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Lok Sabha Debates

Combined Discussion On Statutory Resolution Regarding Disapproval Of Sports ... on 8 March, 2007

Title: Combined discussion on Statutory Resolution regarding disapproval of Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory sharing with Prasar Bharati) Ordinance, 2007 (No. 4 of 2007) and Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory sharing with Prasar Bharati) Bill, 2007 (Resolution Negatived and Bill Passed).

   

MR. SPEAKER: Now, we will take up Item Nos. 13 & 14 together. Item No. 13 relates to the statutory resolution, Shri Bachi Singh Rawat -- not present.

                              Shri Ramjilal Suman -- not present                               Shri Rajiv Ranjan Singh ‘Lalan’.      

SHRI RAJIV RANJAN SINGH ‘LALAN’ (BEGUSARAI): I beg to move :

“That this House disapproves of the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Ordinance, 2007 (No. 4 of 2007) promulgated by the President on 2 February, 2007.”   MR. SPEAKER: The hon. Minister to move for the consideration of the Bill.

THE MINISTER OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS AND MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING (SHRI PRIYA RANJAN DASMUNSI): I beg to move :

“That the Bill to provide access to the largest number of listeners and viewers, on a free to air basis, of sporting events of national importance through mandatory sharing of sports broadcasting signals with Prasar Bharati and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto, be taken into consideration.”               Sir, through you, I would like to inform the hon. Members of this House … (Interruptions) I would like to inform the hon. Members of this House that the Prasar Bharati has been rendering greater public service to the nation from the day it was constituted by an Act. I can cite one recent example, which hon. Prime Minister has also mentioned in his speech. There were National Games organized in Assam. Every form of media predicted that it cannot take place in Assam. I was in Berlinale festival to represent the Government in Germany. Even the Germany’s Foreign Minister Mr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the journalists who came from the European Union just wondered how it could be taking place in Assam. But thanks to the people of Assam, and the efforts of the Government of India, the Games were held nicely, inaugurated and concluded. What a spirit! 13.03 hrs.                             (Mr. Deputy-Speaker in the Chair)             The Chief Minister told me the other day with respect to all private channels that not a five-minute demonstration of the people who go from various parts of the country to Assam was shown by any private channel. Only Prasar Bharati and Doordarshan had covered the entire performance of the entire Games boosting the morale of the people of this country and youngsters of that area.

            There were two things to be taken into account while this issue came before us. Firstly, the uplinking of a game from India to outside, and, secondly, downlinking a game from outside to India. There was a guideline duly approved by the Cabinet that: “Please do share live feed to Doordarshan to support those viewers who do not have any cable network.” Indian population in the remote areas want to watch their popular games, but they are always deprived for not having wider support to the games.[r20]  On the directions of the Cabinet of the UPA Government, my predecessor Shri Jaipal Reddy issued the guidelines in 2005. The guidelines did work well, but at one point of time, some operators went to the court saying that it was merely a guideline and not a law and, therefore, they were not bound to share the feed with Prasar Bharati resulting in more than 50 million home viewers not being able to watch the game in this country. There was tremendous pressure as a result of that.

            As you know, the terrestrial network belongs to Prasar Bharati, and it has the widest coverage so far as the common people are concerned, whom we call aam admi within the villages. They were crying that in spite of the Government guidelines, they could not watch the game.

            I support the logic of the stakeholders who said that when they were buying the property, why do we take their property and make money out of it. The UPA Government considered the matter and said that it would not take their money. It said that it would only show, the Government was prepared to lose its share of revenue, and it asked the stakeholders to take back 75 per cent of what has been generated and leave 25 per cent to the Government.  What is it for? The UPA Government brought the pro-friendly, pro-sports, and pro-people legislation to give support out of that 25 per cent to those games and sportspersons who bring medals after medals, but do not get any support from the sponsors. For instance, sportsmen of Kusti, Kabaddi, Archery and Shooting – my friend Naveen Jindal is here – bring medals after medals, but they do not get any sponsors. The sponsors or the sponsorship goes only to Tennis, substantially to Cricket, and marginally to Football.  We took a decision that other games should be developed with the support of this 25 per cent realization, and not a single penny would go into the coffers of the Government. It is a sports-friendly legislation.

            The only thing is that the Cabinet gave me a direction to appoint a Committee to examine two aspects. One is to ensure a mechanism that our signal is not pirated outside India whereby somebody can make money out of that, to see that, that mechanism is followed through inscription, and that our technical parameters, our internal security parameters, are also protected. That Committee is examining the whole matter, and I am expecting the outcome by 16th March. Hopefully, this will be given due consideration either in the rules, or if necessary in guidelines, or if possible, by changing or amending certain clauses.

            I would not have brought this Ordinance and converted it into law, if the Cricket World Cup is not at the doors, which will be inaugurated on the 11th of March. Millions of people in India are saying that the property of Cricket or of any popular game was built, before invasion by Television, by the commentators of the All India Radio. No less than Vijay Merchant and Lala Amarnath have made this game popular, and the radio commentary made it valuable. If you talk about the intellectual property rights, the value is attributable to the great All India Radio commentators in those days. Therefore, Sir, we felt it proper to do justice to people by enabling them to watch this game. We were left with no alternative but to bring in the Ordinance because 11th March was fast approaching. Though we have a contract, since they had gone to the court and said that it was only a guideline and not a law, to avoid any controversy, the Cabinet decided to bring this Ordinance and convert it into law. It has been introduced and is before the House now for consideration. I hope the entire House will support this endeavour.

 

MR. DEPUTY-SPEAKER: Resolution moved:

“That this House disapproves of the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Ordinance, 2007 (No. 4 of 2007) promulgated by the President on 2 February, 2007.”   MR. DEPUTY-SPEAKER: Motion moved:

“That the Bill to provide access to the largest number of listeners and viewers, on a free to air basis, of sporting events of national importance through mandatory sharing of sports broadcasting signals with Prasar Bharati and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto, be taken into consideration.”   श्री राजीव रंजन सिंह 'ललन' (बेगूसराय): उपाध्यक्ष महोदय, मंत्री जी ने जिस अध्यादेश पर विस्तार से जो चर्चा की है, हमें नहीं लगता कि इस बात की कोई आवश्यकता थी कि यह अध्यादेश लाया जाता। जब आप दूरदर्शन और प्रसार भारती को ठीक से मैनेज नहीं कर पा रहे हैं और उनकी व्यवस्थाओं को ठीक से नहीं देख पा रहे हैं, उस हालत में इस तरह का अध्यादेश लाकर नियंत्रण करने की कोई जरूरत नहीं थी, क्योंकि पहले आपको दूरदर्शन और प्रसार भारती की व्यवस्था ठीक करनी चाहिए। इसलिए मेरे विचार से सरकार को यह अध्यादेश वापस लेना चाहिए और प्रसार भारती तथा दूरदर्शन में कैसे सही व्यवस्था हो, इस पर एक विस्तारित नीति तैयार करनी चाहिए, ताकि देश के लोगों को लाभ मिल सके।

 

SHRI NAVEEN JINDAL (KURUKSHETRA): Mr. Deputy-Speaker, Sir, I rise to support the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Bill, 2007.

            The main purpose of the Bill is to provide for mandatory sharing of telecasting and broadcasting of sports events of national importance with Prasar Bharati and Doordarshan. Such a provision is already included in the guidelines issued by the Government in order to enable the largest number of viewers and listeners to have access to sports events of national importance on a free-to-air basis, whether held in India or abroad. However, some private channels ignored these guidelines causing great inconvenience and disappointment to millions of sports viewers and sports lovers.

            For example, one channel which had been given the telecasting rights for the recent India-West Indies One Day matches by the BCCI refused to share the signal with Doordarshan in violation of the Government guidelines. As a result of that, a large number of people could not watch the first cricket match of that Series.

            Doordarshan, which is a public broadcaster, has a reach of up to 98 per cent of the Indian population. It is the only network which has terrestrial transmission rights. No other channel in the country has such a reach. As the hon. Minister of Information and Broadcasting Shri Dasmunsi just said, there are approximately 110 million TV households in India out of which only 60 million households have access to cable TV. Moreover, most of the sports channels are pay channels and are not available to people on free-to-air basis. Doordarshan provides free-to-air services including the DTH service which is available to all the viewers in the country free of charge. In view of this, sharing of certain sports broadcast signals, I feel, should be mandatory in the interest of millions of viewers.

            Channels which are reluctant to share the signal go to the court of law. That delays the process of sharing and deprives nearly 50 million households which do not have access to cable TV of watching these matches. Mandatory sharing of signals is not new in the world. It is an international practice. Such a provision exists in the United Kingdom and Australia.

            Cricket is a very popular game in the country. Cricket or other popular games in the country cannot be the monopoly of a few private channels. There are people who breathe cricket and who live cricket. The number of people in India watching the game live on TV is larger than the number of people watching the game all over the world. So, the stranglehold enjoyed by the highest-bidding TV channels for the telecast rights was depriving a large chunk of people of watching even matches in which India was involved. This was taking privatization a bit too far.

            The monopolistic injustice had to be undone through an Ordinance. It is for that purpose the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Ordinance, 2007 was promulgated. I commend the hon. Minister Shri Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi for bringing this Ordinance and making it mandatory for sports channels, radio stations, and content providers to share live telecast with public broadcaster Prasar Bharati for sporting events of national importance at home and abroad. This has come as a boon for the sports lovers who have missed out on some eagerly awaited moments. It must be remembered that a large chunk of population does not have access to satellite channels. For them, Doordarshan is the only saviour.[KMR21]              For the above mentioned reasons,  it became necessary to promulgate an Ordinance, namely, the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Ordinance, 2007 with a view to give immediate effect to the proposal.  The provisions made under the guidelines have been subsumed under the Ordinance to provide a statutory basis and strong legislative force with retrospective validity and to protect all the actions taken under these guidelines.  The Ordinance further provided for notification of sporting events of national importance, which are to be mandatorily shared with Prasar Bharati.   The Ordinance also empowered the Central Government to specify a percentage of the revenue received by Prasar Bharati to be utilized by Prasar Bharati for broadcasting other sporting events. 

            It is just like what the hon. Minister mentioned - cricket is the national game which is of great national importance and  was only aired by Doordarshan.  The other private channels hardly take any interest in that, which was very unfortunate.In view of the forthcoming Cricket World Cup in West Indies, such a provision is very timely.

            An erroneous impression is being created by vested interests that Prasar Bharati wants to take away the rights of private channels free of cost.  This is not true. In fact, according to the guidelines, which the hon. Minister mentioned, 75 per cent of the revenue earnings will go the private right holding channel, and only 25 per cent will be retained by Prasar Bharati.  This 25 per cent of revenue will not be utilized from the Government coffers but will be  used for promoting  and broadcasting of other sports events which do not get adequate commercial sponsorship.  This ratio of 75:25 is very liberal as compared to the prevailing international practice of 50:50 or the maximum 60:40.

            The hon. Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Shri Dasmunsiji  is himself a keen sportsman.  It is therefore natural that he should feel for the   millions of sports lovers. I commend his efforts.  He has come to the House with this Bill at the earliest opportunity to replace the Ordinance.

            Sir, 25 per cent of the revenue that the hon. Minister mentioned will be utilized to telecast sports such as hockey, foodball, Ranji matches, Olympic sports like archery, shooting, kabaddi, wrestling, etc., which would go a long way in the promotion of sports in the country.

