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Tag: Ajay Mittal

  • Centre mulls giving financial help to states to help preserve cinema culture

    Centre mulls giving financial help to states to help preserve cinema culture

    NEW DELHI: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry is exploring possibilities of extending financial and technical support to State Governments in their efforts to safeguard the country’s film heritage, as Secretary Ajay Mittal said “the objective of preserving the country’s cinematic heritage has to be achieved in collaboration with state governments.”

    Speaking on the sidelines of a High Level Committee meeting on National Film Heritage Mission held in National Film Archives of India in Pune today, Mittal said the Committee had taken some major decisions to expand the horizons of the National Film Heritage Mission.

    “The mission would ensure not only the preservation of filmic heritage but also its dissemination and access to the last mile. This would create awareness amongst youth and children about our rich cultural heritage” he observed.

    Appreciating the efforts of officers at NFAI in implementing the Mission, Mr Mittal said all necessary steps are being undertaken to involve International organizations and institutions to ensure project’s implementation as per global standards. He further added that NFAI’s facilities would be augmented by creating new state-of-the-art vaults in its premises.

    Laying thrust on the need for enhancing research on Indian cinema, Mittal said the government is exploring the possibility of extending NFAI’s research fellowship to the University level through formal institutional mechanisms.

    “NFAI would reach out to major Universities for short and long term courses in the area of film studies incorporating subjects of film archiving and preservation. This would ensure building of skilled manpower in the niche area of film preservation”, Mittal added.

    The High Level Committee meeting was attended by senior officers of the Ministry which included Additional Secretary ad Financial Adviser Subhash Sharma, Joint Secretary (Films) Sanjay Murthy, Films Division Director General Mukesh Sharma, NFAI Director Prakash Magdum, officer on special duty in NFHM Santosh Ajmera, along with filmmakers Jahnu Barua and Rajeev Mehrotra.

    National Film Heritage Mission is a prestigious project of the Government for digitization, restoration, preservation and conservation of country’s rich filmic heritage. The mission has budgetary outlay of Rs. 597.41 crore and is to be implemented till 2021. NFAI is the implementing agency for the mission. The High Level Committee chaired by Secretary I&B has been mandated to oversee project’s implementation as per envisaged objectives of the Mission.

  • Festival of patriotic films commences with Naidu stressing of filmmakers of that time

    Festival of patriotic films commences with Naidu stressing of filmmakers of that time

    NEW DELHI: A film festival on patriotic films opened here today with Information ad Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiaih Naidu stressing that Indian Cinema not only played a vital role during the freedom movement but facilitated in spreading the message regarding the great deeds and valour of eminent leaders and personalities related to freedom movement.

    He said these films had a social message and had a profound impact on the minds and social behavior of people.

    The opening of the week long “Independence Day Film Festival” at Siri Fort Auditorium was also attended by Minister of State Rajyavardhan Rathore and I and B Secretary Ajay Mittal, apart from noted film personalities Chitraarth and A K Bir.

    The Minister said the 70th year of Independence offered an opportunity to take the country from Swaraj to Suraaj under the leadership of Prime Minister Naendra Modi. This would enable the country to fight the long standing ills plaguing the society and take the nation to newer heights.

    He added that every Indian Citizen was equal and there was no room for anybody to discriminate against any other individual. For the nation to achieve faster progress in all fronts, every section of the society irrespective of caste, creed, religion, region and language should be part of the growth story.

    All Indians should believe only in oneness of the country and nothing else should be allowed to cause obstacles in India’s march ahead. He urged that civil society and people should strive to foster harmony and build bridges across the communities.

    Speaking on the philosophy of the Indian Freedom Struggle, Naidu said that many countries fought for their freedom and became independent but the Indian Freedom Movement was unique in the sense that it showed to the world the power of non-violence and democratic principles. He said that people from different walks of life from different parts of the country contributed to the freedom movement including educationists, lawyers, leaders, farmers, artists and ordinary men & women.

    Referring to the rich history of Indian cinema and the context in which the movies were produced, the Minister mentioned that India’s victory in 1965 war had fired the imagination of then young film actor Manoj Kumar in Mumbai which lead to the making of ‘Upkar’ in 1967.

    Remembering the unsung heroes who contributed to freedom movement, the Minister said the 1959 Tamil Film “Veerapaandiya Kattabomman” directed by B R Panthulu was the story and valour of Kattabomman – an 18th century local leader from Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, who refused to accept the sovereignty of East India Company.

    While remembering the towering personalities of our freedom movement and founding fathers of the Republic of India, the Minister said Sardar Vallabhai Patel played a leading role in integration of the country into a united and independent nation. The film “Sardar” which portrays the life of Sardar Patel would be screened at the Film Festival. He also referred to the sacrifices made by Veer Savarkar during the freedom struggle.

    The Minister said the festival provided an opportunity to school children especially from public schools who attended the festival to be inspired by the history of these great leaders and freedom fighters.

    The opening Film for the festival was ‘Gandhi’ directed by Sir Richard Attenborough. The festival will continue till 18 August and 20 films are being screened. The festival has been organized by the Directorate of Film Festivals in collaboration with the Defence Ministry.

  • Festival of patriotic films commences with Naidu stressing of filmmakers of that time

    Festival of patriotic films commences with Naidu stressing of filmmakers of that time

    NEW DELHI: A film festival on patriotic films opened here today with Information ad Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiaih Naidu stressing that Indian Cinema not only played a vital role during the freedom movement but facilitated in spreading the message regarding the great deeds and valour of eminent leaders and personalities related to freedom movement.

    He said these films had a social message and had a profound impact on the minds and social behavior of people.

    The opening of the week long “Independence Day Film Festival” at Siri Fort Auditorium was also attended by Minister of State Rajyavardhan Rathore and I and B Secretary Ajay Mittal, apart from noted film personalities Chitraarth and A K Bir.

    The Minister said the 70th year of Independence offered an opportunity to take the country from Swaraj to Suraaj under the leadership of Prime Minister Naendra Modi. This would enable the country to fight the long standing ills plaguing the society and take the nation to newer heights.

    He added that every Indian Citizen was equal and there was no room for anybody to discriminate against any other individual. For the nation to achieve faster progress in all fronts, every section of the society irrespective of caste, creed, religion, region and language should be part of the growth story.

