NEW DELHI: A sum of just over Rs 135.53 million is owed by different departments or ministries to Prasar Bharati.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said that "recovery of outstanding dues is being pursued vigorously".

In a reply in Parliament, Tewari said that the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) of his own Ministry owes an amount of just over Rs 98.43 million to the pubcaster.

The Health and Family Welfare Ministry owes around Rs 7.7 million, while Rural Development Ministry owes around Rs 17.7 million.

The Labour and Employment Ministry owes a sum of just over Rs 11.71 million.

Prasar Bharati will receive these amounts for carrying advertisements about the flagship programmes of the present government over Doordarshan and All India Radio.

NEW DELHI: The Communication and Information Technology Ministry has received the report of a high-level committee set up to roll back the revised spectrum charges for community radio stations.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said the CIT Ministry was presently studying the report and a decision was ?under process.?

The Committee had been set up by the WPC Wing of the CIT Ministry following representations from various organisations including community radio stations to the I&B Ministry.

The I&B Ministry had requested the CIT Ministry on 10 May this year to reconsider the decision and roll back the increase in spectrum fee for community radio stations.

MUMBAI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has received 750 complaints of paid news during the state assembly elections in the current year, Information & Broadcasting minister Manish Tewari said.

In comparison, the ECI had received 155 complaints of paid news during the state assembly elections last year.
Tewari also informed that the Press Council of India (PCI) has received nine complaints of paid news this year compared to 17 in the previous.

"The Press Council of India (PCI), an autonomous body to maintain and improve the standards of press, received 17 complaints of paid news in the year 2009-10, two complaints in the year 2010-11 and 11 complaints in 2011-12 and nine complaints till date in the current year," Tewari said in a statement laid in the Lok Sabha.

In response to another question, Tewari told the Lok Sabha that Doordarshan had earned Rs 865.7 million from the auction of slots on its direct-to-home (DTH) platform to free-to-air channels in the year 2011-12.

NEW DELHI: Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari has reiterated that he is in favour of self-regulation and ?reviews should be done by industry bodies without too much of governmental influence?.

The governmental cannot play big brother in every field, the Minister said, while responding to a question about the Film Federation of India choosing a film for the Oscars.

Self-regulation is part of the government?s role in safeguarding the fundamental freedom of the people, Tewari said in an informal chat with mediapersons.

The Government will therefore interfere only if there is a major aberration, he said.

Meanwhile, Ministry sources said the Minister has decided to give priority to gaming and animation sectors as he sees them as potential work generating industries.

The sources also said that the government is working expeditiously on ensuring that the auctions for FM Radio Phase III commence within this financial year. Certain issues raised by stakeholders are being ironed out, the sources said.

Referring to cross-media ownership, the sources said that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India which is studying the report of the Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad, on this subject had sought certain clarifications from the Ministry. These clarifications have been provided and Trai is expected to finalise its report soon, the sources said.

NEW DELHI: Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Minister Manish Tewari has assured employees of Prasar Bharati of early redressal of their grievances including long-pending promotions.

During his first visit to All India Radio, Doordarshan and the Prasar Bharati headquarters after becoming the Minister on Wednesday, Tewari was assured by Prasar Bharati chief executive officer Jawhar Sircar that the recruitment rules for most cadres were ready and promotions would be granted shortly.

Sircar said the government?s decision bear the expenditure on salaries of most employees and the recent financial concessions announced following the recommendations of a Group of Ministers had greatly helped the pubcaster in initiating new programmes.

The Minister was apprised about the functioning of AIR and DD and the broadcaster?s immediate plans for expansion.

The minister assured the employees that they were free to approach him directly whenever they had any problems.

NEW DELHI: Manish Tewari, until now national spokesperson for the Congress party, has become the new Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Minister as Minister of State with independent charge.

The new I&B Minister will hardly have time to settle down as the four metros of India move nearer to the digitisation deadline of 31 October. Tewari will have to be firm as several local cable operators have sounded a possible law and order problem with a large number of consumer homes still not having digital set top boxes (STBs). They have been asking for an extension of the deadline but the government has resisted claiming that the STB penetration has touched as high as 85 per cent, a figure various industry experts have found hard to digest.

Tewari, like his predecessor Ambika Soni who resigned on Saturday to devote her energies to strengthening the party ahead of the General Elections in 2014, hails from Punjab. Soni is a Rajya Sabha member from the states, while Tewari is a member of the 15th Lok Sabha from Ludhiana.

Soon after the swearing in by President Pranab Mukherjee, Tewari said he would contact the outgoing Minister before saying anything about digitisation for which the deadline is 31 October. "I have not applied my mind to it so far. I will talk to all the stakeholders. First I will talk to the outgoing Minister Ambika Soni?.

S Jagathrakshakan, who was until now Minister of State for I&B, has been moved to New and Renewable Energy.

The I&B Ministry does not have a Minister of State at a time when cable TV digitisation is on the anvil. Furthermore, the Ministry has a vital role to play ahead of the elections.

Tewari, 47, is a first-time member of the Lok Sabha and was elected in May 2009. It is for the first time since independence of the country that Ludhiana has got representation in the central Government. As an MP, he has been member of several Parliamentary Committees.

His father late Vishwanath Tewari, a professor of Punjab University, was a freedom fighter and also a Member of Parliament and was killed by terrorists a few months before Operation Blue Star. His grandfather Tirath Singh had been a Minister in the Congress Government in Punjab.

Manish is married to Dr Naaznin B. Shafa, a Parsi who was also involved with the National Students Union of India (NSUI) along with him.

Tewari is a popular face on television as he has argued vociferously and impeccably for the Congress party on several issues.

Commencing his association with the party in 1981 through the NSUI while still in DAV College in Chandigarh, he became National President of the NSUI in 1988 and a member of the All India Congress Committee in 1991. He became Secretary of the AICC in 1997 and National President of the Indian Youth Congress in the following year when he was also made the national spokesperson for the Congress. His predecessor in the Ministry, Soni, had also held the post of President of the Indian Youth Congress in the mid-seventies.

His interests include pro bono legal assistance to the poor, and watching historical and period movies. He has contributed numerous articles on current and topical issues such as energy security, national and international security, nuclear disarmament, terrorism etc. to periodicals and addressed national and international seminars and conferences on these subjects

As a student, Tewari had been involved in swimming and running; and captained the Chandigarh and Punjab University teams to various National and Inter University Swimming and Water Polo Championships.

Tewari is widely traveled and has been to around 30 countries.

Meanwhile, eminent Telugu film actor K Chiranjeevi, the only other new face to be sworn in as MoS with Independent Charge, has been given the Tourism portfolio.

Kapil Sibal, who had been holding dual charge of Communications and Information Technology as well as Human Resource Development Ministries, has now been divested of HRD which has gone to M M Pallam Raju who has been promoted to Cabinet Rank.

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