            Therefore, I urge all the hon. Members to support this very important Bill as it is in the interests of sports and sports lovers of the country,  and as it would go a long way in encouraging sports in the country. [r22]        प्रो. रासा सिंह रावत (अजमेर) : महोदय, मैं सरकार द्वारा प्रस्तुत खेल प्रसारण, सिगनल प्रसार भारती के साथ अनिवार्य हिस्सेदारी अध्यादेश २००७ का तो विरोध करता हूं, लेकिन जो विधेयक लाया गया है, उससे ऐसा लगता है कि पहली बार सरकार ने आम आदमी की बात कही है। वैसे तो आम आदमी का नाम तो लिया जाता है कि " कांग्रेस का हाथ, आम आदमी के साथ " , लेकिन देश में बढ़ती हुई महंगाई और बेरोजगारी तथा दूसरी भी समस्याएं हैं, जिसमें आम आदमी को भूल जाते हैं। लेकिन क्रिकेट का प्रसारण आम आदमी तक पहुंचे, इसका ध्यान पहली बार श्री मुंशी जी ने रखा है। प्रसारण के मामले में यह काम किया गया है और मैं समझता हूं कि यह ठीक किया गया है। हालांकि काम करने का तरीका ठीक नहीं था। इसके लिए भी विधेयक लाना पड़ा। विधेयक लाना तो आपातकालिक कदम है। पहले आग लगती है, तब कुआं खोदने का प्रयास यह सरकार करती है। पहले से ही सारी तैयारी होती, तो ऐसी नौबत ही न आती - चाहे भारत और वेस्टेंडीज श्रृंखला का मामला हो, चाहे श्रीलंका के साथ खेल हो। मैं आपके माध्यम से सरकार से कहना चाहता हूं कि एक तरफ तो बड़े गर्व के साथ कहा जाता है कि सारे देश का टेरेस्टि्रयल अधिकार हमारे पास है। लोग टीवी के माध्यम से दूरदर्शन के कार्यक्रम देखते हैं और लाखों-करोड़ों की संख्या में आकाशवाणी के श्रोता भी है। आपने अभी तक व्यावसायिक दक्षता क्यों नहीं प्राप्त की? यह लिबरलाइजेशन और ग्लोबलाइजेशन का जमाना है। आपकी सरकार और माननीय प्रधानमंत्री मनमोहन सिंह जी, जब से ये नीति लेकर आए हैं, आप बराबर उसकी प्रशंसा करते रहते हैं। लेकिन मैं आपसे पूछना चाहता हूं कि प्रसारण के क्षेत्र में कई निजी चैनल, विदेशी या देशी कंपनियां निजी क्षेत्र में आ गई तो उनके मुकाबले में दूरदर्शन, इतना बड़ा नेटवर्क होने के बावजूद, प्रसार भारती के पास इतना बड़ा तामझाम होने के बावजूद वह व्यावसायिक क्षमता क्यों नहीं प्राप्त कर सकी? इन चैनलों से कैसे पीछे रह गई? मैं आपके माध्यम से सरकार से पूछना चाहता हूं कि क्या यह सही नहीं है कि बीसीसीआई के सामने जब बोली लगने का समय आया तब आप भी बोली के लिए उतरे थे, लेकिन आपकी बोली कम थी और दूसरे लोग निम्बस आदि की बोली ज्यादा थी। अब बीसीसीआई के अध्यक्ष माननीय शरद पवार जी हैं। यह बात समझने वाली है कि सरकार लीपापोती करके जताना चाहती है कि हमने बहुत अच्छा काम किया। लेकिन काम की वास्तविकता क्या है? बीसीसीआई के सामने बोली लगी और ये लोग बोली के लिए मैदान में उतरे लेकिन इनकी बोली कम थी और उनकी ज्यादा थी। ऐसे में सरकारी अधिकारियों ने कवायद की कि विदेशी चैनल या निम्बस, हमारी जनता का ध्यान नहीं रखे और हम उनका ध्यान दें, यह हमें बर्दाश्त नहीं है और फिर आपने अपने अधिकार का प्रयोग दिया।

मैं आपके माध्यम से सरकार को चैनलों के बारे में कहना चाहता हूं कि वह इस बारे में ध्यान दें और जनता के हितों का ध्यान, खेल के साथ दर्शकों के हितों का ध्यान रखें, केवल व्यापार करना उनका उद्देश्य नहीं होना चाहिए, पैसा कमाना उद्देश्य नहीं हो। आपने इस तरफ ध्यान नहीं दिया और निजी और विदेशी चैनल हमारी संस्कृति का दुष्प्रचार कर रहे हैं। आपका ध्यान इस तरफ नहीं गया है? आप आम आदमी की बात कहते हैं, राष्ट्रीय और देश हित की बात कहते हैं तो इस तरफ भी ध्यान दिया जाना चाहिए। आप कम से कम चैनलों पर रोक लगाएं क्योंकि अश्लीलता और भद्दे द्ृश्य राष्ट्रीय हितों और संस्कृति के विपरीत जा सकते हैं। वे ऐसा क्यों करते हैं, इस तरफ आपका ध्यान नहीं गया। जैसा कि अभी माननीय सदस्य ने कहा कि आपकी खेलों में बहुत रुचि है। मैं आपको बधाई देना चाहता हूं कि आप खेलों के प्रति जागरुक हैं। लेकिन मैं इतना अवश्य कहना चाहता हूं कि अध्यादेश लाने के बजाय पूरे विधेयक को जल्दी लाने की कोशिश की जाती तो बेहतर होता।

मान्यवर, २३ फरवरी से अधिवेशन होने वाला था। आप २ या ४ फरवरी के आसपास चौथा अध्यादेश लाए हैं। इतने दिनों में क्या हो रहा था? दिसंबर में एक अधिवेशन बीता है, इसे उसमें ले आते, पहले से सोच लेते कि ऐसी नौबत आने वाली है तो ऐसी स्थिति पैदा नहीं होती। मैं सोचता हूं कि आगे इस बात का ध्यान रखें। जैसा मैंने पहले कहा कि आपने इतना ध्यान रखा है कि क्रिकेट का खेल आम जनता तक पहुंचे, इसके लिए तुरंत एक्शन लिया और इसका परिणाम हमारे सामने आया है। यह पहले सात या पन्द्रह मिनट देर से सुनाई देता था, एक बासी खाए और एक ताजा खाए, यह भेदभाव वाली बात है लेकिन आपने बाद में समझौता किया, चाहे यह विदेश में हो या देश में हो, जनता को खेलों के सीधे प्रसारण का लाभ मिले, इसके लिए कदम उठाया, जिसके लिए मैं आपको धन्यवाद देता हूं।

आज सारे देश में पानी की समस्या आ गई है। क्या सरकार कोई उपाय पानी की समस्या को दूर करने के लिए करेगी? मैं केवल आपके सामने एक सवाल रख रहा हूं क्योंकि आपने आम आदमी की बात कही है इसलिए मैं आपका ध्यान इस तरफ आकर्षित करना चाहता हूं। आपने जैसी प्रतिबद्धता क्रिकेट के खेल के प्रसारण के लिए, आकाशवाणी और दूरदर्शन के हितों की रक्षा के लिए, राष्ट्रीय हित का नाम लेकर दिखाई है वैसी प्रतिबद्धता सरकार अन्य मामलों में भी दिखाए तो शायद जनता का ज्यादा कल्याण हो सकता है।[r23]              मैं एक बात पढ़कर कोट करना चाहता हूं और आशा करता हूं कि माननीय मंत्री जी इस तरफ ध्यान देंगे।

“तमाम उदारीकरण और टेलविजन चैनलों की भीड़ के बावजूद दूरदर्शन अभी भी देश का सबसे बड़ा प्रसारक है, इसमें कोई दो राय नहीं है। देश के जितने घरों ओर कोनों तक इसकी पहुंच है, किसी दूसरे चैनल की नहीं है। इस नाते दूरदर्शन पर जो भी दिखाया जाता है, जितने लोगों तक यह पहुंच सकता है, उतना तो कई बार बाकी सारे चैनलों की कुल दर्शक संख्या भी नहीं पहुंच पाती। यह बिल्कुल सत्य है। यह हाल सिर्फ कार्यक्रमों का ही नहीं, दूरदर्शन पर दिखाये जाने वाले विज्ञापनों का भी है। जिनसे दूरदर्शन अगर चाहे तो उतनी कमाई कर सकता है, जितना दूसरे चैनलों की हसरत भी वहां तक नहीं पहुंच सकती। परंतु दिक्कत यह है कि दूरदर्शन रास्ते में अपनी व्यावसायिक सोच और रवैये वाला संगठन नहीं है, इसलिए हर मोड़ पर उसे सरकार के सहारे की जरूरत पड़ती है।”             मान्यवर, हमारे दूरदर्शन, आकाशवाणी और प्रसार भारती के लिए ऐसी दयनीय स्थिति पैदा हो जाती है कि हमें नीचा देखना पड़ता है। मैं आपके माध्यम से सरकार से कहना चाहता हूं कि व्यावसायिक हैसियत और व्यावसायिक दक्षता प्राप्त करने का भी प्रयास करें। बाकी आपने देश की करोड़ों जनता तक पहुंचाने के लिए अपलकिंग और डाउनलकिंग की व्यवस्था की है, चूंकि सबके पास केबल नैटवर्क की सुविधा उपलब्ध नहीं होती है, डायरेक्ट टू होम की सुविधा भी नहीं होती, सैटेलाइट चैनल्स की सुविधा भी उनके पास नहीं होती है। वे लोग गांवों के अंदर एंटीना लगाकर देखते हैं। इसलिए उन तक क्रिकेट पहुंचाने की आपने व्यवस्था की है। चूंकि क्रिकेट आज एक राष्ट्रीय खेल बन गया है। लोगों की इसमें बहुत रुचि है। अगर यह सरकार ऐसा करने में फेल्योर हो जाती तो यह एक मुद्दा बन जाता। इसलिए इन्होंने सोचा कि कैसे जनता की इस भावना को भुनाया जाए। इसलिए इन्होंने यह कदम उठाया। सरकार ने जो कदम उठाया, उसमें उसका तरीका गलत था। सरकार के इस तरीके की मैं निंदा करता हूं। लेकिन जो कदम उठाया, उसकी मैं प्रशंसा करता हूं। इसके साथ ही मैं कहना चाहता हूं कि जैसे आम लोगों का ख्याल आपने क्रिकेट दिखाने के लिए किया है, वैसा अन्य मामलों में भी करें तो उचित रहेगा। आप प्रसार भारती को और भी सक्षम और सुद्ृढ़ बनायें, ताकि वविध चैनलों और विदेशी चैनलों आदि का मुकाबला करते हुए यह प्रतिस्पर्धी बने और उनके देशों में जाकर सफलता प्राप्त करे। इसी के साथ मैं अपना वक्तव्य समाप्त करता हूं।

श्रीमती ज्योतिर्मयी सिकदर (कृषनगर) :उपाध्यक्ष महोदय, सबसे पहले मैं खेल प्रसारण सिगनल विधेयक, २००७ सदन में प्रस्तुत करने के लिए सरकार को धन्यवाद देना चाहूंगी। मैं एक भूतपूर्व खिलाड़ी और वर्तमान सांसद के नाते इस बिल पर अपने विचार सदन में रखना चाहूंगी। लगभग १५ सालों तक मैं खेलों में सक्रिय रही, लेकिन आज मैं एक सांसद हूं। कुछ माननीय सदस्यों ने बताया कि दो तारीख को ऑर्डिनेन्स लाया गया था। मंत्री जी यहां बैठे हैं, जब २३ तारीख को लोक सभा का सैशन शुरू होने वाला था तो इतनी जल्दी करके यह ऑर्डिनेन्स क्यों लाया गया। इस ऑर्डिनेन्स का हमारी पार्टी विरोध करती है। लेकिन जो स्पोट्र्स ब्रोडकास्िंटग का बिल सरकार लाई है, उसका मैं स्वागत करती हूं। इसके साथ-साथ मुझे खुशी है कि मंत्री जी ने पूरे देश के लोगों को क्रिकेट खेल दिखाने की व्यवस्था की है तथा गांवों के लोगों तक इसे पहुंचाने का जो ख्याल किया है, उसका मैं स्वागत करती हूं। लेकिन आठ तारीख को भारत और वैस्टइंडीज के मैच को अगर बी.सी.सी.आई. के राइट होल्डर इसे दिखाने से इनकार नहीं करते तो लगता है मंत्री जी अभी तक सोये रहते। चूंकि वह मैच करोड़ों लोग नहीं देख सके, इसलिए मंत्री जी इसबिल को लेकर आये हैं। क्रिकेट को आम आदमी तथा गांवों तक पहुंचाने के लिए सरकार व्यवस्था कर रही है।

अभी राष्ट्रपति के अभिभाषण पर प्रधान मंत्री जी ने अपना वक्तव्य रखा। उसमें प्रधान मंत्री जी कह रहे थे कि हम गांवों में बिजली, पानी और सड़कें पहुंचाने के प्रयास करेंगे। हमारे देश में अभी भी बहुत सारे ऐसे गांव हैं, जहां बिजली नहीं पहुंची है। इसलिए जहां बिजली नहीं पहुंची है, वहां के लोग क्रिकेट तथा अन्य खेल कैसे देखेंगे। हमारे पास ही मेघालय के मैम्बर्स बैठे हैं। मैं बताना चाहती हूं कि मेघालय के दो-तीन डिस्टि्रक्ट्स में अभी तक लोग दूरदर्शन देख नहीं पाते हैं और रेडियो सुन नहीं पाते हैं। पास में बंगलादेश है और बंगलादेश में वे लोग हमारे चैनल्स और रेडियो सुनते हैं। मैं इस बिल के लिए मंत्री जी को धन्यवाद देना चाहती हूं लेकिन इसके साथ-साथ मैं यह कहना चाहती हूं कि माननीय मंत्री जी जो क्रिकेट को बहुत महत्व दे रहे हैं। मैं भी एक एशियन गोल्ड मैडेलिस्ट हूं और मुझे नहीं लगता कि क्रिकेट हमारा राष्ट्रीय खेल है। इसलिए मैं इधर कहना चाहती हूं कि इसमें भी यह जोड़ लिया जाए कि जो हमारे ग्रामीण राष्ट्रीय खेल हैं, जैसे हॉकी, कबड्डी, एथलेटिक्स, शूटिंग और फुटबाल वगैरह हैं, उनकी तरफ भी ध्यान दिया जाना चाहिए। हमारे देश में अभी क्रिकेट बहुत पोपुलर गेम है। पहले क्रिकेट इंग्लैंड के लोग खेलते थे। अभी इंग्लैंड में क्रिकेट इतना अच्छा नहीं है। अब उधर फुटबाल वे लोग खेल रहे हैं। हमारे देश में भी एक समय था जब फुटबाल, हॉकी बहुत मशहूर गेम हुआ करते थे लेकिन आज टी.वी. चैनल में इतना दिखाने के बाद क्रिकेट इतना मशहूर गेम हो गया है। मुझे नहीं लगता कि हमारी युवा पीढ़ी को यह भी मालूम होगा कि कबड्डी या फुटबाल या हॉकी या एथलेटिक्स में में कौन अच्छा खिलाड़ी है। इसके साथ-साथ मैं यह भी कहना चाहती हूं कि क्रिकेट के साथ जो भी गेम्स हैं, जैसे लोक हित के सभी गेम्स को इस बिल में जोड़ लेना चाहिए और मंत्री जी को बिल्कुल स्पष्ट रूप से बताना चाहिए कि लोक हित के कौन-कौन से खेल माने जाते हैं। जैसे मंत्री जी ने अभी कहा कि जो भी राष्ट्रीय महत्व के खेल हैं, ऐसे राष्ट्रीय या अन्तर्राष्ट्रीय खेल जो भारत और भारत से बाहर आयोजित किये जाते हैं और केन्द्रीय सरकार द्वारा ऐसे राष्ट्रीय महत्व के खेलों को अधिसूचित किया गया है। मैं यह बताना चाहती हूं कि जब समय-समय पर मैच होता है, सिर्फ उसी समय में जब हमारा नेशनल और इंटरनेशनल मीट होता है, हर गेम को दिखाना चाहिए और बाकी गेम्स भी सरकार को दिखाने चाहिए जो कि गांव-गांव तक पहुंचे। सरकार को सिर्फ क्रिकेट के बारे में ही नहीं बल्कि दूसरे खेलों के बारे में भी चिंता होनी चाहिए और दूसरे गेम्स के लिए भी कुछ करना पड़ेगा।