    All Indians should believe only in oneness of the country and nothing else should be allowed to cause obstacles in India’s march ahead. He urged that civil society and people should strive to foster harmony and build bridges across the communities.

    Speaking on the philosophy of the Indian Freedom Struggle, Naidu said that many countries fought for their freedom and became independent but the Indian Freedom Movement was unique in the sense that it showed to the world the power of non-violence and democratic principles. He said that people from different walks of life from different parts of the country contributed to the freedom movement including educationists, lawyers, leaders, farmers, artists and ordinary men & women.

    Referring to the rich history of Indian cinema and the context in which the movies were produced, the Minister mentioned that India’s victory in 1965 war had fired the imagination of then young film actor Manoj Kumar in Mumbai which lead to the making of ‘Upkar’ in 1967.

    Remembering the unsung heroes who contributed to freedom movement, the Minister said the 1959 Tamil Film “Veerapaandiya Kattabomman” directed by B R Panthulu was the story and valour of Kattabomman – an 18th century local leader from Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, who refused to accept the sovereignty of East India Company.

    While remembering the towering personalities of our freedom movement and founding fathers of the Republic of India, the Minister said Sardar Vallabhai Patel played a leading role in integration of the country into a united and independent nation. The film “Sardar” which portrays the life of Sardar Patel would be screened at the Film Festival. He also referred to the sacrifices made by Veer Savarkar during the freedom struggle.

    The Minister said the festival provided an opportunity to school children especially from public schools who attended the festival to be inspired by the history of these great leaders and freedom fighters.

    The opening Film for the festival was ‘Gandhi’ directed by Sir Richard Attenborough. The festival will continue till 18 August and 20 films are being screened. The festival has been organized by the Directorate of Film Festivals in collaboration with the Defence Ministry.

  • Ensure flow of undiluted and unadulterated information to the people: Naidu

    Ensure flow of undiluted and unadulterated information to the people: Naidu

    NEW DELHI: ,Venkaiah Naidu who has assumed additional charge of Information and Broadcasting held until now by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, has said communication processes are critical for empowering people with information that would enable them to fulfill their aspirations.

    He said the government’s mission would be to enable public communication for the development of the country and the community. Naidu told newspersons after taking charge yesterday that he would be guided by the principle of ‘Communication for Development of the Community and the Country” and the basic principles of “Reform, Perform, Transform and Inform”.

    The government was a “reservoir of Information” relating to various aspects of a common man’s life. It was important to ensure proper flow of such information -“undiluted and unadulterated” – for broadening common man’s understanding of key policy initiatives of the government. This would facilitate the task of information empowerment, thereby creating an enabling environment for key stakeholders.

    The minister said it was important to position various media units as credible brands for effectively serving the information needs of the people. He referred to the process of change ushered in by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which touched upon the attitudes of key stakeholders thereby reorienting our approach and understanding towards the concept of development. In order to achieve this goal, it was important to mainstream effective communication as an input to realize this change.

    Jaitley, minister of State for I and B Rajyavardhan Rathore, secretary Ajay Mittal, Director-General (Media and Communication) in Press Information Bureau Frank Noronha and other senior officers of the ministry were present.

    Naidu who already holds the urban development, housing and poverty alleviation ministry, but was divested of the parliamentary affairs portfolio in the latest reshuffle.

  • Ensure flow of undiluted and unadulterated information to the people: Naidu

    Ensure flow of undiluted and unadulterated information to the people: Naidu

    NEW DELHI: ,Venkaiah Naidu who has assumed additional charge of Information and Broadcasting held until now by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, has said communication processes are critical for empowering people with information that would enable them to fulfill their aspirations.

    He said the government’s mission would be to enable public communication for the development of the country and the community. Naidu told newspersons after taking charge yesterday that he would be guided by the principle of ‘Communication for Development of the Community and the Country” and the basic principles of “Reform, Perform, Transform and Inform”.

    The government was a “reservoir of Information” relating to various aspects of a common man’s life. It was important to ensure proper flow of such information -“undiluted and unadulterated” – for broadening common man’s understanding of key policy initiatives of the government. This would facilitate the task of information empowerment, thereby creating an enabling environment for key stakeholders.

    The minister said it was important to position various media units as credible brands for effectively serving the information needs of the people. He referred to the process of change ushered in by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which touched upon the attitudes of key stakeholders thereby reorienting our approach and understanding towards the concept of development. In order to achieve this goal, it was important to mainstream effective communication as an input to realize this change.

    Jaitley, minister of State for I and B Rajyavardhan Rathore, secretary Ajay Mittal, Director-General (Media and Communication) in Press Information Bureau Frank Noronha and other senior officers of the ministry were present.

    Naidu who already holds the urban development, housing and poverty alleviation ministry, but was divested of the parliamentary affairs portfolio in the latest reshuffle.

  • Govt claims almost 100 percent STB seeding in DAS III areas despite cases

    Govt claims almost 100 percent STB seeding in DAS III areas despite cases

    NEW DELHI: Despite the challenge to digital addressable systems in many courts in the country, the government has claimed almost 100 per cent achievement in phase III areas with seeding of about 41 million (4.1 crore) set top boxes.   

    The claim was made by Information and Broadcasting joint secretary R Jaya in the 15th meeting of the Task Force on implementation of phases III and IV of DAS of cable television networks on 30 May 2016 under the chairpersonship of l&B secretary Ajay Mittal.

    In the last meeting on 16 February 2016, it had been disclosed that around 90.44 percent success had been achieved in DAS phase III. During the meeting it was informed that the seeding of STBs by multi system operators increased from 6.91 million to 12.43 million between 31 December 2015 and 15 February 2016.

    But she admitted that seeding had slowed down due to court cases. She also said the figure given by her may include some reporting of seeding in phase lV

    A total of 42 court cases have been filed for extension in the deadline of phase lll in various courts in the country with the 2-month extension by the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh High Court. Other courts followed suit on the grounds that this order was extendable to other areas. This led to the centre moving the Supreme Court which passed an order of transfer of all cases for extension filed in various courts and any new cases on similar prayer to the Delhi High Court for adjudication.

