This is one of those perennial, anachronistic issues that never seem to get resolved. I dont want to argue the past and dont know why this policy was ever in place. I have my theories. But today this doesnt make much sense no matter how sincere past concerns may have been. People have internet. You can get news from it in pretty much all parts of the country. More visibly you have TV in all parts of the country. Many govts even give out free TVs to people. TV gives news on hundreds of private channels, in all different languages. So no matter what the justification for past rules, this is, objectively speaking, outdated. Now my theory on why private radio channels werent allowed to air news. I have memories of the 70s when I was a little kid. But did absorb the ways the nation and establishment thought about these kinds of issues. Much has changed and musch has not. I suspect in olden days radio was seen as villagy. TV more urban. Villagy people are gullible and they believe every rumour and gossip. Unlike us, the more sophisticated urban types. This can be a serious weapon in the hands of the anti-nationals. You surely dont want those villagy people to go berserk and riot every time some unprofessional radio channel or mischief mongers let loose some rumour. Nation will break into pieces. (To be fair, there were plenty of secessionist movements in full swing and the Indian state was more paranoid and less confident about dealing with such revolts.) Hence villagy people were deemed to be fit for Far Vision (Doordarshan) news. I just thought of this. Far Vision sounds like Far Sighted. You can see things far away very well - like mischief of foreign hand in every cholera case in your city. But you cant see the mess that is near, right under your nose. Captures governance in the 70s pretty well.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Oct 2013 05:29:41 +0000
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