MUMBAI: Due to the parliamentary session, Information and Broadcasting (I&B) minister Manish Tewari couldn’t attend Ficci Frames 2013 held in Mumbai, but he tried to make his presence felt by sending across his recorded speech which was played during the Valedictory Session on 14 March.

His speech was more of a reply to  Ficci Media & Entertainment committee chairman Uday Shankar who had raised various issues of the M&E industry at the inaugural session. He said, “I cannot agree with the sentiment that media and entertainment industry is not only a huge economic multiplayer but it also has the potential of absorbing the creative intellect of our younger people as India goes into its next two decades of its economic trajectory. It is therefore incumbent upon the government that we put in place the appropriate mechanism which try and play the role of a facilitator and an enabler that in order for this sector is even at a far more rapid pace than what it has witnessed in the last couple of years.”

Addressing one of the issues, Tewari said, “Shankar had flagged off in his speech the crisis of talent, within the industry, and that is something that needs to be looked after in terms of public- private partnership. Of course, the government has its film institute’s, institutes in the information sector and also in the training and certification of journalists.”

He further added that a far greater initiative is needed when we go into technical prospects of broadcasting and film making. He welcomes suggestions from the private sector in case they have any viable economical model.

His conclusion on the freedom of expression was a bit around the bush, “Freedom of speech and expression is guaranteed by the constitution, guaranteed by article 19 of the constitution, but the same constitution which guarantees the freedom of expression and speech also imposes certain reasonable restrictions on it and the challenge is to see as to how we can find the golden weave between this liberty and the reasonable restrictions imposed on it by the constitution makers.”

He further added, “Personally, the freedom of speech and expression does include the right to offend but then as someone as a practising lawyer, I ask myself this question what about my remedy if I have a legitimate grievance with the offence which has been caused to me as a result of certain amount of irresponsible attitude being interpreted as the freedom of speech then do I have appropriate remedy which can restore to my dignity which are equally guaranteed by the constitution of India. Therefore, the more we unfold this debate further, it is worth the while for the industry to introspect that there is a distinction between a debate which is honest and something which can be frozen to the national spirit.”

His speech on freedom became interesting, when he said, “As India goes into the next two decades of its economic trajectory, this is the space for consolidation and in this space while we require robust oversight we need to safeguard at least the corrosive nature of discourse which also has the ability to derail India’s quest to be a part of the 21st century as everyone says is the Asian century.”

His closing remarks were, “I would like to congratulate Ficci for giving me this opportunity to speak, remarks of which should not be misinterpreted as a policy statement under the government, but rather as a food for thought as you go into the penultimate and final rounds of the conference. Thank you very much.”  

Information and Broadcasting Ministry (I&B) Secretary Uday Kumar Varma who was also present when the speech was played came as a torch-bearer of the government. Tewari addressed in his speech that Verma will amplify Tewari’s remark on the road map initiative of the information and broadcasting sector.

On Phase III of FM radio Verma said, “We had done a meeting with the ministers where we had some glitches because of Trai recommendations which said that we could perhaps have more FM channels by reducing the spectrum requirement or inter spacing from 800 Kilo Hertz (KHz) to 400 Kilo Hertz. That had actually created a bit of a problem but that has been resolved as the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) has recently decided to go ahead with the auctioning of 839 new FM channels to 295 cities.”

He added, “So it is my hope and am quite sure it should happen in the next year. I think we all can imagine the kind of impact it will have on the media industry once close to 839 channels are launched and I think this will completely transform the industry of the country.”

Few of the highlights of Verma’s talk were digitalization, parameters of the government, states initiatives for 100 years of cinema and Trai regulations.

Foreign delegates who attended the three-day conclave with a view to exchange their word with the Information and Broadcasting ministry (I&B) had raised a roar in their earlier discussion about the absence of the minister. But hopefully the presence of Verma could have come as a relief to many.

Click here for the entire speech:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH39KDPruE4