    Seventeen cases have so far been transferred by various courts to the Delhi High Court out of which the High Court had dismissed three cases and another three cases were being heard that same day. A case filed by one Headend-in-the-sky player on the same matter was also being heard in the Delhi High Court on that day (30 May 2016).

    Jaya said more MSOs’ had been given registration since the last meeting of the Task Force taking the total to 870. She said that MSOs’ and broadcasters should now concentrate on phase lV areas and prioritize signing of interconnect agreements for these areas.

    She also asked stakeholders to plan and start launching of publicity awareness campaigns for mandatory digitisation in phase lV areas which is to be completed by 31 December 2016.

    Earlier, Mittal said DAS was a win-win situation for all and so all sectors should cooperate. He said the meeting of the Task Force could not be held since February 2016 due to various administrative reasons.

    He said the consumers deserve better quality reception and other benefits from digitisation. He hoped that all stakeholders would make concerted efforts to digitise the remaining areas under the fourth and last phase of digitisation.

    He said the ministry had planned to hold a fresh round of several regional workshops at various places in the country in the coming months as had been done for the last phase. .

    Advisor (DAS) Yogendra Pal said the ministry has asked all registered MSOs’, DTH & HITS operators’ to enter the seeding data in the MIS system developed by the ministry for collection of data for all the four phases instead of phase lll which they had been doing until now, and update it once in a week. He added that MIS system has suitably been modified for this purpose and 35 operators have already entered seeding data for Phase lV.

    He said that only about 1,000 applications had been received till date in the ministry for MSO registration against the expected number of about 6,000 applications. He requested the members to advise those MSOs’ who are yet to apply for DAS registration to do the same. He mentioned that the ministry had requested the broadcasters to check up with all MSOs’ with whom they have interconnect agreements if they have taken MSO registration for phase lV areas and advise them to do so immediately.

    The members were told that the TV household requirements as per census 2011 data would be provided though this would be district wise and not rural area wise.

    A representative of a Consumer Forum said though digitisation has not adversely affected anybody, much that was expected from the consumer point of view is still awaited.

    A local cable operator from Maharashtra regretted that before implementation of DAS, LCOs’ were entrepreneurs and after its implementation they have become employees of MSOs’. He also said that LCOs’ have been voicing their concerns from the time of the first phase but without being heard.

    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India regulation on revenue sharing between MSOs’ and LCOs’ is an issue that is still unresolved. He added that MSOs’ are not entering into proper interconnect agreements with LCOs’. He remarked that digitisation under phase lV may not be easy as all national MSOs’ may not be able to cover all areas.

    But a representative of GTPL mentioned that MSOs’ and LCOs’ are separate entities. They sign agreements with each other as principals. Each entity has its defined role in providing the service. He said the government should consider giving some incentives for digitization in phase lV areas. He added that TRAI had also recommended some incentives in its recommendations which were not accepted by the government.

    At this, Mittal said any incentives sought for by any group or sector should get passed on to the people.

    A representative of Hathway said LCOs’ can also become MSOs’. He said MSOs’ have no issues with regard to interconnect agreements with LCOs’. He said on the directive of Bombay High Court, TRAI had prescribed a standard interconnect agreement form after due process of consultations. This form serves as a template for all such agreements.

    He suggested that broadcasters should offer special rates for phase lll and phase lV markets.

    A Siti Cable representative said digitisation had benefitted people as they get greater channel choice and better signal quality. He said extension of deadline granted by various courts for phase lll of digitisation had badly affected the pace of digitization. He added that the MSOs’ are losing out on huge inventory of set top boxes which they are not able to deploy in the field. With regard to phase lV of digitisation, he said the headends installed by them for phase lll will cater to phase lV areas as well.

    A DTH representative said as a result of the extension in deadline granted by various courts, they had to retrench some of their employees whom they had deployed in the field.

    An LCO from Assam complained that one MSO in Assam had served a legal notice to LCOs’ for migrating to another MSO, and consumers had also been served with legal notice for return of set top box bought by them from the MSO through outright purchase. He said the authorized officers in the state of Assam do not take action against MSOs’ who are violating the cable network rules and regulations.

    The TRAI representative admitted that while regulations prescribe three modes of purchase for STBs – outright purchase, hire purchase, and rental mode, standard plans have been prescribed under rental mode only and no price for outright purchase has been prescribed by TRAI.

    Referring to the Assam LCO, he said this would not have arisen if the interconnect agreements entered by MSOs’ with LCOs’ had been clear on every issue.

    He said TRAI had recently started a fresh review of all regulations and consultation process on the same is on. He added that TDSAT earlier used to pass interim orders but had of late it passed orders that were final.

    Mittal hoped that the review of the DAS Regulations undertaken by TRAI is completed quickly and the various grievances of the stakeholders regarding the extant regulations are addressed. He also remarked that there appeared to be lack of trust between the MSOs’ and LCOs’ and TRAI should look at this.

    An LCO from Maharashtra complained that the state government entertainment officers are sealing the control rooms of MSOs’ for non-payment of Entertainment Tax.

    But he was told that only the authorized officers, as defined in the Cable TV Act and Rules framed thereunder, are authorized to take any action for violations of the various provisions of the Act.

    The Advisor said one state government had complained to the ministry that MSOs’ are not giving them access to their SMS system to verify the lists of subscribers. He said that MSOs’ should provide the SMS report to the state governments as and when asked by them.

    An Odisha government representative said the state government has set up coordination committees at state and district level to implement cable TV digitisation in the state. He added that the nodal officers in the state are also checking the MIS data on regular basis. The state nodal officer from the state of Telengana mentioned that 20 MSOs’ operating in the state had not so far entered data in the MIS system. Jaya said that it was heartening to know that state governments are also monitoring the seeding of data by MSOs’ in their states. She mentioned that the MIS system deployed by ministry sends an alert to an MSO in case he does not update his data.

    She said that the regional units set up by the ministry for remain in touch with MSOs’ to ensure that MSOs’ follow the rules.

    A point was raised that LCOs’ are asked by the Head Post Offices to obtain NOC certificate from the state government for issue as well as renewal of their LCO registration. It was suggested that LCO registration be granted for 5 years instead of period of one year as per existing rules. Mittal agreed to consider this.

