ITV

Tag: Rajya Sabha

  • Mathrubhumi chief and politician MP Veerendra Kumar passes away

    Mathrubhumi chief and politician MP Veerendra Kumar passes away

    MUMBAI: Mathrubhumi chairman managing director MP Veerendra Kumar, 84, passed away following a cardiac arrest in Kerala's Kozhikode district on Thursday night.

    For nearly four decades, he served as the top executive of the media house which comprises Mathrubhumi newspaper and Mathrubhumi News television channel, Mathrubhumi online, and a slew of niche publications in print. He was  serving as an independent Rajya Sabha MP backed by the Left parties.

    An active politician who followed the paths of socialist politician Jayprakash Narayan, Veerendra Kumar had undergone imprisonment during Emergency in 1975. None other than Jayprakash Narayan invited him to join the socialist party. He served as an all-India treasurer of the Samyukta Socialist Party from 1968 to 1970. Later, he joined the Janata Party and the Janata Dal factions. Later, he served as a union minister of state for finance and labour, and many times MP and MLA. An avowed champion of environmental issues, when he was the minister of forests in Kerala for a very short period, he infamously made his first order against cutting forests.

    A prolific writer and author of several award-winning books, Veereendra Kumar wore many hats: media owner, politician, and author.

    He was born to socialist leader and planter MK Padmaprabha Goudar and Marudevi Avva. He had his higher education from northern Kerala and from Cincinnati University, Ohio.

    He is survived by his wife and four children. His son M V Shreyams Kumar is the joint managing director of Mathrubhumi.

    The last rites will be held on Friday in the hilly district of Wayanad. 

  • Doordarshan brings Jungle Books during lock-down

    Doordarshan brings Jungle Books during lock-down

    Mumbai: Global content distribution hub One Take Media Co has agreed to offer the popular Jungle Book series for a free run on Doordarshan TV, to keep Indian kids occupied at home during lockdown.  This run is in solidarity with Ministry of Information & Broadcastingand Doordarshaninitiative of bringing popular series back to life for the current generation to watch in the days of lockdown.

    One Take Media Co founder-CEO Anil Khera said: “We are very happy to be a part of this national movement and contribute our bit to the national entertainment library in such delicate times. Mowgli & Jungle Book have always been a favorite among the audience. We are sure that it will make the older audience nostalgic and at the same time, will connect with the younger audience who will discover the innocence of Mowgli. We support MIB’s and Doordarshan visionary decision in reviving popular content in current times.”

    This decision came after Doordarshan announced bringing back historical epics like Mahabharat and Ramayan over the past two weeks for viewers across the country. In a circular, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has directed all direct-to-home platforms and cable operators to show all DD channels as well as Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha channels as per the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act.

    Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi ShekharVempati said: “We are happy to bring back one more popular series along with our iconic tv series.  We are happy that One Take Media has shown its willingness to join us for the national cause to keep children engaged safe at home with their families during the lockdown.”

    Data from Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) for the week ended 13 March shows that consumption of television content rose by over 40 million minutes’ week-on-week, a number likely to increase further in the coming days. As people stay at home and television broadcasters run out of fresh content, reviving classic shows seems to be a common recourse.
     

  • ISRO sees rise in third party satellite launches

    ISRO sees rise in third party satellite launches

    MUMBAI: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is slowly but surely making its mark as far as its satellite launch services are concerned. Consider: in 2018-19 it pocketed Rs 324.19 crore courtesy its launch capabilities as against Rs 232.56 crore in the year before. That’s a decent 35 per cent plus growth in income from launches.

    This information was given out in a reply to a question raised in the Rajya Sabha to union minister for atomic energy and space Jitendra Singh late last week.

    Singh further disclosed that ISRO earned Rs 1,245.17 crore during the last five years by launching satellites from 26 countries. Additionally, it has signed contracts with 10 countries –  the US, the UK, Germany, Canada, Singapore, Netherlands, Japan, Malaysia, Algeria, and France  over the same period under commercial arrangements.

    India has till date put into orbit 319 foreign satellites.

