NEW DELHI: Virtually echoing the views of former Minister Manish Tewari, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said that he ‘philosophically’ and ‘ideologically’ favoured abolishing his Ministry.
However, he justified this by noting that it was in keeping with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s emphasis of ‘less government, more governance’.
“Philosphically or ideologically, I’ll be willing to do that,” he said, when asked if India needed an I&B ministry when many major democracies do not have such a profile.
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Asked whether Modi was also ‘philosophically and ideologically’ in agreement with his line of thinking, Javadekar said: “Absolutely”, during an interview by Karan Thapar on Headline Today’s programme “Nothing but the Truth”.
The Minister agreed with the suggestion for hiring professional editors for Doordarshan and All India Radio. He was also open to discussion with stakeholders on more FDI in media.
“I think you are giving a good line for us. But ultimately, when our Prime Minister Narendra Modi says that more governance and less government, so you are actually contributing to the idea of less government and more governance. That’s our focus, but to achieve that end you have to follow a process,” he said.
The Minister said that as far as the public broadcaster is concerned, there are various models like the BBC and others available which would be studied. Javadekar said he was not in favour of a model where the public broadcaster is accountable to the minister “only”.
Javadekar also said that in the years ahead, words like “government-run’, ‘government-controlled’ or ‘government intervention’ will be less heard.
“But I would like that government becomes less and less and freedom and market forces and at the same time social justice is achieved,” Javadekar said.
