Strange Noises from I & B Ministry
Unbelievable ... is the word that came to mind when two of the following news reports came out - each courtesy our very esteemed I & B Ministry:
- AXN Channel has been axed (taken off air) by I&B Ministry because it showed a program titled 'Worlds Sexiest Ads'.
- Nimbus has been asked to share its Live Cricket Match feed with Prasar Bharti (DD) by I&B Ministry in the name of patriotism!
Now what is going on here?
Well, the program in question shown by AXN was indeed shown after 11PM. And I&B ministry completely forgot that it itself is in the process of making a law that will allow such programs to be shown after 11 PM. Is it for I&B Ministry to decide what people will watch and what they won't? Or is there a deeper malaise of arrogance, publicity or something even worse in play here?
And whats so patriotic about watching a Cricket Match? Its just a game. Why was I&B Ministry sleeping all along, when BCCI was selling rights to the telecast to Nimbus. And Nimbus paid upwards of 600 million dollars to get the rights, which Doordarshan wants just like that?
Mr Priya Ranjan Das Munshi (I&B Minister) - you threatened on television to resign if you don't have your way (ofcourse wrapped in the garb of patriotism) by getting the feed for free. You would do a great service to this nation by actually resigning, or honouring contractual agreements.
If Ministers think nothing of Contractual Agreements, Commercial Rights - who will? Nobody will be surprised if the I&B Minister will work towards changing the rules of the game midway (by bringing in a ordinace or a new law) to suit him.
And when Nimbus offered a encrypted feed - so that adjoining nations do not get the feed for free too, you thundered on televsion: encrypted feed will black out my television and network! Strange, really strange. An I&B Minister has not been advised well about what a encrypted feed is ???
Dear Mr Priyaranjan, you have headed and ruined Indian Footbal Association for many many years now. Do you feel unpatriotic about it? Or that is ok. You never talked about showing us Asian Games events live from Doha with the same gutso, and what about the Premier Hockey League matches? Nobody seems to care about that.
Its such a shame that a Ministry and a Minister - misleads people into believing that watching cricket match is something about Patriotism, and Contractual Agreements can go to hell.
posted by Apun Ka Desh @ 11:46 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Hi Apun ka desh, nice to see you back.
Sometimes it seems that policies are made on the whims and fancies of individuals, in this case the minister. If he wants to get cricket on the Doordarshan network, why doesen't he ask his colleague (Sharad Pawar) to get BCCI to give its rights to Doordarshan ?
good to see you back.
there are times i am convinced that majority politicians in India are myopic and brain dead when they behave the way they do. but there might be a possibility that they just dont know any better. i think every politician in india should be exposed to the best practices in their respective areas. sounds very theoritical but who knows what education might change. its worth trying. i dont know if its already done.
I seriously don't get them, our politicians. I don't know what they think. just coz they are a minister doesn't mean that they can throw the law of the land to the bin. These politicians will use 'Indian culture', 'National interest', 'public morals' etc to get away with almost anything. That's just not done.
Ashish,Musings> Thanks. Good to see you here too.
Roshan> Well Said.
When our dear Mr. Munshi sees that when a huge number of peple don't get live cricket feed in a cricket crazy country, he starts counting the votes he can possibly garner by saying "I got you the cricket matches". Contracts be damned, since when did our governments think that they have to respect contracts? (Don't think they ever will if they the option called "ordinance")
I am all for everyone in the country getting to see live matches. But when the sporting authority auctioned the rights and someone paid for those rights, the person deserves to be able to make money from those rights.
Regarding AXN, munshiji said "Yes, I am the moral inspector, and I am serious about it". Well, munshiji does not believe that his electorate is smart enough to decide for themselves. Another case of censorship by a bunch of idiots who think that everyone else needs to be told what is good and what is not. Sad state, but true :-(
Btw, did not know that the sexiest ads would lead to such a controversy. Had I known that, would have definitely recorded the thing. Personally I did not find anything objectionable to it.
I & B ministers seem to know how to be in headlines (for all wrong reasons of course), be it sushmaji or munshiji.
When our dear Mr. Munshi sees that when a huge number of peple don't get live cricket feed in a cricket crazy country, he starts counting the votes he can possibly garner by saying "I got you the cricket matches". Contracts be damned, since when did our governments think that they have to respect contracts? (Don't think they ever will if they the option called "ordinance")
I am all for everyone in the country getting to see live matches. But when the sporting authority auctioned the rights and someone paid for those rights, the person deserves to be able to make money from those rights.
Regarding AXN, munshiji said "Yes, I am the moral inspector, and I am serious about it". Well, munshiji does not believe that his electorate is smart enough to decide for themselves. Another case of censorship by a bunch of idiots who think that everyone else needs to be told what is good and what is not. Sad state, but true :-(
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