  • Govt claims almost 100 percent STB seeding in DAS III areas despite cases

    Govt claims almost 100 percent STB seeding in DAS III areas despite cases

    NEW DELHI: Despite the challenge to digital addressable systems in many courts in the country, the government has claimed almost 100 per cent achievement in phase III areas with seeding of about 41 million (4.1 crore) set top boxes.   

    The claim was made by Information and Broadcasting joint secretary R Jaya in the 15th meeting of the Task Force on implementation of phases III and IV of DAS of cable television networks on 30 May 2016 under the chairpersonship of l&B secretary Ajay Mittal.

    In the last meeting on 16 February 2016, it had been disclosed that around 90.44 percent success had been achieved in DAS phase III. During the meeting it was informed that the seeding of STBs by multi system operators increased from 6.91 million to 12.43 million between 31 December 2015 and 15 February 2016.

    But she admitted that seeding had slowed down due to court cases. She also said the figure given by her may include some reporting of seeding in phase lV

    A total of 42 court cases have been filed for extension in the deadline of phase lll in various courts in the country with the 2-month extension by the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh High Court. Other courts followed suit on the grounds that this order was extendable to other areas. This led to the centre moving the Supreme Court which passed an order of transfer of all cases for extension filed in various courts and any new cases on similar prayer to the Delhi High Court for adjudication.

    Seventeen cases have so far been transferred by various courts to the Delhi High Court out of which the High Court had dismissed three cases and another three cases were being heard that same day. A case filed by one Headend-in-the-sky player on the same matter was also being heard in the Delhi High Court on that day (30 May 2016).

    Jaya said more MSOs’ had been given registration since the last meeting of the Task Force taking the total to 870. She said that MSOs’ and broadcasters should now concentrate on phase lV areas and prioritize signing of interconnect agreements for these areas.

    She also asked stakeholders to plan and start launching of publicity awareness campaigns for mandatory digitisation in phase lV areas which is to be completed by 31 December 2016.

    Earlier, Mittal said DAS was a win-win situation for all and so all sectors should cooperate. He said the meeting of the Task Force could not be held since February 2016 due to various administrative reasons.

    He said the consumers deserve better quality reception and other benefits from digitisation. He hoped that all stakeholders would make concerted efforts to digitise the remaining areas under the fourth and last phase of digitisation.

    He said the ministry had planned to hold a fresh round of several regional workshops at various places in the country in the coming months as had been done for the last phase. .

    Advisor (DAS) Yogendra Pal said the ministry has asked all registered MSOs’, DTH & HITS operators’ to enter the seeding data in the MIS system developed by the ministry for collection of data for all the four phases instead of phase lll which they had been doing until now, and update it once in a week. He added that MIS system has suitably been modified for this purpose and 35 operators have already entered seeding data for Phase lV.

    He said that only about 1,000 applications had been received till date in the ministry for MSO registration against the expected number of about 6,000 applications. He requested the members to advise those MSOs’ who are yet to apply for DAS registration to do the same. He mentioned that the ministry had requested the broadcasters to check up with all MSOs’ with whom they have interconnect agreements if they have taken MSO registration for phase lV areas and advise them to do so immediately.

    The members were told that the TV household requirements as per census 2011 data would be provided though this would be district wise and not rural area wise.

    A representative of a Consumer Forum said though digitisation has not adversely affected anybody, much that was expected from the consumer point of view is still awaited.

    A local cable operator from Maharashtra regretted that before implementation of DAS, LCOs’ were entrepreneurs and after its implementation they have become employees of MSOs’. He also said that LCOs’ have been voicing their concerns from the time of the first phase but without being heard.

    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India regulation on revenue sharing between MSOs’ and LCOs’ is an issue that is still unresolved. He added that MSOs’ are not entering into proper interconnect agreements with LCOs’. He remarked that digitisation under phase lV may not be easy as all national MSOs’ may not be able to cover all areas.

    But a representative of GTPL mentioned that MSOs’ and LCOs’ are separate entities. They sign agreements with each other as principals. Each entity has its defined role in providing the service. He said the government should consider giving some incentives for digitization in phase lV areas. He added that TRAI had also recommended some incentives in its recommendations which were not accepted by the government.

    At this, Mittal said any incentives sought for by any group or sector should get passed on to the people.

    A representative of Hathway said LCOs’ can also become MSOs’. He said MSOs’ have no issues with regard to interconnect agreements with LCOs’. He said on the directive of Bombay High Court, TRAI had prescribed a standard interconnect agreement form after due process of consultations. This form serves as a template for all such agreements.

    He suggested that broadcasters should offer special rates for phase lll and phase lV markets.

    A Siti Cable representative said digitisation had benefitted people as they get greater channel choice and better signal quality. He said extension of deadline granted by various courts for phase lll of digitisation had badly affected the pace of digitization. He added that the MSOs’ are losing out on huge inventory of set top boxes which they are not able to deploy in the field. With regard to phase lV of digitisation, he said the headends installed by them for phase lll will cater to phase lV areas as well.

    A DTH representative said as a result of the extension in deadline granted by various courts, they had to retrench some of their employees whom they had deployed in the field.

    An LCO from Assam complained that one MSO in Assam had served a legal notice to LCOs’ for migrating to another MSO, and consumers had also been served with legal notice for return of set top box bought by them from the MSO through outright purchase. He said the authorized officers in the state of Assam do not take action against MSOs’ who are violating the cable network rules and regulations.

    The TRAI representative admitted that while regulations prescribe three modes of purchase for STBs – outright purchase, hire purchase, and rental mode, standard plans have been prescribed under rental mode only and no price for outright purchase has been prescribed by TRAI.

    Referring to the Assam LCO, he said this would not have arisen if the interconnect agreements entered by MSOs’ with LCOs’ had been clear on every issue.

    He said TRAI had recently started a fresh review of all regulations and consultation process on the same is on. He added that TDSAT earlier used to pass interim orders but had of late it passed orders that were final.

    Mittal hoped that the review of the DAS Regulations undertaken by TRAI is completed quickly and the various grievances of the stakeholders regarding the extant regulations are addressed. He also remarked that there appeared to be lack of trust between the MSOs’ and LCOs’ and TRAI should look at this.

    An LCO from Maharashtra complained that the state government entertainment officers are sealing the control rooms of MSOs’ for non-payment of Entertainment Tax.

