Budget 2001: A Primer

In the case of Fashion Television, the ministry has decided that what thechannel shows is unsuitable for Indian sensibilities and needs to be alteredto suit Indian tastes. All this after ministry mandarins monitored thechannel for some time and heavyweights went through the paces of watchingclips. Now, there's talk that the channel will bring in a "strategic Indianpartner" for local content. As if as a sop, the ministry has condescendednot to ban the channel but merely doctor its content to suit its owndefinition of Indian sensibilities. Not content with all this, Ms SushmaSwaraj has also decided to clamp down on the latest Close Up toothpastecommercial because it contains a kissing scene!

Now take the decision on foreign institutional investor (FII) investmentsinto the Mid-Day initial public offer. After the Reserve Bank of Indiaitself gave a clearance to the company to place shares with FIIs, the I&Bministry got into the act and forced the RBI to withdraw the clearance andimpose an embarrassing blanket ban on FII investments in print media ingeneral.

Foreign direct investments into print, Minister Sushma Swaraj has reiteratedtime and again, are already banned. Despite comments from time to time whichraise hopes that this meaningless ban will be lifted at some point, theministry's latest moves make it amply clear that the stricture, which isnothing short of backdoor censorship, will continue for some more time.

What the FTV and Mid-Day decisions have done is to put the spotlight back oncensorship in general. The question is simple: who is the I&B ministry todecide what offends my sensibilities, as long as it is not, in general,offensive in nature? Those who watch FTV - and I am happy to declare I watchthe channel occasionally - will agree there's nothing in it that is vulgaror immoral. In any case, FTV offends my sensibilities much less than many ofthe cheap, offensive and vulgar song-and-dance sequences in Hindi cinemawhich the Central Board of Film Certification merrily passes in the name ofpopular entertainment. Maybe Ms Swaraj should also take a look at some ofthe Indian satellite channels which air song sequences late in the night andfind out whether these suit Indian sensibilities.In the case of the Mid-Day IPO too, I look at this as a form of censorship.

I am not clear what the government is seeking to achieve by banning foreignfunds - direct or indirect - into the print medium, particularly when a slewof foreign channels airing news content is freely available in many Indianhomes. And - I say this with confidence - some of them do impart their owncolour to news from India, particularly during difficult times. How does theI&B ministry plan to contain that? Or should satellite channels be bannedaltogether?

In the internet age, when everyone from children to adults can access news -domestic and international - from the websites of the major newspaperswithin the country and abroad, the I&B ministry's moves are obviouslymeaningless. What prevents these sites from influencing the minds of theIndian readers - the same minds which the I&B ministry is so carefullytrying to protect from being corrupted by the after-effects of foreigninvestments in print? The government is hopelessly out of sync with reality,and it's now begun advertising that rather openly. What is more, it is alsoblissfully unaware that foreign portfolio investments in print have alreadybeen made in a couple of cases earlier. What happens to these cases? Noanswers yet.

Like many others in this country, I am opposed to a ban of any kind on artand writing unless these are obviously offensive or vulgar. I see such bansas a violation of the freedom of expression, and something which isbasically wrong. By preventing foreign investments into print, the ministryis also assuming that Indians cannot think for themselves and can be easilyinfluenced by the "evils" foreign investments will bring. Another outdatedand incorrect assumption.

In any case, there could be enough checks and balances drawn up whileallowing foreign investments into print, so that the bulk of the content isdecided by Indians and not foreigners. But a ban surely cannot be theanswer. The government and, more specifically, the I&B ministry, needs toundertake a serious rethink on these issues. Or a time may well come whenthere would be an order to break down the temples of Khajuraho because theydo not suit the "sensibilities" of a government whose thinking is as ancientas the sculptures.