मैं सोचती हूं कि सिर्फ बिल लेकर आने से कि सभी लोग गांवों में खेलों को देखेंगे, रेडियो में सुनेंगे, हमारा क्रिकेट हो या दूसरा गेम हो लेकिन मैं यह बताना चाहती हूं कि अभी हमारे देश को आज़ाद हुए ६० साल हो गये हैं, यह भी सरकार को चिंता होनी चाहिए और यह भी ठीक है कि जनता क्रिकेट, हॉकी, कबड्डी देखे लेकिन कौन खेलेगा? खेलने के लिए मैदान की जरुरत होती है क्योंकि मैं एक खिलाड़ी हूं और एचआरडी की मैम्बर भी थीं। इसलिए मुझे मालूम है कि दो साल से एक इंफ्रास्ट्रक्चर से संबंधित स्कीम थी, वह अब बंद कर दी गई है। खिलाड़ी जब खेलेगा और मैदान के लिए जब पैसा नहीं है तो खिलाड़ी कहां खेलेगा?हमारा दर्शक कैसे देखेगा?

अभी-अभी एशियन गेम्स हुए थे, हमारे देश के हॉकी, कबड्डी, फुटबाल जो भी गेम्स हैं, मुझे भी एशियन गेम्स को देखने जाने का मौका मिला था। मुझे वहां यह देखकर यह बहुत ही खराब लगा कि चीन जो हमारे देश के आजाद होने के दो साल बाद आज़ाद हुआ लेकिन उसे आज १६१ गोल्ड मैडल मिले और हमारे देश को १० गोल्ड मैडल मिले। जहां कतार में गेम्स हुए थे, वहां की पोपुलेशन ७.९९ लाख की पोपुलेशन है। उसमें सिर्फ दो लाख ही पार्टसिपेट कर सकते हैं और कतार को फुटबाल में गोल्ड मैडल मिला था, जो हमारे माननीय मंत्री जी फुटबाल के फेडरेशन कप के साथ जुड़े हैं, वह देखे कि दो लाख पोपुलेशन में जब उनको फुटबाल में गोल्ड मैडल मिलता है और चीन को १६६ गोल्ड मैडल्स मिलते हैं, लेकिन हमारे देश को केवल १० गोल्ड मैडल्स मिलते हैं। इसलिए मैं चाहती हूं कि खेल दिखाने के साथ-साथ सरकार को यह भी चिंता होनी चाहिए कि अपने देश को खेल के क्षेत्र में विश्व स्तर पर कैसे आगे लेकर आए? आज हमारा देश विश्व में १७२ में से १३२वें स्थान पर है और राष्ट्रपति जी के भाषण तथा प्राइम मनिस्टर साहब के भाषण में भी शिक्षा और खेल पर जोर दिया गया था लेकिन जब २३ तारीख को राष्ट्रपति जी का अभिभाषण हुआ तो उसमें खेल के बारे में भी एक लाइन भी नहीं थी जबकि एक लाइन तो कम से कम खेल के बारे में होनी चाहिए थी। अगर जब तक हम शिक्षा और खेल में आगे नहीं बढ़ेंगे तब तक हमारा देश कभी आगे नहीं बढ़ सकता है। आज माननीय मंत्री जी ने बताया कि पनिशमेंट के लिए जो रुल्स बनाए कि उस समय नहीं दिखाने से एक करोड़ रुपया पनिशमेंट पड़ेगा और उन्हें कांट्रैक्ट से भी धमकी दी जाएगी। मैं सोचती हूं कि एक करोड़ रुपया पनिशमेंट कर देने से कुछ नहीं होता हè*[r24]  जिस समय मैच होगा, उस समय टी.वी. चैनल पर दूसरे इतने अच्छे प्रोग्राम होंगे जिनसे बहुत सारा विज्ञापन आता और राजस्व बढ़ता, वे चैनल पर मैच क्यों दिखायेंगे। एक तरफ पनिशमेंट देंगे तो दूसरी ओर एक करोड़ रुपया रख लेगा। जैसा माननीय मंत्री जी ने बताया कि रेडियो पर ५०:५० और टी.वी. पर ७५:२५ के अनुपात से राजस्व मिलेगा। यह भी बताया कि इंटरनैशनल लैवल पर कबड्डी या अन्य डसिप्लिन में जो मैडल मिलेगा, केवल उसी के लिये पैसा दिया जायेगा। मेरा कहना है कि मैडल पाने वालों को पैसा दिये जाने के लिये सरकार के पास और भी फंड्स हैं लेकिन विज्ञापनों से जो पैसा मिलेगा, वह ग्रामीण स्तर पर खेलों के विकास के लिये लगाया जाना चाहिये। मैं यह भी कहूंगी कि ग्रामीण खिलाड़ियों को भी प्रोत्साहन दिया जाना चाहिये।

उपाध्यक्ष जी, मैं माननीय मंत्री जी को धन्यवाद देते हुये यह कहना चाहूंगी कि हमारे देश के जितने क्रिकेट प्रेमी हैं, वे क्रिकेट मैच देखें लेकिन उसके साथ साथ अन्य राष्ट्रीय महत्व के खेलों को भी इस बिल में जोड़ देना चाहिये था, तो ठीक रहेगा। धन्यवाद।

उपाध्यक्ष महोदय : आपने बहुत अच्छा बोला है, धन्यवाद।

 

श्री राम कृपाल यादव (पटना) : उपाध्यक्ष महोदय, मैं माननीय मंत्री जी का धन्यवाद और आभार प्रकट करता हूं कि वह अध्यादेश के माध्यम से खेल प्रसारण सिगनल (प्रसार भारती के साथ अनिवार्य हिस्सेदारी) विधेयक, २००७ लाये हैं।

माननीय मंत्री जी ने अध्यादेश लाये जाने की वजह बताई है। अगर यह अध्यादेश नहीं लाया गया होता तो शायद देश के करोड़ों लोगों के दिलों को गहरी ठेस लगती। लोगों की अभिलाषा थी कि खेल का सीधा प्रसारण उन्हें देखने को मिलता लेकिन यह अध्यादेश और विधेयक लाकर मंत्री जी ने बहुत ही अच्छा काम किया है। देश के करोड़ों लोगों की मनोभावना के अनुकूल यह काम किया गया है। मैं मंत्री जी का स्वागत करता हूं और आभार व्यक्त करता हूं।

उपाध्यक्ष महोदय, माननीय मंत्री जी ने इस विधेयक को लाकर मैच दिखाने के लिये तथा उसके प्रसारण में जो बाधायें थी, उन्हें तोड़ने का काम किया है। विधेयक के उपबंध के अनुसार यदि प्रसारक राष्ट्रीय़ रुचि के खेलों के सीधे प्रसारण में प्रसार भारती को सिगनल देने से मना करता है तो सरकार उसका लाइसेंस रद्द कर सकती है और सीधे प्रसारण मुहैय्या न किये जाने पर एक करोड़ रुपये का दंड भी दे सकती है। कोई भी टी.वी. नैटवर्क रेडियो प्रसारण सेवा परदाता भारत में सीधे टी.वी. प्रसारण में या केबल नैटवर्क या रेडियो कमेंटरी नहीं कर सकता जब तक कि बिना विज्ञापनों के प्रसार भारती को सिगनल न बंटे। प्रसार भारती और निजी प्रसारकों के बीच में राजस्व बटवारा रेडियो कमेंटरी में ५०:५० और टी.वी. प्रसारण के मामले में ७५:२५ रखा गया है। सरकार इस बात का फैसला करेगी कि प्रसार भारती द्वारा हासिल राजस्व का कितना हिस्सा अन्य खेल आयोजनों में इस्तेमाल किया जायेगा। नये कानून की शर्तों का पालन नहीं करने पर दंड के भागी होंगे। सरकार वभिन्न शर्तों के उल्लंघन करने वालों के लाइसेंस या पंजीकरण रद्द करने सहित वभिन्न तरह की कार्यवाही कर सकती है। मेरा मानना है कि माननीय मंत्री द्वारा यह कानून लाकर उन निजी प्रसारकों की मनोपौली तोड़ने का काम किया गया है। इस तरह मन चाहा काम करने वाले निजी चैनलों और रेडियो प्रसारकों पर नियंत्रण करने का काम किया है। महोदय, इस कानून वे माध्यम से आम जनता को लाभ मिलेगा जो गांवों में रहती है। लोगों वे मन में जो बेचैनी थी कि ािवेट या दूसरे खेलों का सीधा प्रसारण नहीं देख पाते हैं, अब निश्चित तौर पर वे इसका लाभ उठा सवेंगे।

मैं माननीय मंत्री जी का ध्यान आकृष्ट कराना चाहूंगा। मेरी बहन खिलाड़ी रही हैं और उन्होंने अपनी भावनाएं यहां रखने का काम किया। यह बात सही है कि आज ािवेट जितना लोकप्रिय हो गया है, गांवों में बच्चे भी दूसरे खेलों वे मुकाबले ािवेट में ज्यादा रुझान रखते हैं। जो लोग ािवेट में रुचि रखते हैं या इसवे माध्यम से लाभान्वित होने वाले हैं, उनवे प्रति मेरा कोई विद्वेष नहीं है और माननीय मंत्री जी का भी खेलों वे प्रति पहले से ही रुझान रहा है। मैं कहना चाहूंगा कि जो हमारे परंपरागत खेल रहे हैं - कुश्ती, हाकी, फुटबाल. जहां हमारी प्रतिष्ठा बहुत पहले से उभरी है, उन खेलों वे प्रति रुझान कम होता जा रहा है जिसवे कारण हम उन खेलों में पिछड़ रहे हैं। हॉकी में हम कभी पीछे नहीं रहते थे मगर पिछले कई वर्षों से देखा जा रहा है कि राष्ट्रीय और अंतर्राष्ट्रीय स्तर पर जो प्रदर्शन हो रहा है, उसमें निराशा हाथ लग रही है। फुटबाल में भी ऐसा है। माननीय मंत्री जी स्वयं उस जगह से आते हैं जहां फुटबाल की अपनी अहमियत रही है। मैं बंगाल की बात कर रहा हूं। उपाध्यक्ष महोदय, आप पंजाब से आते हैं और पंजाब में भी एक से एक खिलाड़ी हॉकी और एथलैटिक्स वे रहे हैं, परंतु आज उनकी स्थिति अच्छी नहीं है। कुश्ती तो धीरे धीरे लुप्त होती जा रही है। यह गांवों का खेल है। हम गरीब प्रदेशों वे लोग हैं। हमारे यहां वे नौजवान आज इतना साहस और क्षमता रखते हैं कि कुश्ती में यदि उनको सही मार्गदर्शन और ट्रेनिंग दी जाए तो गांव-गांव से अच्छे खिलाड़ी उभर पाएंगे। हमारी प्रतिभा विश्व स्तर पर निकल सकती है मगर हमें वहां भी पीछे रहना पड़ता है और करोड़ों लोगों की भावनाअों को ठेस पहुंचती है। आप पिछला रिकार्ड उठाकर देखें, कहीं भी अच्छा प्रदर्शन नहीं रहा। कहीं एक मैडल तो कहीं दो मैडल अंतर्राष्ट्रीय स्तर पर जाने वाले खिलाड़ी लाते हैं और निराशा हाथ लगती है। लंबी-चौड़ी टीम बनाकर हम भेजते हैं मगर आशा वे अनुकूल रिज़ल्ट नहीं आ पाता है। इसलिए मैं निवेदन करूंगा कि आप उन खेलों वे प्रति भी ध्यान दें। आप उसवे लिए भी दूरदर्शन में समय का प्रावधान रखें। जितनी अहमियत दूरदर्शन पर ािवेट को दी जाती है, उतनी दूसरे खेलों को भी दी जानी चाहिए। आपने असम वे खेलों का ज़िा किया। आपने उसका सीधा प्रसारण किया मगर जो जिला स्तर पर, गांव स्तर पर और राज्य स्तर पर खिलाड़ी प्रतिभागी होते हैं, उनवे लिए भी समय निर्धारित किया जाए। आजकल दूरदर्शन और रेडियो का ज़माना है। लोग जागरूक हो गए हैं। जब उनको कवरेज मिलेगा तो प्रोत्साहन मिलेगा और निश्चित रूप से वे सफल खिलाड़ी बन सकते हैं। पिछले दिनों इस क्षेत्र में जो देश की प्रतिष्ठा गिरी है, उसको उठा सकते हैं। इन खिलाड़ियों को प्रोत्साहित करने वे लिए दूरदर्शन और रेडियो पर सही समय मिलना चाहिए। उनवे प्रोत्साहन वे लिए सरकार को प्रयास करना चाहिए।

