Agrarian Reforms And Institutional Changes In India

During the recent past, the imperative need to enunciate and formulate a National Media Policy has been articulated at the levels of academia, media practitioners and policy makers. In the context of Draft Policies on Education and Culture, under consideration in early nineties, it was naturally considered important that different aspects of National Media Policy be also debated. The issues like onslaught of new communication technology, freedom of airwaves, public service broadcasting, media policy in the context of women empowerment, and national development assumed significance. In March 1996 the Sub-committee of the Consultative Committee of MPs attached to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting prepared Working Paper on National Media Policy. In the above context, AMIC-lndia, with support from FES, organised a series of four seminars and a National Colloquium in New Delhi during 1995. These seminars and the National Colloquium elicited wide ranging perspectives and views on different aspects of the subjects. Along with the proceedings of the seminars and the National Colloquium, some of the selected papers have been put together in this book for wide dissemination and debate. A number of annexures, comprising excerpts from the landmark judgement of the Supreme Court on Freedom of Airwaves, recommendations from the Working Paper on the National Media Policy submitted by the Sub-committee of the Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in March 1996 and important guidelines and codes evolved by the professional bodies have been painstakingly included for presenting a comprehensive view on the subject.