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NEW
DELHI: Put off several times in the past despite official
announcements, the Broadcast Services Regulation Bill is unlikely
to be introduced in the Budget session, apparently because
of the controversy over Content Code sought to be imposed
on broadcasters.
Answering a question during a press meet relating to the session,
Information and Broadcasting minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi
who also holds the Parliamentary Affairs portfolio said the
government had heard all the stakeholders and was now in the
process of amending the bill accordingly before it is placed
in the Parliament.
The bill does not find mention even the list of bills expected
to be introduced in the session which will be in two parts
(25 February to 19 March and then from 15 April to 9 May).
I&B secretary Asha Swarup is understood to be reviewing
the entire bill, first drafted by the present government in
2006, in consultation with senior officials in her own ministry.
After the work is finalised, the bill will be sent to the
law ministry which will examine it from a legal and constitutional
angle.
The
bill was placed on the Ministry’s website www.mib.nic.in
to seek comments of the stakeholders who include consumers,
broadcasters and advertisers, among others.
The bill envisages a Content Code which has been separately
posted on the website of the ministry. News broadcasters raised
strong objections to this code and the News Broadcasters Association
(NBA) and the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) offered
to draw up their own codes, which have failed to materialize.
Even as the government has said it will enforce its own code
in view of Supreme Court orders as the broadcasters have failed
to do so, it has issued guidelines for district and state-level
monitoring committees to provide a forum for the public to
file their complaints and ensure that no unauthorised or pirated
channels are carried.
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