उपाध्यक्ष जी, मैं आपसे भी निवेदन करूंगा क्योंकि जिस मिट्टी से आप निकले हैं, वह भी खिलाड़ियों का भंडार रही है। दूसरे प्रदेशों से जाकर पटियाला और दूसरी जगहों पर ट्रेनिंग करवे खेल की प्रतिभा उभारने की कोशिश की है। लेकिन वहां निराशा हाथ लग रही है। मैं धन्यवाद देना चाहूंगा अपने भाई जिन्दल जी को, जिन्होंने हमारी प्रतिष्ठा और गरिमा को बढ़ाने का काम किया है और समाज सेवा करते हुए भी शूटिंग में दो पदक हासिल करने का काम किया है। हमारे सदन में कई ऐसे प्रतिभाशाली खिलाड़ी रहे हैं।

अभी हमारी बहन बोल रही थी, वह प्रतिभाशाली खिलाड़ी रही हैं और उन्होंने हमारी प्रतिष्ठा को बढ़ाया है। जिंदल साहब, आप सक्षम हैं और शूटिंग की लाइन में भी हैं, वहां आप लोगों को ट्रेनिंग देने का काम कीजिए। पता नहीं आप ट्रेनिंग दे रहे हैं या नहीं? आप इतने सक्षम हैं, आप में जो विवेक, बुद्धि और क्षमता है, उससे आप अपने भाई लोगों को ट्रेनिंग देकर, कम से कम शूटिंग में ही आगे ले जाने का काम करें।

महोदय, इन्हीं चंद शब्दों के साथ इस विधेयक का समर्थन करते हए, इस विश्वास के साथ, कि क्रिकेट में ही नहीं, बल्कि दूसरे खेलों में भी जो प्रतिभागी साथी हैं, उन्हें प्रोत्साहित करने के लिए सरकार एक उचित कदम उठाएगी और अपनी जगह पर माननीय मंत्री जी का जो दूरदर्शन और रेडियो है, उसी में स्थान देकर एक नया कीर्तिमान स्थापित करने का काम करेंगे। हमारे देश की एक अरब से अधिक की आबादी है और यहां हमारी कुछ बहनें एक-दो मैडल लाकर इज्जत बचाने का काम कर रही हैं, नहीं तो वह भी शून्य है। हमें बहुत लज्जित होना पड़ता है। इसलिए मैं समझता हूं कि खेलों पर निश्चित तौर पर हम लोगों को ध्यान देना चाहिए।

महोदय, मैं इस विधेयक का पुन:समर्थन करते हुए और मंत्री जी का आभार व्यक्त करते हुए इस विश्वास के साथ, कि आगे जो कमी है, उसे दूर करेंगे। बहुत-बहुत धन्यवाद।...( व्यवधान)

उपाध्यक्ष महोदय:            यह इन्होंने ठीक कहा है कि कभी हॉकी पहलवानों का और फुटबाल में, खास कर हॉकी में हमारे हिन्दुस्तान का दुनिया में बहुत बड़ा नाम था। बदकिस्मती है कि इसमें हम नीचे चले गए। हम चाहते हैं कि अब सरकार जरूर हॉकी, फुटबाल और कुश्ती की तरफ ध्यान देगी।

 

SHRI A. KRISHNASWAMY (SRIPERUMBUDUR): Sir I rise to support this Bill.  This Bill is connected with the hon. Minister for Information and Broadcasting, which benefits the poor masses in the villages to see the sports free of cost.   This Bill benefits most of the sportsmen and sports lovers in this country.  

            Sir, this is a subject which provides benefits to sportsmen and sports lovers.   The hon. Minister is getting this Bill passed which would help the sportsmen and sports lovers. 

            Sir, everybody was speaking about sports only and not about the broadcasting or information.   It is such an important Bill, if the hon. Minister for Sports had been present here, then it would be very good.

            Sir, we had already taken the up discussion on Sports last year under Rule 193.  But it was stopped in the middle and it was not taken up again.  Therefore, it is my sincere request to the Government that the discussion on Sports be taken up again under Rule 193.

            Sir under the leadership of Shri Naveen Jindal, every week we are having a Youth Forum meeting in which we are discussing as to how to develop sports.   Most of the sports lovers, sports men and athletes are Members of this Forum.   We are planning to improve the sports in this country, for which we need the support from the Government. 

            Sir, in the current Budget, we have a very minimum fund allocation for sports.  Today, this Bill has been taken up because of the Cricket World Cup.    Cricket is one of the rich man’s game and it is not a poor man’s game.   Most of the sports lovers may be poor, but players are rich.  When they enter into cricket, they might be in the middle class or they enter into it with some influence.  But after they become popular through the media, they become rich. We are giving importance to the rich man’s game only and not to the poor man’s game like hockey, kabaddi, body-building, weight-lifting, wrestling and these types of games. Therefore, I would request the Government to provide facilities to the poor man’s games and also to encourage those players plying football, kabaddi, and weight-lifters, body-builders. Those people should be given importance. Those people   should be focused on the television. Always, the cricket players are focused while playing cricket. In fact, they are focused more on the advertisements than while playing cricket. If you ask a boy or a girl or a child about Boost, he will tell Kapil Dev who says “Boost is the secret of my energy.”  Through advertisements only, they have become popular and earned much. Like that, it is the same about Tendulkar. Each player has a separate advertisement in a separate field. With that only, they are getting popular and making money. Why do we not encourage the players playing football, kabaddi, those who have dedicated their entire life to the particular sport event?  We have to focus on such people. We have to encourage them. Through that, a particular game will develop in this country.

            For example, one of my friends from my constituency got a world silver medal in power-lifting. He is now in Delhi only. He came here to meet Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav. He is an ICF employee. He got the world silver medal before five years. But till now, he has not got any promotion. He was never focused on the television. It is a very difficult game – I mean power-lifting, body-building, weight-lifting etc.  These are the games which the poor people play particularly the Dalits and the OBCs because they do not get any facility. In their own way, they will put some weight and they will do the practice. With that, they will have good health and they will become popular. But those people are not focused and not given any importance in this country.

            One of my friends asked that you are providing free-to-air channel but what about electricity. In such a situation, in Tamil Nadu, our leader Dr. Kalaignar also announced in the election manifesto that free colour television would be provided if his party was elected to power. He got a mandate from the people. While we started giving free colour television, on the very inauguration day, one poor lady asked our hon. Chief Minister Dr. Kalaignar: “Sir, you are giving television. What about free electricity connection to television?” There is already a Government scheme called One-Hut Electricity Scheme. Immediately, our great leader Dr. Kalaignar told in the same dais that free colour television connection would also be  provided to all the huts, those people who get the free television. In our State, there is a free electricity provision for those who get free television. Likewise, I would request the hon. Minister to extend that scheme all over the country. Free electricity should be provided to the poor masses. That is my prayer.

            This Bill provides for free air channel. As such, when each and every Department or public sector undertaking conducts recruitment of sportsmen, that should be improved. While they get the first place, second place in the events, the Departments concerned are providing awards to the sportsmen. Likewise, I would request the hon. Minister that those who get popularity in sports, they should be focused on the television. They should also be given awards by the Information and Broadcasting Minister so that they will get some benefit.

            With these words, I support this Bill.

SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY (DHENKANAL): Sir, I thank you for giving me this opportunity.

            At the outset, I would like to say that somewhere down the line, most of our speakers lost track of what was the genuine issue that was to be discussed. There was an Ordinance promulgated by the Government to unduly favour an organization called the Prasar Bharati which is supposedly both economically and operationally an independent organization. There were days when people said that All India Radio actually signified All Indira Radio.  People saw the gory days of Emergency. When there was no television, radio was controlled. There was no satellite station. But the people of India proved from Kashmir to Kanyakumari that India is one by simply taking one action and that action was to thwart the evil designs of the Congress and to remove the Congress from power. It was the people’s verdict. Unfortunately, the politicians who did benefit from the noble intentions of the people were incomplete, …*and were not able to understand the gravity of the situation when the nation favoured them.[R25]              The nation did not favour them. The nation favoured a democratic society, a socialist society. It favoured a mindset that very clearly said that the Government cannot force anything on the people. You cannot force the media to keep quiet and you cannot compel anybody to do actions that do not please them or does not adhere to the soul of India.

            Sir, we all know that when we see the map of India – India has always been a changing nation – whether we see the map of Mughal India or British India or go further back to Chandra Gupta Maurya when he had his Capital in Kandahar, we know that India as we see today from Kashmir to Kanyakumari is not the real India. So, the spirit of this country is very different. Therefore, I would like to remind this House that this is not a discussion on sports or it is not centered on the development of sports in this country. This is an issue of a forcible action of this   * Not recorded Government. I am not speaking in favour of any private company. But I would like to say that the way, the ham-handed manner in which the Government has gone about its actions on this issue smells of a totalitarian regime, it does not smell of a democratic set up.

            The first thing that comes to mind is that Doordarshan did participate in the bid when the BCCI held the bid and it failed. So, taking an action under the garb of an Ordinance and now this Bill implies two things. Directly, it implies that you are twisting the arms of private players whom we have no reason to support in this House. But what does it imply? It shows the mindset of this Government. Under the garb of Aam Aadmi, you are twisting the arm of the private player and on the other hand, by forcibly doing this, you are also encouraging piracy. You speak against piracy, you speak about LPG, not Liquefied Petroleum Gas, but the other thing about which you have exponents sitting on the other side bravely announcing, Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation. All this is against the interest of the Aam Aadmi. But when do you think of the Aam Aadmi? You think of the Aam Aadmi when your bureaucracy fails in delivering what it is supposed to deliver. You think of the Aam Aadmi so that you can twist the arm of a private player and give money to the bureaucracy that has failed in the Prasar Bharati, or you may read it as All India Radio and Doordarshan, to make itself an economically and operationally independent body.

            You are encouraging a game like Cricket which is a game that the imperialist powers played, to make people mentally incapable of thinking, to make people physically incapable of moving. It is not a game like Hockey or Soccer or Kabaddi or even Kho-Kho. It is a game which rich, lazy people, drinking beer in the afternoon, played in their golf courses or in their cricket fields. It has nothing to do with the masses. But the Minister took pride in saying that if you go back to the intellectual property right also, it is All India Radio which promoted this game. I am not speaking about the Congress or the BJP as the Government. I am talking about the Government as a continuous process in this country.[R26]  14.00 hrs. They are taking pride in saying that they have promoted cricket.  I would say that they should have taken pride in saying that when the whole world was going one way, they opted to be international in the sense that they promoted rugby, they promoted soccer or football, they promoted hockey, they promoted kabadi.  They have not done any of that.  They have not bothered to do any of that.

            Sir, I watch Doordarshan because in my constituency only  limited urban areas get satellite TV.  In the rural areas, we watch Doordarshan.  I am amazed to see the low class of programmes that Doordarshan shows.  I am really surprised to know that no thinking, no intellectually able person – I am not saying shining, I am saying able person – who has not bound up the mind with pre-set notions can produce such immeasurably, inconceivably boring programmes.

            Kudos to Doordarshan, kudos to All India Radio that no thinking goes in to their programming.  So, what are they trying to do?  They want to propagate their Government’s fallacious programmes.  They want to promote and tell people that things like SEZs are good for them.  They want to tell our farmers that farming is not the answer for their future because they have small land holdings.  They do not want to make them more efficient and more able to produce more from those small plots of lands, rather they are saying, ‘give away your agricultural land to the rich’, to the foreign companies, to the SEZs and enable them and make them stronger and may you perish for ever.  This is their aam adami.

            Sir, I would like to raise one more issue which is an impossible thing and as Gandhiji said, “Truth is the highest religion”.  Sir, I am surprised to note that this Government does not believe in the person who created that Party.  Of course, it is a fact that before he died, Gandhiji also realised his folly and said, “disband the Congress”.  It does not hold good for the Congress any more.