  • RS TV audit sought, content sharing with Prasar proposed by Veep

    RS TV audit sought, content sharing with Prasar proposed by Veep

    MUMBAI: India’s vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu, who is also the chairman of Rajya Sabha, has sought audit of the upper house broadcaster.

    RSTV, Naidu also said, should be able to quantify the reach of the channel (viewership) besides having systems for feedback on and evaluation of content. Efforts, he said, needed to be made to expand its reach with a clear plan of action, suggesting the possibility of synergy with Prasar Bharati through sharing of content.

    During a review, he was surprised to notice it was spending Rs 125 million for making “Raag Desh,” a commercial film produced by former RS TV editor and CEO Gurdeep Singh Sappal. It was based on Indian National Army trials, the court martial of its officers — Col Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon, Col Prem Sehgal and Major Shah Nawaz Khan.

    Naidu was informed that the channel had invested around Rs 3.75 billion since August 2011 when it started, the Times of India reported.

    Naidu sought a full-fledged professional and expense audit after he also found that an annual rent of Rs 250 million was being paid for office premises in New Delhi and around Rs 35 million spend on housing-keeping and hiring of cabs. Naidu wants to, instead, explore the possibility of owning an office.

    Naidu also questioned on RS TV’s original mandate, reach of the channel, present content mix, utilisation of manpower and other resources, expenditure, and the scope for rationalisation, Mint reported.

    The Competition Commission of India (CCI) meantime ordered a probe against the pubcaster Prasar Bharati for alleged abuse of dominance with regard to infrastructural facilities for FM radio broadcasting.

    The probe was ordered based on a complaint filed by Mumbai-based Clear Media against Prasar and the MIB. Clear Media had entered into an agreement with Prasar in 2006 for using its common transmission tower in Delhi. The dispute started after the collapse of the tower in 2014.

    The fair trade regulator, however, rejected similar complaints against the MIB, saying it was a government department responsible for framing rules without any involvement in any economic activity.

  • PSU spending on ads small compared to DAVP

    NEW DELHI: Public sector organisations had made a commitment of spending Rs 22,72,766 for advertisements released through the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) during 2016-17.

    The ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) sources said the committed expenditure in previous years was: 2014-15 – Rs 12,28,390 and 2015-16 – Rs 18,98,370.

    A total sum of Rs 12.8577 billion was spent in 2016-17 in advertisements on various media by DAVP, the Parliament was told last month. As against this, the total expenditure in 2014-15 was Rs 9.9834 billion and Rs 11.888.5 billion in 2015-16.

    Also read:

    DAVP ads: Audio-visual medium gets lion’s share 

    DAVP to ensure max publicity: MIB seeks ‘Quit India’ commemoration details from ministries

    DD invites short films on Govt schemes, ‘DAVP producers’ preferred

  • Swamy seeks transparency in IPL media rights through SC

    Swamy seeks transparency in IPL media rights through SC

    NEW DELHI: The Indian Premier League, which saw a brief lull in controversy with Lalit Modi preferring to remain overseas, appears to be in for another storm, this time over broadcast rights.

    Bharatiya Janata Party member and Rajya Sabha MP Subramaniam Swamy has moved the Supreme Court seeking a transparent mechanism for auction of telecast rights of IPL cricket matches for the next five years. The auction is slated for 17 July 2017.

    Swamy told indiantelevision.com that his petition for e-auctioning of IPL media rights was expected to come up for hearing on Friday this week or Monday next week. He said that there is a requirement of non-discriminatory and transparent method, with the best international practices, to be adopted for distribution of the valuable media rights so as to ensure the maximum revenue in the larger national interest.

    The petition questioned the manner in which the rights worth Rs 250 billion to Rs 300 billion were being distributed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

    Seeking a stay of the present system, he said the huge investments make it mandatory to have the auction process robust, completely transparent in order to maximise the revenue and prevent vested interest from making undue gains.

    Swamy mentioned the matter before the bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar for early hearing of the matter as the BCCI next week.

