Move on FDI in print media deferred

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, OCT. 17. The Government has decided to keep in abeyance a decision on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in print media till the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology submits its report on the issue.

This was disclosed by the Minister for Information and Broadcasting (I&B), Ms. Sushma Swaraj, while addressing the Economic Editors' Conference here today - a day after the Cabinet discussed an I&B Ministry proposal to review media policy vis-a- vis publications that do not deal with news and current affairs.

The Cabinet took the position that it would be best to defer a decision on the matter till the parliamentary panel submitted its report, Ms. Swaraj said.

On whether the Ministry had jumped the gun in taking the issue of reviewing the media policy to allow the publication of foreign journals in the country to the Cabinet, she said the Ministry had decided to do so as ``our proposal envisaged only a limited amendment to the Cabinet Resolution of 1955 to allow the publication of non-news and current affairs publication in India''. It was the CPI(M) which jumped the gun by opposing the move even before it had materialised, she added.

Ms. Swaraj denied that she had initiated the Standing Committee discussion on FDI in print media. ``The Standing Committee suo motu decided to discuss the issue and all I did was refer a representation made by five editors - asking that the issue of foreign investment in print media be addressed separately from the question of foreign media entry - to the panel.''

As for the Ministry position on the issue, Ms. Swaraj said: ``We subscribe to the Cabinet Resolution of 1955 as long as it remains the law governing our print media policy.'' The policy is guided by the 1955 Cabinet Resolution according to which no foreign- owned newspaper or periodical should be allowed to be published in India. Also, the resolution does not allow foreign newspapers and periodicals dealing with news and current affairs to bring out Indian editions.

Ms. Swaraj said India was well on the road to becoming an uplinking hub for television channels in the south Asian region. About 36 channels and eight Indian companies have been given permission to set up uplinking hubs or teleports. This, she added, was a far cry from the situation before 1998 when no television channel was allowed to uplink from India.

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