            I would like to ask the hon. Minister, does Prasar Bharti really think that if it gets 25 per cent of the commercial revenue from the live telecast of the cricket matches they will really be able to take out that 25 per cent or whatever ‘X’ amount out of the coffers of Prasar Bharati which is a shrinking organization and use it for promotion of sports of rural areas where there is no electricity to watch television, where people do not get water, where you cannot provide our young with playing fields.  What kind of rubbish is being dished out in this House?

SHRI MADHUSUDAN MISTRY (SABARKANTHA): This is the responsibility of his State Government… (Interruptions)

SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : This is not their Government or our Government.  The Government is a continuous process.  He does not know how this country runs.  The country does not run with them or these people.   The country runs with a few bureaucrats and these bureaucrats twist the arms, no matter who is in power.  They are twisting the arms now.  They are saying that such a big apple is just hanging in front of us, but we are not getting a portion of that.   Therefore, we can force this Government to have an Ordinance and we can compel them to pass a law.

I am  …*  to be a part of it because I know that this will be passed.  All of us are aware of it.  They will be a party to it also.  We are   … (Not recorded) and we should be sad that we are a party to this type of an activity which tells again to the people of this country that this Government is trying something which they had rejected in 1977.

            I strongly condemn this Bill and I wish the House will vote against it.  Thank you Sir.

MR. DEPUTY-SPEAKER: I have an announcement to make.  Unparliamentary words used by Shri Satpathy, will be deleted.

SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : Sir, …. is not an unparliamentary word.

MR. DEPUTY-SPEAKER: But you have not spoken it in a fair way.

   

* Not recorded   SHRI AJOY CHAKRABORTY (BASIRHAT): Mr. Deputy-Speaker, Sir, I rise to support the Bill which has been brought forward by the hon. Minister.  He has already narrated before this House what was the intention of the Government to promulgate Ordinance in view of the forthcoming cricket match.  We support it.  Generally we do not support Ordinance, but in view of the urgency of the cricket match we are supporting this attitude and view of the Government. 

            Doordarshan has the biggest network in the country.  Doordarshan has access all over the country even to the remote villages of the country.  The private channels have no access all over the country.  Their access is in a very few and limited areas of the country.  It is a very good news for the country as well as for the people that they will watch the forthcoming Cricket World Cup in West Indies through Doordarshan.  I hope, they will bear the expenditure to show other matches also like football, hockey, athletics, volley ball etc.  My colleague already mentioned the position of the other sports of the country.  In the last Asiad our performance was miserable; we totally failed.  Though we had congratulated our gold medal winners, yet in comparison with China what is our result?    In comparison with Japan what is our result?  In comparison with South Korea what is our result?  We are the second largest country in the world.  In every meet, whether it is Asiad or Olympics or any other international meet, the performance of our biggest country is very bad in every arena.  What is the reason behind it?  It is because, Government has no sports policy.  I am talking not only about this Government but since Independence our sports sphere is totally neglected.  There is no full-fledged Cabinet Minister for sports.  Sports are supported by very poor budgetary allocation  Even in the Mahamahim Rashtrapatiji’s Address, we cannot find a single word that he uttered for the development of sports.  This is the negligent attitude of the Government towards sports.  It is not only this Government but it is since Independence.

   

14.09 hrs.                              (Shrimati Sumitra Mahajan in the Chair) Shri Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, the hon. Minister, is the President of the All India Football Federation.  What is the position of football? Football is declining day by day.  What about hockey?  We have correctly mentioned about hockey.  We had the gold medal holder in the last few Olympics.  Now, hockey is also declining in our country.  Cricket, no doubt, is a popular game but, Madam, cricket playing countries are limited.  Only Commonwealth countries are playing cricket.  Cricket is a rich man’s game.  Cricket is a game of businessmen to earn money but football is a national game of all the countries of the world in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe and everywhere.  Football is more popular than cricket in England.  England was the founder of cricket.  What about volleyball?  What about hockey?  It is because we have no infrastructure, we have no motto, we have no intention to promote sports, to promote athletics, to promote football and to promote hockey and all these sports.  I visited China, our neighbouring country.  I heard Chinese leaders saying how they are promoting sports and what is the infrastructure in China.  In 2008, they are organizing Oly[r27] mpics.  

            We are organizing only the game of the common wealth  countries.  We have no capacity to organize Olympics because there is no infrastructure in our country for organizing it.  China is building 32 stadiums in their capital, Beijing, for the forthcoming Olympics. 

            Madam, we are not encouraging the players of hockey, football, athletics, volley and wrestling.  I do not know whether the Railway Minister is present here.  I told on the earlier occasion that Railway was recruiting the players of football or hockey.  The South Eastern Railway, the Eastern Railway and other Railway were recruiting players of football, hockey and athletics.  Now-a-days, Railway is not recruiting any player.  Even the Ports Commissioner is recruiting these players.  Mr. Nikhil Nandi was the Olympian.  He has come from the Ports Commissioner.   Mr. P.K. Banerjee was the Olympian.  Now, he  was Capitan of the Indian team. He is from the Railway. Now, Railway is not sponsoring sports.  This is the position in our country in regard to the sports world. 

            Madam, while supporting this Bill wholeheartedly, I take this opportunity to urge upon the Government आप मेहरबानी करके खेलों की ओर ध्यान दीजिए।

We are proud about our distinguished colleague, Shrimati Jyotirmoyee Sikdar because she was the Gold Medal winner.  She just narrated the position regarding sports in our country.  Barring Shri Satpathy, all the Members from this side or that side are supporting this Bill and we are urging upon the Government to promote sports because our national games are neglected.  Even Bangladesh is showing better performance in football compared to our country.  The hon. Information and Broadcasting Minister, Shri Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, is a sports lover.  He is the President of the All India Football Federation.  I remind him not to forget the fact that India got the Gold Medal in the 1962 Asiad.  In 1962 Jakarta, Indonesia Asiad, our football team got the Gold Medal under the captainship of Chuni Goswami.  What is the position of football now?  What is the position in West Bengal, in Kerala, in the erstwhile Mysore, which is now Karnataka, in the erstwhile Hyderabad which is now Andhra Pradesh, in Goa, and in Punjab?  We are bringing neglected and rejected players from Brazil.  We are admiring the players from Nigeria, Kenya and the rejected players from these countries.  Some Brazilian coach is also coming to India for coaching the football team clubs.  They were rejected in their country.  The third division player is coming here to earn huge sums of money instead of the Indian football player. 

            Sir, while supporting this Bill, I would like to take this opportunity to draw the attention of this House to promote sports.  Cricket is not our national game.  Hockey is our national game; football is our national game; volleyball is our national game; wrestling is our national game; and athletics is our national game.  These games have been neglected for a long time.  I urge upon the Government to come forward to create necessary infrastructure for these games and also take steps to promote sports of our country.

                                                                                                                       

श्री पी.एस. गढ़वी (कच्छ): सभापति महोदया, मंत्री जी जो खेल प्रसारण सिगनल (प्रसार भारती के साथ अनिवार्य हिस्सेदारी) विधेयक लाए हैं, उसका मैं स्वागत करता हूं। मुझसे पूर्व वक्ता ने अध्यादेश के बारे में बात कही। अध्यादेश नहीं लाना चाहिए। बार-बार यह बात उठती है लेकिन फिर भी अध्यादेश लाए जाते हैं। मैं दो-तीन बिन्दुओं के प्रति माननीय मंत्री जी का ध्यान आकर्षित करना चाहता हूं। आप जो बिल लाए हैं, इसका लाभ पूरे भारत के कोने-कोने और गांवों में रहने वाले और खेलों के प्रति रूचि रखने वाले लोगों को मिले। उसे वे देख सकें और उससे उन्हें बढ़ावा मिले, यही इस बिल का उद्देश्य है। यह बहुत अच्छा उद्देश्य है लेकिन मेरे पूर्ववक्ताओं ने बताया कि पूरे देश में बिजली की समस्या है। दूर-दराज के गांवों में बिजली न होने के कारण लोगों को यह सुविधा प्राप्त नहीं हो पाती। लेकिन मंत्री जी जहां बिजली की सुविधा है, ऐसे भी कई क्षेत्र हैं, जहां दूरदर्शन, प्रसार भारती और ऑल इंडिया रेडियो का नेटवर्क पहुंच नहीं पाता। अगर आप उस तरफ ध्यान देंगे और उसकी कैपेसिटी बढ़ाने की कोशिश करेंगे, तो अच्छा होगा। कहीं-कहीं कर्मचारियों की नयी भर्ती नहीं होने के कारण कई पोस्टें खाली पड़ी हैं। हमारा आपसे कहना है कि आप उन पोस्टों को भरने का भी प्रावधान करें। उदाहरण के तौर पर, मैं कच्छ इलाके से आता हूं। Area wise, Kutch District is the third largest district in the whole country. इसी तरह पाकिस्तान के नजदीक के जो इलाके हैं, वहां लोग पाकिस्तान रेडियो और टी.वी देख सकते हैं, लेकिन अपने देश का टी.वी नहीं देख सकते। कई बार आपसे यह मांग भी की गयी कि इसकी क्षमता बढ़ायी जाये। देश के कई कोनों में अगर क्षमता नहीं है, कैपेसिटी नहीं है, तो हमारे सिग्नल्स वहां कैसे पहुचेंगे? इसी तरह हमारे देश में व्यूवर्स काफी हैं। अगर पूरी दुनिया के वीवर्स को साथ लिया जाये, तो अपने देश के वीवर्स उससे भी ज्यादा होंगे। अगर यह सुविधा अधिक होगी, तो और भी व्यूवर्स बढ़ेंगे। अगर व्यूवर्स बढ़ेंगे तो उसके कारण एडवरटाइजमैंट की आमदनी भी बढ़ेगी। मेरी आपसे यही गुजारिश है कि दूरदर्शन, प्रसार भारती की क्षमता में जहां कमी है, उसे आप पहले दूर करें। अगर यह क्षमता दूर नहीं होगी, तो आपका उद्देश्य पूरा नहीं होगा।

सभापति महोदया, मेरे पूर्ववक्ताओं ने बताया कि अपने देश के अन्य खेलों को भी बढ़ावा मिलना चाहिए क्योंकि गांव के लोगों में क्षमता बहुत है। उन लोगों को पूरा समर्थन, पुरस्कार और प्रोत्साहन मिलना चाहिए। यह प्रोत्साहन पूरा मिले क्योंकि स्पोट्र्स का महकमा आपके पास है, आप ही स्पोट्र्स को देख रहे हैं। आप इस बारे में पूरा ध्यान देंगे, तभी सही मायने में उसका उपयोग होगा और क्षमता बढ़ेगी। मेरा इतना ही कहना है।

 