    A lawyer himself, Swamy cited various orders of the apex court after finding irregularities committed by country’s apex cricket body. He said that as the BCCI was found having irregularities, illegalities, misappropriation and asymmetries in the functioning, the Supreme formed the Mudgal Committee as an investigator and then the Justice R M Lodha Committee was formed on 22 January 2015 by the Supreme Court.

    The Supreme Court on 30 January 2017 appointed a four-member committee of administrators headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai to run the affairs of the BCCI and implement court-approved recommendations of the Lodha panel on reforms.

    Also Read :

    Vivo wins IPL title rights for Rs 21.9 bn

    IPL ’18 media rights decision likely in July, player recruitment norms to be tweaked

    Sports channels ratings dive in week 26

    IPL: Oppo, Vivo, Jio & Amazon ads ruled

  • Govt submits amended NSP in SC, Sun TV Red FM case adjourned

    MUMBAI: The apex court of India has adjourned Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy’s plea on national security that challenged Sun TV being allowed to participate in FM Radio auction.

    SC has asked  the central government to give Swamy the amended National Security Policy (NSP) in a week. Swamy had sought cancellation of Phase-3 licence granted to Sun TV’s Red FM India. A bench comprising chief justice of India JS Khehar and Justice DY Chandrachud directed the government counsel to provide Swamy the new NSP.

    Swamy had stated in the plea that ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) had, despite the opposition of home ministry, favoured Sun TV by allowing it to participate in FM Radio auction citing CBI and Enforcement Directorate cases against the main Sun TV promoter Kalanithi Maran in Aircel-Maxis case, Indian Legal Alive reported.

    Swamy has filed a petition seeking consistent and uniform policy on national security. It contented that national security should be bereft from arbitrariness. At the same time, he said it should not be contradictory in nature.

    On 7 July, additional solicitor-general Rana Mukherjee filed in the apex court in a sealed cover a revised policy on national security. Swamy submitted a letter written by union minister Arun Jaitley and former attorney-general of India to the government.

    The court read those letters and asked the government to provide Swamy a copy of the revised policy. The court will resume the hearing the case after a week.

    Questioning the maintainability of Swamy’s petition, the government counsel also said the NSP was framed in June 2015, and amended in December 2015, Live Law reported.

    According to the Constitution, Swamy argued, only the home ministry had the power to take a decision on national security and the MIB should not interfere. He alleged that the MIB’s decisions were arbitrary and the licence to any TV or radio should be cancelled on grounds of national security.

    Also Read :

    Delhi HC rules in favour of Sun TV chief Maran

    Saregama & Kumkum Bhagya prop Zee TV to third place across genres

    Amagi to provide ad solutions to Sun TV Network

  • Subhash Chandra hails GST, seeks new tax system & ease of doing biz

    MUMBAI: Essel Group chairman and Rajya Sabha MP Dr. Subhash Chandra has welcomed the GST Bill while addressing the Upper House of the Parliament for the first time.

    Dr. Chandra is an independent RS member from Haryana. ZEE, as a brand today, has achieved a global recognition, reaching over a billion viewers in 171 countries.

    A compilation of his tweets on GST:

    Today, I gave my maiden speech in Rajya Sabha and participated in the GST Bill debate. 

    I congratulate the govt, Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji and FM Shri @arunjaitley ji for bringing this historic GST bill. Since independence we’ve been hearing from almost everyone that we need to work for welfare of common man and uplift the poor class, he said.

    2000 years ago, India’s contribution to the world GDP was 32%, which came down to 4.2% in 1950, when India’s share in world manufacturing went to as low as 1.7% & international trade during the British Raj fell from 20% to 1.4%, he added.

    We understand why this happened, because the British wanted to rule us for a longer time and take away our wealth, he said. But, 70 years after their exit, have our economic conditions improved at the same rate as that of global standards?

    GDP in 1950 – 4.2% – was reduced to 3.2% in 1980, and now in 2017 it has reached around 7.5%. Manufacturing in 1950 was 1.7%, 3.2% in 1980, in 2015 it was 4% while global trade was 1.3% = 1950, 0.5% = 1980 & now 1.7%.

