothing has been done in this cell either. The meetings
that have been taking place are being convened at a higher level. Meanwhile,
even the minor decisions are being postponed in the name of the incipient
Prasar Bharati Corporation. The standard plea is that when that corporation
starts functioning, it will automatically make the necessary decisions.
However, when important decisions are taken, nobody seems to remember the
Prasar Bharati Act.
“Huge amount” owed to Doordarshan
About six years ago both houses of parliament cleared
the Prasar Bharati Bill, which also duly received presidential approval.
Even then it was held in abeyance. From then on the various governments
that assumed office kept on announcing in various fora that without some
necessary amendments, the act could not be enforced. This has also been
the official position given by the government in the Delhi High Court.
The officers of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting wonder what
happened to that much publicized need for ‘necessary amendments’ in the
act? Enforcement of the Prasar Bharati Act is aimed at giving autonomy
to Doordarshan and AIR, which really means granting autonomy to the current
affairs and news-based programmes of these two institutions. That is the
sole purpose of this act, because in other programmes no such autonomy
is needed. However, there has been no preparation for making the news-based
programmes autonomous nor have the official media officers and workers
been sounded out. The Prasar Bharati Corporation will also have to depend
on commercial advertising, but nothing has been finalized in this case
also, possibly because many companies still owe millions of rupees to Doordarshan.
When the Prasar Bharati Act is enforced and made effective, the legacy
of the huge amount due to the Doordarshan will be passed on.
“The declaration to enforce Prasar Bharati [Broadcasting Corporation
of India] Act is becoming a source of irritation for the government,” ‘Jansatta,’
Delhi, August 30, 1997