    But he was told that only the authorized officers, as defined in the Cable TV Act and Rules framed thereunder, are authorized to take any action for violations of the various provisions of the Act.

    The Advisor said one state government had complained to the ministry that MSOs’ are not giving them access to their SMS system to verify the lists of subscribers. He said that MSOs’ should provide the SMS report to the state governments as and when asked by them.

    An Odisha government representative said the state government has set up coordination committees at state and district level to implement cable TV digitisation in the state. He added that the nodal officers in the state are also checking the MIS data on regular basis. The state nodal officer from the state of Telengana mentioned that 20 MSOs’ operating in the state had not so far entered data in the MIS system. Jaya said that it was heartening to know that state governments are also monitoring the seeding of data by MSOs’ in their states. She mentioned that the MIS system deployed by ministry sends an alert to an MSO in case he does not update his data.

    She said that the regional units set up by the ministry for remain in touch with MSOs’ to ensure that MSOs’ follow the rules.

    A point was raised that LCOs’ are asked by the Head Post Offices to obtain NOC certificate from the state government for issue as well as renewal of their LCO registration. It was suggested that LCO registration be granted for 5 years instead of period of one year as per existing rules. Mittal agreed to consider this.

  • Political, bureaucratic wrangles likely road-blocks for the new I&B secretary

    Political, bureaucratic wrangles likely road-blocks for the new I&B secretary

    NEW DELHI: The biggest challenges for the bureaucrats in the country can be summed up in just a few words: being unprepared, and forced to make compromises.

    Thus, a person taking charge as the head of the bureaucracy in any ministry has to put aside his or her own personal views and get down to translating the decisions of the government and the minister/ministers into action, apart from the fact that he or she may be completely new to the field. And this task becomes even more onerous when there are deadlines to be met in short periods of time.

    Ajay Mittal is taking over the reins of the administrative machinery in the Information and Broadcasting ministry from Sunil Arora who had barely eight months to grapple with problems. Arora joined the Ministry on 31 August last year just as the ministry was making preparations for the Digital Addressable System Phase III and was in the midst of the Phase III auctions of FM radio.

    Mittal, is a senior Indian administrative service (IAS) officer of the 1982 batch from the Himachal Pradesh cadre. Born on 24 February 1958, Mittal is a law graduate and also has a Masters degree in rural development. His first posting was as principal secretary to the then chief minister of Himachal Pradesh and in the information and public relations wing in the state. Mittal was empanelled as secretary in December last year when he was additional chief secretary at Transport, Social Justice & Empowerment Department, Shimla.

    Now, Mittal has to deal with not only the onerous task of overseeing the implementation of the last phase in DAS which will cover all remaining urban and all rural areas of the country by December-end, but bringing the government out of the morass of legal cases which stayed the implementation of DAS Phase III in many states and have now been transferred to the Delhi high court.

    DAS Phase III

    Even though the deadlines for the last two phases of DAS were changed, the stakeholders were clearly unprepared as they all claimed shortage of compatible set top boxes – a claim which even the ministry could not deny. Expectedly, several high courts stayed implementation for varying periods  
    And although the ministry has succeeded in getting all the cases transferred to the Delhi high court, the fact remains that the ministry had itself admitted in a letter to its counsel in Chandigarh that it understood the stay to be pan-India, until the Supreme Court said nothing in the directive of the Bombay high court implied this.

    With the shortage of compatible set top boxes and little headway despite the incentives offered under the Make in India scheme, the ministry has to find ways to encourage indigenous production. Even at present, a large number of LCOs work with poor quality STBs made in China or other countries.

    Added to that is the fact that a large number of broadcasters, multi system operators, and local cable operators have still to work out their agreements – an issue further complicated by the directives of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Arbitration Tribunal which wants the tariffs to looked at anew.
     
    In fact, many MSOs or LCOs have also not been able to get the Consumer Application Forms from their clients despite major publicity by the broadcasters.

    It is also a fact that analogue transmission continues in many parts of cities and towns that have gone digital and the government has failed to get the stay of DAS in Chennai vacated.

    The Home ministry had many months earlier made it clear that it was prepared to do away with security clearance for Indian-owned multi-system operators, the I and B Ministry has not yet got the go-ahead, with the result that MSOs are only getting provisional licences and the number of those with ten-year permanent licences remains at 231. The new secretary will have to push the Home ministry if he wants DAS to succeed.

    TRAI

    Although these are issues that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is dealing with, all decisions relating to the broadcasting sector can only be effective if there is proper coordination between the regulator and the ministry. This effectively means there has to be a quick response to any issues that either of the two raises to the other, if deadlines have to be met.

    Other issues pending before TRAI relating to broadcasting include the need to reconsider the foreign direct investment norms for media, shortage of spectrum, a growing demand by states seeking permissions to start their own television channels despite the TRAI having opined against it twice since 2008, and the imperative to work on the tariff issues for commercial and non-commercial set-ups following directives of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal.

    Although broadcasting duties were handed over to TRAI just over a decade earlier, it is also clear that the ministry will have to consider whether there is need to form a broadcasting-specific body since TRAI is primarily a body set up for the telecom sector. If the Government decides to continue with TRAI handling both portfolios, the regulator will be under pressure from the I and B Ministry to strengthen its broadcasting team and also ensure greater coordination among officers in both broadcasting and telecom.    

    With convergence of technologies becoming a reality, and with issues of spectrum already bringing telecom and broadcasting together, the National Democratic Alliance Government has again begun to talk about convergence and this is bound to gather pace over the next two years.

    Spectrum

    The Defence Ministry has in principle agreed to hand over some spectrum and swap some other spectrum, and TRAI has also worked on the process of auctioning the available spectrum and given out reserve prices, the whole process is caught up in bureaucratic wrangles as it involves the Telecom ministry. If the I and B ministry wants to continue with its policy of ensuring there are no caps on the number of television, FM radio channels, or direct-to-home (DTH) Headed in the sky (HITS) platforms in the country, the issue of spectrum will need early solution.

    FM Radio Auctions

    When the last secretary Sunil Arora took over, the government was in the midst of the first stage of auctions of the FM Radio e-auction which only covered cities which already have FM but there were some vacancies. Learning from the experiences where there were no bids in 13 of the 69 cities, the government has now decided to revise the guidelines for the e-auction. The new secretary may have to find ways of either lowering the reserve price for those cities or finding other incentives before the next stage of e-auction.

