Drawing attention to the safeguards in place for allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in the electronic medium, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, assured Parliament that the security of the country will not be compromised. Prasad was responding to a calling attention notice on FDI in electronic media from CPI-M member Manoj Bhattacharya.Stating that India should benefit from the technological revolution, Prasad assured that the management and control of TV, as per the policy framed by the Centre, will rest in Indian hands. Prasad elaborated the safeguards the Centre had put in place for the electronic medium. By restricting the FDI to 26 per cent for the uplinking of foreign-owned TV news channels, instead of opening up the medium to total foreign investment as that would jeopardise internal security of the country.‘‘The potential for mischief against safety and security of the state is more with a channel which is largely dedicated to news and current affairs programme than others,’’ Prasad said. The uplinking guidelines reviewed in March 2003 require that news and current affairs content provider for the channels uplinked from India must be accredited with Press Information Bureau (PIB).For the setting up of uplinking hub/teleports, a company has to be incorporated in India and equity holding including non-resident Indians, overseas corporate bodies and persons of Indian origins should not exceed 49 per cent. For uplinking by news agencies, the company has to be incorporated in India and accredited by PIB. It should be owned by Indians and should have Indian management control.
