Date:11/11/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/11/11/stories/2006111102331200.htm

National

Media helps sustain democracy: Somnath

Special Correspondent

`Indian press has absolute freedom'

NEW DELHI: "Media plays a great role in India in sustaining and strengthening the vibrant parliamentary democratic system but unfortunately, sometimes views are sought to be projected as news," Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said here on Friday.

In an interaction with a group of journalists from the U.S. and Asia on a visit to India as part of the East-West Centre's Jefferson Fellowship Programme, Mr. Chatterjee told them it was better to make use of the `Edit Page' to express views rather than packaging them as news. He told the visiting journalists that the press in India enjoys absolute freedom.

To a query on the percentage of representation of women in Indian legislative bodies, Mr. Chatterjee replied in a lighter vein, "We wanted to hide it, because it is very miserable." However, he added that in local bodies 33 per cent reservation for women has been successfully implemented. "Indian women have proved their mettle there," he added.

Replying to the query of an American journalist based in China, the Lok Sabha Speaker said that India would soon overtake China not only in population but also in various other fields. The fact that the ownership of land rests with the Government in China could be one of the reasons for the faster pace of progress there, he said.

To a question by a Chinese journalist on SEZs, he said the concept needed to be cautiously encouraged. Citing the example of an SEZ for gems and jewellery in West Bengal, he felt that the establishment of SEZs hastened development. During the interaction, he responded to issues such as the caste system, India-U.S. nuclear deal, India-Pakistan relations and social inequalities.