    The fact that the cumulative winnings from the channels auctioned so far has exceeded the reserve price by more 100 per cent is undoubtedly a matter of great satisfaction, but some cities failing to attract bidders is an irritant.

    Ad Cap

    The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 was clear that the advertising cap should be twelve minutes an hour, but television channels went to court because many – particularly the news channels most of which are free to air – said they had no other source of income unlike the pay channels. But the ministry is already doing a rethink as admitted by the ministry as well as the News Broadcasters Association.

    This rethink is probably because the I and B minister had said early this last year that he was opposed to ad caps on the print or electronic media, and because the free-to-air channels (most of which are news channels) have already expressed their opposition to this. TRAI had failed to get permission to take action against television channels violating its diktat of a total of 12 minutes of commercial and promotional advertisements every hour, though all broadcasters were asked to keep records of this by the Delhi High Court.

    Spread of FM Radio vs DRM

    The Digital Radio Mondiale Consortium feels that All India Radio has done the most in terms of digitization of radio. AIR has in fact spent crores of rupees on the digitized Digital Radio Mondiale. But Prasar Bharati feels that Frequency Modulation which is an analogue technology should be promoted until the nation is ready for digital radio sets.

    The ministry can resolve this issue only if it can ensure adequate manufacture at affordable process of DRM sets under the Make in India programme. Until then, this continues to be a thorn in the already dicey relations between the public service broadcaster and the ministry. The fact remains that there are just one or two manufacturers of DRM sets and these have also been successfully demonstrated in moving cars, but they remain unaffordable.

    Community Radio

    More than a decade has elapsed since the introduction of community radio, but the number of operational stations is still very low. To boost this sector, the government introduced a new scheme last year for funding community radio and has also been giving away awards, but bureaucratic wrangles continue to hold up the smooth implementation of this scheme.

    Prasar Bharati and the Ministry

    On paper, the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act 1990 is clear that the pubcaster is autonomous. However, in reality this appears to the contrary.

    On the one hand, a group of ministers had decided as a measure to help the pubcaster that persons employed as on 5 October 2007 will get the salary and pension from government funds. For employees who joined after that date, Prasar Bharati was left to fend for itself.

    In any case, Prasar Bharati is listed as an autonomous company under the ministry.

    This means – and it appears so even from the manner in which questions relating to the pubcaster are answered in parliament – that there is dispute on what real autonomy is. Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar – a former bureaucrat himself – feels the government does not give him full freedom and there is interference at every level and has said so either in speeches or in articles by him or others in the pubcaster.

    Journalists on the parliamentary beat are often flabbergasted by the fact that when it suits the government, a reply will say that the pubcaster is an autonomous body, and yet there has been the intervention of the government even in appointments in Prasar Bharati.

    While there is generally full autonomy as far as content goes, there are allegedly checks and balances placed by the government in administrative matters.

    In a new development that has in principle been accepted by the government, Prasar Bharati, which has been losing revenue and viewership, has decided to auction prime time slots – perhaps inspired by the success of the e-auctions of slots on the country’s only free-to-air direct-to-home platform DD Freedish, or the FM auctions.

    Freedish

    Even though the auctions have been extremely successful and the pubcaster not only got two or three times the reserve price per slot, but even managed to get at least two pay channels to come as FTA, it has still not been able to switch over from MPEG2 to MPEG4 to enable it to increase the number to 112 as promised over the last three to four years.

    Foreign Direct Investment

    The TRAI had given its recommendations for an increased FDI in many sectors of the media in a report in July 2013. Although there was some change by the government earlier this year, it has still not implemented the FDI report of TRAI in full.

    Security Clearance

    While the Home ministry has decided it is doing away with security clearance for MSOs, it has not taken a decision as far television channels are concerned. And while the issue relating to foreign ownership can be understood, the denial of security clearance to Sun TV and its affiliated MSOs continues to flummox everyone in the media. It is generally felt that an accused is not guilty till proved, but the Home ministry – and the I and B ministry – appear to have decided that the Maran brothers should be denied security clearance despite the fact that the cases against them have no relation to the security of the country, and are in fact an incursion n the freedom of the media. Even the Supreme Court while permitting Sun group companies to take part in the FM auction said so.

    Paid News

    It is now almost five years since the issue of paid news became the talk of the town. The Press Council of India set up a committee which even gave recommendations, and a Parliamentary Panel and the Election Commission also wanted some steps to be taken to stop this. But there has been no tangible action so far.

    Film Industry

    The film industry has been raising similar issues year after year. As far as taxation issues were concerned, it was hoped that the Goods and Services Tax when implemented will help. But the way the matter is stuck in parliament forces the industry to just wait and watch.

    Entertainment tax is another issue on which there has been no unanimity and states have different taxes. A proposal about a decade earlier for bringing cinema into the Concurrent List of the Constitution might have solved the problem, but most states opposed the idea. Perhaps the only positive move has been that service tax or cess on entertainment tax has been done away with.

    In a country producing around one thousand feature films every year apart from the large number of films from overseas, the country still suffers from an acute shortage of theatres, with the number less than 11,000. With the high rates of ticketing charged by the multiplexes, the average cinegoer is denied of the pleasure of seeing a film in a cinema hall.

    All attempts to curb video piracy appear to have failed because the film industry and the government have failed to work together to curb the menace, which means huge losses for the makers of bold films unless there are big stars to lure the audiences.

    The Film Museum has been in the planning and making for more than a decade, but it does not appear that the Museum planned for 2013 to coincide with a centenary of cinema will seek the light of day for at least a couple of more years.

    The Centre of Excellence in Animation and Visual Effects

    For almost ten years, minister after minister has promised to set up a Centre of Excellence in Animation and Visual Effects, and Hyderabad and Bangalore have even claimed that they have the right ambience for such a centre.

    But indications are coming that it will be established in the Film City in Goregaon in Mumbai, a decision that may not be digestible to studios of animation and VFX in cities like Hyderabad and Bangalore.

    Clearly, the new secretary has a difficult task ahead, moving on a road that is not without political or bureaucratic potholes that can hold up even his best intentions.