श्री सन्दीप दीक्षित (पूर्वी दिल्ली) : सभापति महोदया, बहुत-बहुत धन्यवाद। माननीय मंत्री जी जो बिल सदन में लाये हैं, मैं उसके समर्थन में खड़ा हुआ हूं। आज की चर्चा बिल पर कम, स्पोट्र्स और उसके प्रबंधन के बारे में ज्यादा रही है। मैं उस पर अपनी टिप्पणी नहीं करूंगा। मैं केवल इस बात को व्यक्तिगत रूप से मानता हूं कि खेल-कूद को जितना सरकार और सरकारी अधिकारियों से दूर रखा जाये, उतना ही उसका प्रोत्साहन होगा। अगर अंडर सैक्रेट्री और ज्वाइंट सैक्रेट्री के लफड़े में खेल पड़ा रहा, तो उसकी आज जो स्थिति है, वही स्थिति रहेगी। खैर यह बात बाद की है। मेरे ख्याल से बहुत ही अच्छा और समतामयी बिल आदरणीय मंत्री जी लाये हैं। आज क्रिकेट को देखने की चेष्टा और रूचि, शायद ही देश का कोई ऐसा जिला या तबका होगा, जहां छोटे बच्चे से लेकर बड़े व्यक्ति तक में न हो। अब बीसीसीआई, प्रसार भारती और बड़े चैनलों के बीच कभी-कभी यह वाद-विवाद हो जाता है, व्यावसायिक रूप में वाद-विवाद हो जाता है जिसके इस कारण अपने देश के खिलाड़ियों को खेलते हुए, इस देश की जनता नहीं देख पाती। हमें इतनी बात याद रखनी चाहिए कि आज कम्पनियां क्रिकेट के खेल के नाम पर लाखों करोड़ों रुपए कमाती हैं। वे ये पैसे केवल इसलिए नहीं कमातीं, क्योंकि उसमें तेन्दुलकर या द्रविड खेल रहे हैं। वे इसलिए कमाती हैं कि तेन्दुलकर और द्रविड तिरंगे के अंदर खेल रहे हैं। खेल की गुणवत्ता की बात इतनी नहीं होती क्योंकि हमारा देश वह खेल खेल रहा है। हमारे देश की प्रतिष्ठा उससे जुड़ी होती है, इसलिए लाखों करोड़ों लोग टैस्ट मैच देखते हैं। क्रिकेट जैसी क्वालिटी तो बहुत से और खेलों में भी हो सकती है, भले ही वह उतनी बढि़या हो या न हो। चूंकि राष्ट्र की प्रतिष्ठा उससे जुड़ी होती है, राष्ट्र के लोगों की रूचि उसमें जुड़ी होती है इसलिए हम उस खेल को देखते हैं। इस तरह कम्पनियां को इश्तहार से फायदा मिलता है। इसलिए हमारा और सरकार का दायित्व बनता है कि हर उस व्यक्ति की चाह, जिस चाह के कारण आज कम्पनियां पैसा कमाती हैं, उस चाह को कहीं न कहीं पूर्ण करें।[MSOffice28]  अगर प्राइवेट वंपनियां इसे देश की जनता को हर जगह दिखाने में असफल रहती हैं, इनकपिटेंट रहती हैं, तो यह सरकार का दायित्व बन जाता है। मैं समझता हूं कि आज एक बहुत अच्छा और सकारात्मक कदम आई एण्ड बी मनिस्ट्री द्वारा लिया गया है। मैं यहां दो बातें कहना चाहूंगा और साथ ही मंत्री जी से मेरा एक छोटा सा निवेदन है कि आज टीवी का माध्यम, खासकर खेल देखने का माध्यम न रहकर लोगों वे करीकुलम का भी एक हिस्सा बन गया है। आज चाहे ािवेट हो, कबड्डी हो या फुटबाल हो, बच्चे कुछ अपने कोचेज से सीखते हैं, कुछ अपने स्कूलों में सीखते हैं और बहुत हद तक टीवी से सीखते हैं। जिस तरह आपका शिक्षा विभाग राष्ट्र वे स्तर पर और राज्यों वे स्तर पर इस बात को तय करता है कि किस तरह का करीकुलम हम स्कूलों में सिखाएं, उसी तरह कहीं न कहीं हम लोग प्राइवेट चैनलों को भी अलग-अलग गेम्स वे बारे में, उनको अपने कार्यामों में लेकर, करीकुलम का हिस्सा बनाएं तो स्पोट्र्स को आगे बढ़ाने की द्ृष्टि से बहुत फायदा होगा। आज हम लोग बहुत से स्पोट्र्स चैनल्स देखते हैं, जिनमें कभी-कभी मोटे-मोटे पहलवान एक दूसरे वे बाल खींचते हैं, एक दूसरे पर मिट्टी पेंकते हैं, आप उन सभी को उसमें रखिए, इसमें कोई दिक्कत नहीं है। यह प्राइवेट चैनल्स का जमाना है, अगर उनको लगता है कि लोग उसमें रूचि रखते हैं, तो उसे दिखाएं, लेकिन क्या हम उनसे यह आग्रह नहीं कर सकते हैं कि हमारे जो ग्रामीण खेल हैं, उनको भी साथ-साथ दिखाएं? क्या उनको दिखाने का दायित्व सिर्प दूरदर्शन का है? जिस तरीवे से हमारे देश में एयरलाइन्स की मैनेजमेंट होती है, उससे सीखना पड़ेगा। जब हमारी इण्डियन एयरलाइन्स वे अलावा, प्राइवेट एयरलाइन्स को भी देश में बुलाया गया था, तब उनको भी यह दायित्व दिया गया था कि आज वेवल बड़े शहरों, जैसे दिल्ली, बम्बई, आदि तक ही अपनी फ्लाइट्स न रखें, बल्कि छोटे-छोटे शहरों को भी जोड़ें, उदयपुर को भी जोड़ें, रांची को भी जोड़ें, श्रीपेरम्बुदूर को भी जोड़ें। क्या इसी तरीवे से हम या तो लॉ वे माध्यम से या आग्रह वे माध्यम से प्राइवेट चैनलों से यह नहीं कह सकते हैं कि वे ऐसे खेलों वे भी दिखाएं जिससे खेलों को थोड़ा-बहुत बढ़ावा मिल सकता है। मैं कहना चाहूंगा कि बहुत से ऐसे चैनल हैं जो हम लोग चाहते हैं कि कभी न कभी देखें। आज दो या तीन ऐसे चैनल हैं जो लोगांें की गुणवत्ता और सोचने-समझने की क्षमता बढ़ाते हैं, जैसे हिस्टरी चैनल और डिस्कवरी चैनल। लेकिन दुर्भाग्य से ऐसा कोई भी चैनल, चाहे प्राइवेट चैनल हो या सरकार वे चैनल, हिन्दुस्तान में उस गुणवत्ता से प्रोडयूश नहीं होते हैं, जिस गुणवत्ता से वे विदेशों में आ रहे हैं। इन चैनलों से यह भी फायदा है कि पर्यावरण वे बारे में हमें और बच्चों को सीखने को मिलता है, आपदाअों वे बारे में सीखने को मिलता है, प्रबंधन वे बारे में सीखते हैं, हवाई जहाज वे बारे में सीखते हैं, विज्ञान वे बारे में सीखते हैं। लेकिन एक भारतीय की द्ृष्टि से हम इतिहास को किस तरह देखना चाहेंगे, एक भारतीय की द्ृष्टि से हम विकास को या दूसरे गूढ़ मुद्दों को किस तरह से देखना चाहेंगे। हम हर बार चीजों को देखने और समझने का जो पश्चिमी तौर-तरीका है, वेवल उसी दर्पण से देखते हैं। हमारा जो भारतीय तौर-तरीका है, जो पूर्व का तरीका रहा है, जो इस देश का तरीका रहा है, भारतीय समाज का तरीका रहा है, वह देखने को कम मिलता है। मैं आग्रह करना चाहूंगा कि या तो दूरदर्शन की तरफ से या प्राइवेट चैनलों से आग्रह करवे यह प्रयास करना चाहिए कि जो एजुवेटिव चैनल्स हैं, वे उसी गुणवत्ता में, उन विषयों वे बारे में जो विषय धीरे-धीरे हमारे बच्चों वे लिए महत्वपूर्ण हो गए हैं और आने वाले समाज को सकारात्मक और अच्छा समाज बनाने वे लिए महत्वपूर्ण हैं, दिखाए जाएं। मैं इन्हीं शब्दों वे साथ मंत्री जी को धन्यवाद देते हुए अपनी बात समाप्त करता हूं।

श्रीमती रंजीत रंजन (सहरसा) : महोदय, मैं आपवे माध्यम से दो-तीन बातें इस बिल वे बारे में कहना चाहूंगी। सबसे पहले मैं इस स्पोट्र्स ब्रॉडकास्टिंग बिल का समर्थन करती हूं। हम यह बिल पहले भी ला सकते थे, सिस्टमैटिक ढंग से ला सकते थे और जो तेजी हमने इस बिल को लाने में दिखाई है, वह यह दर्शाती है कि यह तेजी हमने ािवेट वे लिए दिखाई है। इसवे लिए मैं रिक्वेस्ट करना चाहूंगी कि यही तेजी हमें अन्य खेलों वे बारे में भी लानी चाहिए। बहुत से ऐसे खेल हैं, जिनवे बारे में माननीय सदस्यों ने भी उल्लेख किया है, हम लोगों ने उनवे बारे में इंट्रेस्ट लेकर ऐसा करना चाहिए। मैं यह कहना चाहूंगी कि जो दण्ड का प्रावधान अपने इस बिल में किया है, क्या वैसी ही कोई स्कीम आप अन्य खेलों वे बारे में करेंगे। आज ािवेट को इतना ज्यादा हाइलाइट कर दिया गया है कि आज गांव का बच्चा-बच्चा, जो अपने नेशनल गेम्स नहीं जानता है, ािवेट को जानता है। उसमें खेलने वाले खिलाड़ियों को करोड़ों रुपए स्पाँसर किए जाते हैं। इसलिए जिस प्रकार से आपने इस बिल में दंड की प्रक्रिया निर्धारित करने का प्रावधान किया है, क्यों नहीं इसी तरह के दंड का प्रावधान किया जाए ताकि जो आदर्श खेल हैं, जैसे गांवों में खेले जाने वाले खेल हैं, उन्हें भी स्पाँसर किया जाए, नहीं तो दंड का सामना करना होगा। क्रिकेट और टैनिस आदि कुछ खेलों को छोड़ दें, तो दूसरे जो हमारे राष्ट्रीय खेल हैं, उनके खिलाड़ी अगर रास्ते पर चलते हैं, तो लोग उन्हें पहचान नहीं पाते हैं, जबकि क्रिकेट और टैनिस आदि कुछ खेलों के खिलाड़ियों के साथ ऐसा नहीं है। आज हम देखते हैं कि क्रिकेट के खिलाड़ी खिलाड़ी से ज्यादा एक्टर और हीरो नजर आते हैं।

आपने जिस तरह की तेजी इस बिल को लाने में दिखाई है, लगता है वह सिर्फ क्रिकेट के लिए ही दिखाई है। हमारे जो स्पोट्र्स के चैनल्स हैं, आपने एक प्रकार से उन पर डोर कसी है। मैं चाहती हूं कि निजी चैनल्स द्वारा जिस तरह के आज सीरियल्स दिखाए जा रहे हैं, जिस तरह के आपराधिक और अश्लील कार्यक्रम दिखाए जा रहे हैं, क्या सरकार उन्हें भी डोर में कसने के लिए, ऐसा कोई बिल लाने पर विचार कर रही है? गांवों में लोगों को भले ही क्रिकेट न दिखे तो चलेगा, लेकिन ये जो चैनल्स इस प्रकार के कार्यक्रम दिखा रहे हैं, उससे हमारी सभ्यता और भारतीय संस्कृति नष्ट हो रही है - क्या मंत्री जी इस बारे में भी सोच रहे हैं?

        हमारे देश को आजाद हुए करीब ६० साल हो गए हैं, लेकिन अभी तक हमारे देश में राष्ट्रीय खेलों का उतना विस्तार नहीं हो पाया है, जितना होना चाहिए था। हमने राष्ट्रपति महोदय के अभिभाषण पर रखे गए धन्यवाद प्रस्ताव पर चर्चा के समय भी यह बात कही गई थी कि आज तक हम अपनी योजनाओं को कार्यान्वित नहीं कर सके और भ्रष्टाचार को खत्म नहीं कर सके। आपने जितनी तेजी इस बिल को लाने में दिखाई है, क्या उतनी ही तेजी आप भ्रष्टाचार को खत्म करने के लिए और भ्रष्ट पदाधिकारियों को दंडित करने के लिए बिल लाने में दिखाएंगे?

आज गांव का आदमी क्रिकेट के अलावा और भी कुछ चाहता है। जो भूखे लोग हैं, जिन्हें पेट भर खाना नहीं मिल पाता है, अगर आपने भ्रष्टाचार को खत्म करने के लिए प्रयास किया होता तो उन्हें एहसास होता कि भारत सरकार हमारे लिए कुछ सोच रही है, कुछ कर रही है।

मैं इस बिल का समर्थन करती हूं, लेकिन मैं चाहती हूं कि हमारे देश में बहुत सारी ऐसी जरूरतें हैं, जिन्हें ध्यान में रखना चाहिए।

 

श्री सुरेश प्रभाकर प्रभु (राजापुर): महोदया, यह जो बिल सदन में पेश किया गया है, उससे पहले एक अध्यादेश जारी करके सरकार ने विधेयक लाने से पहले कानून देश के सामने रखा था। मंत्री जी ने जो विधेयक पेश किया है, वह इससे सम्बन्धित विभाग के अलावा संसदीय कार्य मंत्री भी हैं। मैं मानता हूं कि सूचना और प्रसारण मंत्री के नाते उन्होंने अध्यादेश जरूर जारी किया, लेकिन संसदीय कार्य मंत्री के नाते मुझे विश्वास है कि शायद वह भी इस बात को मानेंगे कि किसी भी विधेयक को पास करके कानूनी शक्ल देने के लिए संसद ही एकमात्र उचित माध्यम है। इसीलिए आपने सूचना और प्रसारण मंत्री के नाते इस बिल को यहां रखा, लेकिन संसदीय कार्य मंत्री के नाते आप भी शायद उसका विरोध करेंगे, ऐसा मैं मानता हूं।

