Bill to regulate contents of private channels

New Delhi, May 16: The government would bring a Content and Broadcasting Regulatory Bill in the monsoon session of Parliament to have a monitoring mechanism for television channels, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi told the Rajya Sabha today.

Replying to the debate held on the working of the I&B ministry, Mr Dasmunsi said that a draft of the bill has already been prepared by the ministry but it would be tabled in the first week of Monsoon session.

Under the new bill, there was a provision of a monitoring mechanism in the form of 'Viewers Forum' having statutory support to ensure that the content shown in the electronic media was not demeaning to the image of women, did not have adverse impact on children and youth and provided a correct perception of the growing nation, the minister said.

The Forum would have representatives from women organisations, children right activists and psychiatrists and other viewers, he said this in response to the concern expressed by CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat over the obscene projection of women in media and BJP leader Ravishanker Prasad's point that the self regulation was not very effective in the country.

However, Mr Dasmunsi said that the ministry could not control depiction of superstitious practices and astrology and worships by celebrities on television as it was beyond the government's jurisdiction.

Regarding the concern of RJD member Mangniram Mandal that programmes of Doordarshan were not reaching the people in remote and border areas, Mr Dasmunsi said that 96 per cent of the population is being covered by radio while over 90 per cent population views the Doordarshan's national channel.

He said that though the reach of Doordarshan was wide, the ministry is trying to improve the quality of programmes being shown by it.

He said the country has 10 million DTH set top boxes at present, of which eight million are for Doordarshan and they show 33 channels, including 19 of doordarshan and 14 of other channels. He said despite the opposition from the cable operators, the ministry was trying to increase and popularise DTH so that the reach of Doordarshan could be further widened.

About the anomalies in the pay scales of some employees of Prasar Bharti, Mr Dasmunsi said that he would plead their case as a trade union leader before the government.

UNI