     

  • Political, bureaucratic wrangles likely road-blocks for the new I&B secretary

    Political, bureaucratic wrangles likely road-blocks for the new I&B secretary

    NEW DELHI: The biggest challenges for the bureaucrats in the country can be summed up in just a few words: being unprepared, and forced to make compromises.

    Thus, a person taking charge as the head of the bureaucracy in any ministry has to put aside his or her own personal views and get down to translating the decisions of the government and the minister/ministers into action, apart from the fact that he or she may be completely new to the field. And this task becomes even more onerous when there are deadlines to be met in short periods of time.

    Ajay Mittal is taking over the reins of the administrative machinery in the Information and Broadcasting ministry from Sunil Arora who had barely eight months to grapple with problems. Arora joined the Ministry on 31 August last year just as the ministry was making preparations for the Digital Addressable System Phase III and was in the midst of the Phase III auctions of FM radio.

    Mittal, is a senior Indian administrative service (IAS) officer of the 1982 batch from the Himachal Pradesh cadre. Born on 24 February 1958, Mittal is a law graduate and also has a Masters degree in rural development. His first posting was as principal secretary to the then chief minister of Himachal Pradesh and in the information and public relations wing in the state. Mittal was empanelled as secretary in December last year when he was additional chief secretary at Transport, Social Justice & Empowerment Department, Shimla.

    Now, Mittal has to deal with not only the onerous task of overseeing the implementation of the last phase in DAS which will cover all remaining urban and all rural areas of the country by December-end, but bringing the government out of the morass of legal cases which stayed the implementation of DAS Phase III in many states and have now been transferred to the Delhi high court.

    DAS Phase III

    Even though the deadlines for the last two phases of DAS were changed, the stakeholders were clearly unprepared as they all claimed shortage of compatible set top boxes – a claim which even the ministry could not deny. Expectedly, several high courts stayed implementation for varying periods  
    And although the ministry has succeeded in getting all the cases transferred to the Delhi high court, the fact remains that the ministry had itself admitted in a letter to its counsel in Chandigarh that it understood the stay to be pan-India, until the Supreme Court said nothing in the directive of the Bombay high court implied this.

    With the shortage of compatible set top boxes and little headway despite the incentives offered under the Make in India scheme, the ministry has to find ways to encourage indigenous production. Even at present, a large number of LCOs work with poor quality STBs made in China or other countries.

    Added to that is the fact that a large number of broadcasters, multi system operators, and local cable operators have still to work out their agreements – an issue further complicated by the directives of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Arbitration Tribunal which wants the tariffs to looked at anew.
     
    In fact, many MSOs or LCOs have also not been able to get the Consumer Application Forms from their clients despite major publicity by the broadcasters.

    It is also a fact that analogue transmission continues in many parts of cities and towns that have gone digital and the government has failed to get the stay of DAS in Chennai vacated.

    The Home ministry had many months earlier made it clear that it was prepared to do away with security clearance for Indian-owned multi-system operators, the I and B Ministry has not yet got the go-ahead, with the result that MSOs are only getting provisional licences and the number of those with ten-year permanent licences remains at 231. The new secretary will have to push the Home ministry if he wants DAS to succeed.

    TRAI

    Although these are issues that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is dealing with, all decisions relating to the broadcasting sector can only be effective if there is proper coordination between the regulator and the ministry. This effectively means there has to be a quick response to any issues that either of the two raises to the other, if deadlines have to be met.

    Other issues pending before TRAI relating to broadcasting include the need to reconsider the foreign direct investment norms for media, shortage of spectrum, a growing demand by states seeking permissions to start their own television channels despite the TRAI having opined against it twice since 2008, and the imperative to work on the tariff issues for commercial and non-commercial set-ups following directives of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal.

    Although broadcasting duties were handed over to TRAI just over a decade earlier, it is also clear that the ministry will have to consider whether there is need to form a broadcasting-specific body since TRAI is primarily a body set up for the telecom sector. If the Government decides to continue with TRAI handling both portfolios, the regulator will be under pressure from the I and B Ministry to strengthen its broadcasting team and also ensure greater coordination among officers in both broadcasting and telecom.    

    With convergence of technologies becoming a reality, and with issues of spectrum already bringing telecom and broadcasting together, the National Democratic Alliance Government has again begun to talk about convergence and this is bound to gather pace over the next two years.

    Spectrum

    The Defence Ministry has in principle agreed to hand over some spectrum and swap some other spectrum, and TRAI has also worked on the process of auctioning the available spectrum and given out reserve prices, the whole process is caught up in bureaucratic wrangles as it involves the Telecom ministry. If the I and B ministry wants to continue with its policy of ensuring there are no caps on the number of television, FM radio channels, or direct-to-home (DTH) Headed in the sky (HITS) platforms in the country, the issue of spectrum will need early solution.

    FM Radio Auctions

    When the last secretary Sunil Arora took over, the government was in the midst of the first stage of auctions of the FM Radio e-auction which only covered cities which already have FM but there were some vacancies. Learning from the experiences where there were no bids in 13 of the 69 cities, the government has now decided to revise the guidelines for the e-auction. The new secretary may have to find ways of either lowering the reserve price for those cities or finding other incentives before the next stage of e-auction.

    The fact that the cumulative winnings from the channels auctioned so far has exceeded the reserve price by more 100 per cent is undoubtedly a matter of great satisfaction, but some cities failing to attract bidders is an irritant.

    Ad Cap

    The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 was clear that the advertising cap should be twelve minutes an hour, but television channels went to court because many – particularly the news channels most of which are free to air – said they had no other source of income unlike the pay channels. But the ministry is already doing a rethink as admitted by the ministry as well as the News Broadcasters Association.

    This rethink is probably because the I and B minister had said early this last year that he was opposed to ad caps on the print or electronic media, and because the free-to-air channels (most of which are news channels) have already expressed their opposition to this. TRAI had failed to get permission to take action against television channels violating its diktat of a total of 12 minutes of commercial and promotional advertisements every hour, though all broadcasters were asked to keep records of this by the Delhi High Court.