देश में हाल ही में क्रिकेट का एक फीवर फैला है। जैसे डेंगू या अन्य तरह के फीवर होते हैं, यह भी उससे कम नहीं है। आज मैं 'हिन्दुस्तान टाइम्स' में एक नई बीमारी का नाम पढ़ रहा था, जिसे शायद मैं यहां ठीक से उच्चारित भी नहीं कर पाऊंगा। ऐसी नई बीमारी देश में आई है, लेकिन उससे भी नई बीमारी क्रिकेट के रूप में देश में फैल गई है। देश की आबादी करीब १० करोड़ है, उसमें बहुत ही कम लोग ऐसे होंगे, जो क्रिकेट के बारे में कुछ जानकारी या दिलचस्पी न रखते हों। अधिकतर देशवासियों का क्रिकेट से काफी प्रेम और इंटरेस्ट है। अब वह सही है या गलत है, वह अलग बात है, लेकिन असलियत यही है। अगर सचिन तेंदुलकर आउट हो जाए, तो बहुत से लोगों को हार्ट अटैक हो जाता है। इसलिए क्रिकेट की जानकारी के लिए सभी लोगों को आवश्यक है कि एक अच्छे माध्यम से क्रिकेट मैच का प्रसारण सब तक पहुंचे। जो विधेयक यहां पेश किया गया है, उसमें भारतीय क्रिकेट कंट्रोल बोर्ड के साथ शायद निम्बस कम्पनी का एग्रीमेंट हुआ है। उसके कारण एक कठिन परिस्थिति देश में पैदा हुई है।[R29]  मैं अखबार पढ़ रहा था, उससे पता चला कि एक कंपनी के साथ करार के कारण दूरदर्शन को राइट्स नहीं मिले। क्रिकेट कंट्रोल बोर्ड ऑफ इंडिया के जो अध्यक्ष हैं. वह हमारे देश के कृषि मंत्री भी हैं। मैं मानता हूं कि यह मामला ग्रुप ऑफ मनिस्टर्स में जाकर हल हो सकता था, क्योंकि एक माननीय मनिस्टर क्रिकेट खेलते हैं तथा दूसरे मंत्री जी फुटबॉल खेलते हैं। उन्होंने ग्रुप ऑफ मनिस्टर्स को मामला नहीं दिया और किक करके यह मामला संसद के सामने आया, as a good footballer, I must congratulate you for that. लेकिन आज आप जो अध्यादेश लाए है, उसकी वजह से बहुत सारे इश्यूज हमारे सामने आये हैं। मैं उसका स्वागत इसलिए करता हूं क्योंकि आम जनता जरूर क्रिकेट देखना चाहेगी, आम जनता को क्रिकेट देखने की सुविधा मिलती है, तो दूरदर्शन जरूर एक साधन है। हमारे देश में जो प्रादेशिक, टैरेस्टि्रएल चैनल्स हैं, उसके तथा दूरदर्शन के माध्यम से सभी देश के लोगों को प्रोग्राम देखने का मौका मिलता है। हमारे राष्ट्रीय खेल, जो गुवहाटी में हुए, उससे पहले ही उल्फा ने कुछ लोगों को मार दिया था, इसलिए खेलों पर सब लोगों की नजर थी। वे खेल भी लोगों के बीच में पहुंचे, तो दूरदर्शन के ही कारण पहुंचे। इसलिए दूरदर्शन में जो खामियां हैं, उसके लिए हमें जरूर अलग से कुछ करना चाहिए, लेकिन जो आप क्रिकेट के लिए प्रावधान रहे हैं, उसका मैं स्वागत करता हूं।

उसी तरह से यूनिवर्सल सर्विस ऑब्लिगेशन हमने टेलीफोन के ऊपर डाला है, तथा दूरदर्शन के ऊपर भी एक यूएसओ का ऑब्लिगेशन है। उसी तरह का ऑब्लिगेशन काफी देशों में है जिससे इस तरह के खेल लोगों तक पहुंचाने के लिए काफी सुविधाएं दी जाती हैं। लेकिन एक-दो चीजों के ऊपर मैं सरकार को सावधान करना चाहता हूं। पहले तो आप इस तरह का खेल हमारे देश की जो जनता है, जो उसे मुफ्त में दिखाए, उसका हमें स्वागत करना चाहिए, लेकिन इस सुविधा के कारण बंगला देश और पाकिस्तान में सबसे ज्यादा क्रिकेट देखा जाता है तथा नेपाल, भूटान और साउथ-ईस्ट-एशिया में दूरदर्शन प्रादेशिक लोग नहीं देख पाते हैं, इसलिए वह ओवरसीज सर्विस के द्वारा अन्य देश के लोगों को मुफ्त देखने को मिलेगा तो शायद हम उन देशों के लोगों को सब्सिडाइज करने के लिए कानून बना रहे हैं, उसका यही नतीजा होगा। इसलिए मैं सरकार से कहूंगा कि इस प्रावधान को सिर्फ हमारे देश की सीमा तक सीमित रखें, उसके आगे आप न जाएं। दूसरी बात, जो टैरेस्टि्रएल चैनल है, अभी तो सैट टाप बॉक्सेज सभी जगह लग रहे हैं लेकिन डाररेक्ट टू होम का जो प्लेटफार्म है, उस प्लेटफार्म के लिए, आपको उसमें क्रिकेट सम्मलित नहीं करना चाहिये। आप टैरेस्टि्रएल राइट्स उनको देंगे, जो देख नहीं पाते हैं, तो अच्छी बात है लेकिन डायरेक्ट टू होम देने से मैं मानता हूं कि आपके लॉ की जो भावना है, वह असफल हो जाएगी। इसके लिए दो चीजों पर सरकार को ध्यान देने की जरूरत है। एक तो डायरेक्ट टू होम और हमारे देश की सीमा छोड़कर अलग देशों में यह जो चैनल जाता है, वह न जाए, इसे देखने की जरुरत है।

कानून के द्वारा कुछ राशि सरकार के पास रहेगी और वह चाहती है कि उस राशि में से कुछ राशि का उपयोग अन्य खेलों को बढ़ावा देने में क पाएगी। मैं जरूर चाहूंगा कि आप फुटबॉल को कुछ देंगे। ...( व्यवधान) आप फुटबॉल को राशि नहीं देंगे, अच्छी बात है, लेकिन टेबल-टैनिस, चैस और हमारे जो भारतीय खेल हैं, जैसे कबड्डी है, खो-खो जैसे खेल हैं, उनके लिए भी राशि देने की जरुरत है। मैं चाहूंगा कि माननीय मंत्री जी अपने जवाब में जरूर कहें कि ऐसे जो खेल हैं, उनके लिए ज्यादा से ज्यादा राशि का आप प्रावधान करेंगे।

आपने एक तकनीकी कमेटी का गठन करने के लिए भी इस विधेयक में उल्लेख किया है और मैं मानता हूं कि उस कमेटी के द्वारा और कुछ जानकारी आप लेंगे। लेकिन ये दो चीज़ें जरूर करने की आवश्यकता है। अगर आप ये दो चीजें नहीं करेंगे तो शायद विधेयक की जो भावना है वह भी असफल हो जाएगी।[r30]  SHRI VARKALA RADHAKRISHNAN (CHIRAYINKIL): Sir, I support the Bill, but while supporting it, I have to point out certain defects. The Government was sleeping for a long time, for more than a year. As early as 11th November, 2005, the Government issued guidelines without any statutory backing. The matter went up to the court, and it is quite natural that the Executive’s guidelines will not prevail; everybody knew that. What did the Government do? We had several Sessions in the previous year; in 2006, we had a number of Sessions of this House. The Government did not care to bring the Bill to this House. There was ample time. The BCCI refused to share with Doordarshan India-West Indies One day Series and as a result, as per the Bill, 98 per cent of the rural folk could not watch the Test Match. There was ample time for the Government to take action since 11th November, 2005, but they did not take any action. Now, after more than a year, they come with a new procedure, that is, resorting to this Ordinance procedure. A normal Bill could have been brought here in this House, and we could have had a thoroughly democratic discussion and consideration of this important procedure. Instead of resorting to that normal democratic process, the Government resorted to bringing an Ordinance. Whose fault was it? It was not our fault.

The authorities concerned thought that a Cabinet approval would be enough and so they issued an Ordinance. However, the Cabinet’s approval was not enough, and House’ approval was necessary. That matter came to the notice of the Government as early as 11th November, 2005. What prevented them to bring this Bill in this House in the normal way? Nobody knows that. We have to pay for their fault. Our rights are curtailed. When we consider an Ordinance, normally, we lose our democratic rights in the sense that a thorough discussion is not possible because we cannot make any change in this Ordinance.

Ordinance is not followed as a statutory law; it has a complete effect from the date of Ordinance prior to a retrospective effect is given. November 11, 2005 was the date from which the Ordinance came into play. It is unheard of and unimaginable. Such a procedure was adopted by our hon. friend, Shri Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, though he is a very able man, very democratic and could foresee all these things. What prevented you to bring a normal Bill here in this House? There were more than 13 months for you. The Ordinance was issued only in January; he had 13 long months for taking action about this mandatory sharing with private agencies. Now, it has been decided that the content would be shared in the ratio of 75: 25; in the other cases, it is 50:50; that is the sharing provided in the statute. However, this could have been done earlier.

            It is unfortunate and I am very sorry to say that our rights are curtailed. It is a committed legislation; Ordinance is a committed legislation. It is not in the proper way of passing a Bill. Very unfortunately, you resort to a statutory provision for meeting a contingent situation. There may be situations in the country which are unimaginable or which could not be foreseen and immediate action may be required to meet a particular situation.[r31]  For this purpose the Executive is given this provision of Ordinance. What was the emergent situation here? To meet an emergency situation the procedure of Ordinance is allowed to the Government under the provisions of the Constitution. Here, there was about 13 months of time available with the Government. What was the emergent situation? Why did the Government have to resort to the Ordinance procedure? I do not understand the logic behind this. It is very unfortunate. A good thing could have been done in the proper way. However, this Ordinance procedure is resorted to and that too not in an emergent situation but a situation that was in existence for over 13 months. This is rather peculiar.

            I would again request the Government not to resort to this Ordinance procedure very often. The Government does that every now and then even for things which come in the normal way of life. We all know that 98 per cent of the rural population is devoid of a chance of viewing international events. That situation is there for a long time. Unfortunately, the Government did not take any action and the authorities thought of bringing an executive order.

            I would request the Government not to resort to this Ordinance procedure here after unless there is an emergent situation. With these words, I fully support the Bill.

SHRI SUBRATA BOSE (BARASAT): Madam Chairperson, I rise to support the Bill on the sports broadcasting introduced by the hon. Minister of Information and Broadcasting. I support it for mainly two reasons.

            In great parts of our country, cable channels or pay channels are not available to the viewers and this Bill will ensure that people who stay in the rural areas would also have the opportunity to view or listen to the commentary of this crazy game called cricket. Cricket has become a craze in our country and that is perhaps because of the broadcasters. Otherwise, from the sportsperson’s point of view this is not a popular game. As other hon. Members have mentioned, this is an expensive game. In our country there are very few sportspersons or sports-minded young men who can take part in the game of cricket.

            I support the Bill for another reason also. I have seen that some of those who stay in areas where cable or pay channels are available are not in a position to utilize this facility because they cannot afford to have such cable or pay channels. Therefore, their only recourse is Doordarshan or Akashavani. Therefore, these people also will have an opportunity to view or listen to the sports broadcasts which are mainly done by the private pay channels.

            I am also very happy that in Sub-Clause 1, Clause 3 of the Bill it has been said that the revenue earned from such broadcasts shall be utilized by the Prasar Bharati for broadcasting other sporting events.[KMR32]              So, I feel that this is very encouraging.  I hope that the Prasar Bharati will ultimately  in the long run not only utilize this revenue earned for broadcasting other sports events but also go out to financially assist those sports organizations who are promoting and developing indigenous sports and who suffer from lack of funds to properly promote and develop sports.  I hope that the Prasar Bharati will also think in the long run to assist such promotional activities.

            Though I support the Bill, I also have certain reservations.  As I said, these are two reasons for it.  I would like to share my own experience - which I hope the hon. Members would also share and bear with me – that people who have the opportunity to have private channels in their sets, they hardly see Doordarshan programmes.  Why is that so?  It is because the technical quality of Doordarshan is not up to the mark whereas the technical quality of the private channels is much better than that of Doordarshan.  When we watch the game, we would like to watch it from different angles, which we cannot get in Doordarshan because very frankly I would say why.  I would like to give an example.  Doordarshan cannot have that many cameras as private channels have.  This is something the Doordarshan or the Prasar Bharati or the Akashvani will have to look into it.  Technical quality of the programmes will have to be improved to make it more popoular.

            There is also another reason – the quality of programmes.  Some Members have mentioned that the quality of programmes is rather dull compared to the programmes which are featured by the private channels and that is the reason why people do not turn to Doordarshan, if they can afford to have and if they have the opportunity to have private channels airing their programmes in their television sets.  This is a matter which has to be looked into.

            Gone are the days when Akashvani and Doordarshan were monopoly organizations and people had no other opportunity to hear other views in the private channels in this country.  I think the quality of programmes featured in Doordarshan and Akashvani will  also have to be improved.

            I was hearing the speech of the hon. Member, Shri Satpathy  with great attention.  With due respect I would like to say that he has gone to the extreme.  I do not support all his views but in principle I agree with him in one thing, which is that the Doordarshan and the Akashvani should be developed as national and public broadcasters.  The way programmes are aired by  them, we have a feeling that they are the Government broadcasters.  I think, Doordarshan has the capability and the scope to become the real national broadcaster.  Not only are they showing governmental activities mainly or mostly but not showing all types of activities in our country.

            I can say this from my own personal experience. I have been a sports person.  I still participate in sports.  I have been a sports organizer and also a sports broadcaster in Akashvani and subsequently in Doordarshan.

What I have seen is that this Government broadcaster is not really a public and a national broadcaster. They feel shy to air the views of persons who have different views on many issues, differing from that of the Government. I have met the hon. Minister of Information and Broadcasting; he also is aware of my personal experience in this regard. I think, to become a national broadcaster, the Doordarshan should follow the example of BBC of UK and become the channels for broadcasting the views of all shades of opinion and all different and varying programmes. Then only, the purpose of this Bill will be served.

            With these words, I conclude – as my time is limited – by reiterating my support to this Bill.

         

DR. SEBASTIAN PAUL (ERNAKULAM): Madam, I welcome this Bill as it brings good news to millions of Indians who are enabled to follow sporting events of national importance on All India Radio and Doordarshan, irrespective of which satellite network owns broadcast rights.