    If we compare these statistics with the growth in India’s population, then we see that since 1950, India’s growth has been negative, he added.

    From 2000-2015 India earned income of 2.23 trillion dollars, of which 81% wealth went to 10% of the population & 19% to the rest 90%. Astonishingly, 58% wealth of the 154 lakh crore went to the top one per cent, which clearly shows that poor became poorer, and the rich became richer.

    GST is of course a great measure but it is just the first step, we need to do lot more to eradicate poverty from India.

    We need to reduce the tax structure that will further motivate people in paying the taxes and govt can then do away with penal provisions. 

    Due to lack of Ease of Doing Business in India, there is lot of indirect tax that is borne out of corruption, we should also address it. In the time to come, we need to think beyond GST, start a new taxation system & not just replicate the global ones.

  • Depute law officer to probe NDTV tax case, Swamy urges FM

    MUMBAI: Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy has recommended through his Twitter handle that the finance ministry should field a Law Officer with the integrity to challenge NDTV’s income tax case of Rs.525 cr failing which it would have to face protest by him (Swamy.

    Earlier, NDTV published what it calls a ‘statement of facts’ on income tax case. NDTV states: This entire issue relates to a blatantly false case. In 2008, GE (USA) invested $150 million in NDTV through their media subsidiary NBC (USA).

    Six years later, in 2014, the Income Tax Department of India – without any evidence at all – called this investment a “sham transaction”, thereby accusing GE and NBC of being “fronts” or “name-lenders” for “money-laundering”. The Income Tax Department is in effect accusing the CEOs of GE and NBC of a crime for which, under US law, they will go to jail, if convicted. The CEOs involved in the deal are Jeff Immelt (CEO of GE who has met PM Modi on several occasions, including recently) and Jeff Zucker (former CEO of NBC and now President of CNN).

    This behaviour by the IT department is damaging for India and deeply harms the reputation of our country internationally at a time when we are trying to pitch India as an ideal place to do business, NDTV stated.

    For the Income Tax Department to call some of the world’s most respected business leader like Immelt and Zucker ‘money launderers’ amounts to what is widely known as “Tax Terrorism”. On this accusation, NDTV is being continuously harassed as part of a concerted effort to silence an Indian media house that has always stood and fought for independent journalism – despite repeated threats and intimidation.

    NDTV has appealed against the case. It has not been heard for two-and-a-half years as the income tax authorities have asked for no less than 20 adjournments. Since the first hearing, NDTV has not asked for a single adjournment. It suits the tax department to have this case drag on since it has no evidence of its wild and unsubstantiated allegations. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has clearly told the Delhi High Court that while complaints against NDTV have been received, the allegations were not supported by even prima facie material, NDTV stated.

  • MIB: Check permission of ads using emblems & important names, Paytm, Jio apologise

    MUMBAI: The Department of Consumer Affairs sought clarification from Paytm and Reliance Jio regarding use of the photograph of the prime minister in their respective full page advertisement contravening the ‘prior permission’ stipulation in such cases under ‘The Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950’.

    Paytm and Reliance Jio apologised for their inadvertent mistake. Further, based on a request from the Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has issued an advisory to print medium to check-up the permission/authority from Competent Authority before issuing any advertisement wherein the Emblem and Names Specified under the act are mentioned.

    Section 3 of ‘The Emblems and Name (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950’ stipulates that ‘no person shall, except in such cases and under such conditions as may be prescribed by the Central Government, use, or continue to use, for the purpose of any trade, business, calling or profession or in the title of any patent, or in any trade mark or design, any name or emblem specified in the Schedule or any colourable imitation thereof without the previous permission of the Central Government or of such officer of Government as may be authorized in this behalf by the Central Government.’ A committee is in existence in Department of Consumer Affairs for inter-alia examining proposals regarding prior approval stipulation under ‘ the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950’.

    This information was given by the minister of state for consumer affairs, food & public distribution C.R. Chaudhary in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.