    Spread of FM Radio vs DRM

    The Digital Radio Mondiale Consortium feels that All India Radio has done the most in terms of digitization of radio. AIR has in fact spent crores of rupees on the digitized Digital Radio Mondiale. But Prasar Bharati feels that Frequency Modulation which is an analogue technology should be promoted until the nation is ready for digital radio sets.

    The ministry can resolve this issue only if it can ensure adequate manufacture at affordable process of DRM sets under the Make in India programme. Until then, this continues to be a thorn in the already dicey relations between the public service broadcaster and the ministry. The fact remains that there are just one or two manufacturers of DRM sets and these have also been successfully demonstrated in moving cars, but they remain unaffordable.

    Community Radio

    More than a decade has elapsed since the introduction of community radio, but the number of operational stations is still very low. To boost this sector, the government introduced a new scheme last year for funding community radio and has also been giving away awards, but bureaucratic wrangles continue to hold up the smooth implementation of this scheme.

    Prasar Bharati and the Ministry

    On paper, the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act 1990 is clear that the pubcaster is autonomous. However, in reality this appears to the contrary.

    On the one hand, a group of ministers had decided as a measure to help the pubcaster that persons employed as on 5 October 2007 will get the salary and pension from government funds. For employees who joined after that date, Prasar Bharati was left to fend for itself.

    In any case, Prasar Bharati is listed as an autonomous company under the ministry.

    This means – and it appears so even from the manner in which questions relating to the pubcaster are answered in parliament – that there is dispute on what real autonomy is. Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar – a former bureaucrat himself – feels the government does not give him full freedom and there is interference at every level and has said so either in speeches or in articles by him or others in the pubcaster.

    Journalists on the parliamentary beat are often flabbergasted by the fact that when it suits the government, a reply will say that the pubcaster is an autonomous body, and yet there has been the intervention of the government even in appointments in Prasar Bharati.

    While there is generally full autonomy as far as content goes, there are allegedly checks and balances placed by the government in administrative matters.

    In a new development that has in principle been accepted by the government, Prasar Bharati, which has been losing revenue and viewership, has decided to auction prime time slots – perhaps inspired by the success of the e-auctions of slots on the country’s only free-to-air direct-to-home platform DD Freedish, or the FM auctions.

    Freedish

    Even though the auctions have been extremely successful and the pubcaster not only got two or three times the reserve price per slot, but even managed to get at least two pay channels to come as FTA, it has still not been able to switch over from MPEG2 to MPEG4 to enable it to increase the number to 112 as promised over the last three to four years.

    Foreign Direct Investment

    The TRAI had given its recommendations for an increased FDI in many sectors of the media in a report in July 2013. Although there was some change by the government earlier this year, it has still not implemented the FDI report of TRAI in full.

    Security Clearance

    While the Home ministry has decided it is doing away with security clearance for MSOs, it has not taken a decision as far television channels are concerned. And while the issue relating to foreign ownership can be understood, the denial of security clearance to Sun TV and its affiliated MSOs continues to flummox everyone in the media. It is generally felt that an accused is not guilty till proved, but the Home ministry – and the I and B ministry – appear to have decided that the Maran brothers should be denied security clearance despite the fact that the cases against them have no relation to the security of the country, and are in fact an incursion n the freedom of the media. Even the Supreme Court while permitting Sun group companies to take part in the FM auction said so.

    Paid News

    It is now almost five years since the issue of paid news became the talk of the town. The Press Council of India set up a committee which even gave recommendations, and a Parliamentary Panel and the Election Commission also wanted some steps to be taken to stop this. But there has been no tangible action so far.

    Film Industry

    The film industry has been raising similar issues year after year. As far as taxation issues were concerned, it was hoped that the Goods and Services Tax when implemented will help. But the way the matter is stuck in parliament forces the industry to just wait and watch.

    Entertainment tax is another issue on which there has been no unanimity and states have different taxes. A proposal about a decade earlier for bringing cinema into the Concurrent List of the Constitution might have solved the problem, but most states opposed the idea. Perhaps the only positive move has been that service tax or cess on entertainment tax has been done away with.

    In a country producing around one thousand feature films every year apart from the large number of films from overseas, the country still suffers from an acute shortage of theatres, with the number less than 11,000. With the high rates of ticketing charged by the multiplexes, the average cinegoer is denied of the pleasure of seeing a film in a cinema hall.

    All attempts to curb video piracy appear to have failed because the film industry and the government have failed to work together to curb the menace, which means huge losses for the makers of bold films unless there are big stars to lure the audiences.

    The Film Museum has been in the planning and making for more than a decade, but it does not appear that the Museum planned for 2013 to coincide with a centenary of cinema will seek the light of day for at least a couple of more years.

    The Centre of Excellence in Animation and Visual Effects

    For almost ten years, minister after minister has promised to set up a Centre of Excellence in Animation and Visual Effects, and Hyderabad and Bangalore have even claimed that they have the right ambience for such a centre.

    But indications are coming that it will be established in the Film City in Goregaon in Mumbai, a decision that may not be digestible to studios of animation and VFX in cities like Hyderabad and Bangalore.

    Clearly, the new secretary has a difficult task ahead, moving on a road that is not without political or bureaucratic potholes that can hold up even his best intentions.

     

  • Ajay Mittal will be I&B ministry secretary on Sunil Arora’s retirement

    Ajay Mittal will be I&B ministry secretary on Sunil Arora’s retirement

    NEW DELHI: Senior Indian Administrative Service officer Ajay Mittal is to take over as secretary in the Information & Broadcasting ministry. He will succeed Sunil Arora, who is retires on 30 April. At present, Mittal is based in his home cadre in Himachal Pradesh and belongs to the 1982 batch. His predecessor Arora is an IAS officer from Rajasthan from the 1980 batch.
    Arora joined the ministry on 31 August last year just as the ministry was making preparations for the Digital Addressable System Phase III and was in the midst of the Phase III auctions of FM radio. His successor will have the onerous task of overseeing the implementation of the last phase in DAS which will cover all remaining urban and all rural areas of the country.

    Born on 24 February 1958, Mittal is a law graduate and also has an masters degree in rural development. His first posting was as principal secretary to the then chief minister of Himachal Pradesh and in the Information and Public Relations wing in the state. Mittal was empanelled as secretary in December last year when he was additional chief secretary, Transport, Social Justice & Empowerment department, Shimla.