Although there is an explosion in media choice with more than 300 TV channels, but pay or cable channel is still very limited – of the over 110 million TV homes only 65-70 million are cable connected. Most pay channels do not go beyond 30-40 million homes and that too during big sporting events. Terrestrial does deliver the audience and therefore the value for advertisers. When DD carried the TEN Sports feed during the Indo-Pak match a couple of years ago, the audience TEN Sports delivered was 81 million against DD's 145 million. It is, in this situation, that we make it mandatory for the rights holder to share, in public interest, the sports broadcasting signals with Prasar Bharati, but in fairness that should be restricted to terrestrial households by encoding the programming.

The Supreme Court, during the Indo-Pak match two years ago, and recently the Delhi High Court, during the India -West Indies series, have delicately balanced the interest of the viewers and the broadcast right of the owners. The present Bill tries to give a legal frame to that attempt by breaking the unjustifiable monopoly. The immediate fallout is that fundamental rights of the citizens under Article I9 (I) (a) of the Constitution, regarding right of viewers have been given effect to.

A question may still be asked as to whether the broadcasters ought to share live feed with the public broadcaster. Doordarshan has wide reach in India and going by sheer number of viewers, such a prescription may not be unjustified. However, there has to be a transparent policy in this regard especially when it tramples over private property rights. The mandatory sharing imposed by government is not without international precedent and most countries do impose conditions. Time, therefore, seems ripe for the government to frame proper guidelines so that broadcasters share their feed in a legally justifiable manner and that their commercial interests are not compromised. The advertisement­ free feed given to Prasar Bharati should be used in such a way that there is no commercial loss to the rights-owning channels and a balance is maintained between private gain and the wider public interest. The public broadcaster, functioning with full public support, cannot live long on charity alone. It has to find ways and means to compete and live along with private broadcasters.  There was a time when the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting considered commercial broadcasting and advertising through All India Radio as not conducive to the healthy development of broadcasting in this country but that was half a century ago, before the advent of private operators in the field.  Now we are permitting Prasar Bharati to keep 25 per cent of the revenue and the All India Radio 50 per cent of the revenue generated from advertisements, a windfall gains that should be used for public benefit.  There is nothing wrong in forging mechanisms whereby telecasts of high interest are made available to the largest possible number of viewers.  But such arrangement must be rational and not infringing upon the monetary support structure for sport.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

श्री गिरधारी लाल भार्गव (जयपुर) :सभापति महोदया, मैं दो बातें निवेदन करना चाहता हूं। माननीय मंत्री जी जो अध्यादेश लाये हैं, मैं प्रारम्भ से ही इसका विरोध कर रहा हूं क्योंकि ऐसी कोई इमरजैंसी नहीं थी कि यह अध्यादेश लाया जाता और फिर यह विधेयक लाये हैं। आज फुटबाल और क्रिकेट दो ऐसे खेल हैं जो लोगों में सनसनी पैदा करते हैं। । माननीय मंत्री जी फुटबाल प्रेमी हैं और श्री पवार क्रिकेेट प्रेमी हैं और इस मामले को सुलझाये जाने के लिये इसे संसद में लाये हैं। मुझे मालूम है कि निश्चित रूप से इसमें आपकी जीत है, इसमे कोई दो राय नहीं हैं। मेरी प्रार्थना है कि यह अध्यादेश नहीं लाया जाना चाहिये था।

सभापति महोदया, माननीय मंत्री जी जानते हैं कि टी. वी. पर ऐसे चैनलों का प्रसारण हो रहा है जो भारतीय संस्कृति के अनुरूप नहीं हैं। दो चैनल ऐसे हैं जिन पर अश्लील चित्र दिखाये जाते रहे और हम लोगों द्वारा संसद में यह मामला उठाये जाने पर लोगों और सदन की मर्यादा को देखते हुये आपने उन चैनलों पर रोक लगाई कि अश्लील बातें या चित्र नहीं दिखाये जायें। मेरा यही कहना है कि सरकार को निश्चित रूप से कोई न कोई कार्यवाही करनी चाहिये ताकि हम भारतीय संस्कृति को ठीक प्रकार से दिखा सकें लेकिन आज भी कई ऐसे चैनलों द्वारा भारतीय संस्कृति का हनन हो रहा है।

सभापति महोदय, यह सही है कि आप प्रसार भारती का राजस्व बढ़ायेगें लेकिन हमारे यहां कई ऐसे खेल हैं जिनका विकास करने की आवश्यकता है। मेरी मांग है कि सरकार इसके लिये प्रयास करे। आज हर आदमी के पास टी.वी. नहीं है। पहले रेडियो भी बहुत कम लोगों के पास था लेकिन टी.वी. आ जाने से रेडियो की महत्ता कम रह गयी है। आज दूरदर्शन एक ऐसी चीज हो गई है कि इसके द्वारा हर मतदाता के घर तक पहुंचा जा सकता है। घर के चार कमरों में टी.वी. के पहुंचने से दूरदर्शन का प्रसार और प्रचार एक माध्यम हो गया है, इसमें कोई दो राय नहीं हैं। माननीय मंत्री जी इस बात को बढ़ावा दे रहे हैं, उसके लिये मैं उनको धन्यवाद देता हूं।

सभापति महोदया, आज दूरदर्शन और रेडियो ठीक प्रकार से काम कर रहे हैं लेकिन मेरा कहना है कि क्रिकेट मैच के अलावा और भी खेल होते हैं। हमारे राजस्थान में गिल्ली-डंडा नाम का एक खेल होता है। यह भी एक प्रकार से क्रिकेट जैसा होता है क्योंकि इस खेल में भी दौड़ना, भागना और पकड़ना होता है अगर मंत्री जी नहीं जानते हों तो हमारे राजस्थान के सवाई माधोपुर से वन मंत्री आपको बता सकते हैं। अगर आपको यह खेल देखना हो तो मैं आपको उसमें शरीक होने के लिये निमंत्रण देता हूं। हमारे देश में कई खेल हैं लेकिन क्रिकेट एक महंगा खेल है। आज हम देखते हैं कि गली गली में क्रिकेट का खेल चल रहा है और हर आदमी खेल रहा है। आज हर जगह इस खेल की प्रतिस्पर्द्धा चल रही है। क्रिकेट के अलावा कबड्डी है जिस पर कोई खर्चा नहीं होता, वेटलिफ्िंटग है, जिस पर कोई खर्चा नहीं होता, टेबिल टैनिस है, जिस पर कोई खर्चा नहीं होता, बास्केट बॉल है, जिस पर कोई खर्चा नहीं होता और खो-खो है, जिस पर कोई खर्चा नहीं होता है।[s33]  15.00 hrs. ये ऐसे खेल हैं जिन पर यदि आप ध्यान देंगे तो निश्चित रूप से ािवेट जो एक प्रकार का खचर्ीला खेल हो गया है, उनवे मुकाबले इन खेलों को प्रोत्साहन मिलेगा। फुटबाल को आप अवश्य प्रोत्साहन दें क्योंकि फुटबाल का खेल आज मरणासन्न अवस्था में पहुंच गया है। जयपुर शहर में राजस्थान वे पूर्व मुख्य मंत्री मोहनलाल सुखाड़िया वे नाम पर एक शील्ड स्पोट्र्स काउंसिल वे पास पड़ी हुई है। जयपुर में डायमंड ऑल इंडिया फुटबाल टूर्नामैंट हमने कराया और पाकिस्तानी टीम भी उसमें आई थी। मैं भी फुटबाल प्रेमी रहा हूं और खेल कराता रहा हूँ। इसलिए निश्चित रूप से फुटबाल वे बारे में और अन्य खेलों वे बारे में आप विचार करेंगे, ऐसा मेरा आपसे निवेदन है।

मेरा अंतिम निवेदन यह है कि आखिरकार इन खेलों को प्रोत्साहन देने वे लिए एक स्पोट्र्स विद्यालय होना चाहिए। विश्वविद्यालय तो नहीं, लेकिन यदि स्पोट्र्स विद्यालय हो जाएगा तो निश्चित रूप से गांवों में जो प्रतिभा खेलों में आगे बढ़ना चाहती है, उनका भी काम हो सवेगा और हर स्टेट वैपिटल में स्पोट्र्स विद्यालय की शाखाएं खुल जाएंगी। इससे निश्चित रूप से बच्चों को खेलने में प्रोत्साहन मिलेगा। इस पर आप अवश्य विचार करें। हमारे यहां कई प्रकार वे खेल हैं। राजस्थान की मुख्य मंत्री श्रीमती वसुन्धरा राजे जी ने जगतपुरा में एक भूखंड लिया है जहां तीरंदाज़ लिम्बा राम और दूसरे खिलाड़ियों को प्रोत्साहन देने वे लिए तीरंदाज़ी और घुड़सवारी सिखाई जाएगी। दो खेलों कोे जो प्रोत्साहन देने का काम उन्होंने किया है, भारत सरकार को भी निश्चित रूप से उसमें मदद करनी चाहिए ताकि राजस्थान में खेल आगे बढ़ें और तीरंदाज़ी और घुड़सवारी का अच्छा प्रशिक्षण खिलाड़ी ले सवें।

अंत में मैं यह आर्िडनैन्स लाने का विरोध करता हूं। जिस भावना से आप फुटबाल और ािवेट का मैच संसद में खेलने वे लिए आए हैं, निश्चित रूप से उसमें फुटबाल की जीत हो, ऐसी मेरी भावना है। बाकी यह बिल स्वागत योग्य है। यह बहुत अच्छा बिल लेकर आप आए हैं। मैं विश्वास करता हूं कि आप अन्य खेलों को भी प्रोत्साहित करेंगे जिनमें पैसा खर्च नहीं होता है। इतना कहकर मैं बिल का समर्थन करता हूं और अध्यादेश का विरोध करता हूं। आपने मुझे समय दिया, इसवे लिए आपका धन्यवाद।

 

PROF. M. RAMADASS (PONDICHERRY): Madam, I rise to support the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Bill, 2007. 

At the outset, I compliment and congratulate our dedicated Minister for Information and Broadcasting for bringing this Bill before this august House. While piloting the Bill, the hon. Minister outlined the objectives of this Bill as well as the advantages that would be derived by this nation as a consequence of this Bill.  I fully endorse the objectives and other provisions which he has indicated.

            A question was raised as to why the hon. Minister brought this Bill through the Ordinance route.  The whole nation knows the exigencies and contingencies under which this Bill had to be brought through the Ordinance route.  I hope the hon. Minister would be able to give a fitting reply to it.

            In my view, this Bill has three distinct advantages.  The first advantage is that it will break the monopoly rights of some of the private channels in this country.  By using exclusive rights, they have created a situation where you do not have a free and perfectly competitive market.  There is no fair play among the players in the field of television.  Some of them who have  lot of resources, muster all support.  They bid for relaying certain games like cricket and they try to monopolise the whole situation.  What is ironical is that even a Government organization like Doordarshan has not been permitted to show the cricket match to a large number of people.[R34]              It was because they had given the highest bid and so they had monopoly over that. Not only that, they have earned a lot of money out of advertisement which they get because this is a plump channel which is viewed by a large number of people and so all advertisers rush to these people. Therefore, the monopoly rights that were created were actually acting in detriment to the interest of the people at large. It was because, firstly, they denied access to a large number of people from viewing national games. Secondly because they have been accumulating a lot of wealth which went against the concept of equality of income and distribution of income in this country. Therefore, this monopoly had to be broken.   Of course, when we have permitted the process of privatization, these are concomitant evils that we will have to face. But at the right time the Government has come forward with a Bill to break the monopoly and therefore, I accept the Bill and I also welcome the Bill.

            Secondly, the Bill says that 25 per cent of the revenue earned by the exclusive right ownership will come to the Government. From this 25 per cent, the hon. Minister has assured, not even a single pie will be taken to the exchequer of the Government. This is a good move. What is he going to do with that 25 per cent? He is going to spend this money for propagation of a large number of games in the interest of the people of this country. Here I see a sense of social justice in the matter of games. Today everybody is obsessed with cricket. I do not want to say what Bernard Shaw said because I would be questioned for it. But I would only like to say that there are a large number of games that are indigenous in character, which originated in this soil and these games have been given a step-motherly treatment by all the people, the sporting associations, the sporting federations, by Doordarshan and various other organizations. If there is a game of volleyball, then it is not telecast as much as it is done in case of cricket. If there is a game of kabaddi, it is not telecast. Now, the hon. Minister says that he will use this fund which would be generated by acquiring exclusive right of ownership for the benefit of propagating all these games and I hope that this is a right step for promoting these games. It is because by showing these games we would be able to project the innate talents of our people and also motivate others to play these games and thereby help in development of manpower for these games.

            Thirdly, such a step would help in making other games popular in this country.

            Sir, the only point that I would like to make is that the Doordarshan and All India Radio are other players along with the private players. Now the question is whether taking out the property of the private players would be questioned in a court of law or not. This is what is being apprehended because it involves the question of fundamental right. Of course, the Bill will provide the necessary legal protection in this regard. But what I would like to suggest here is that just like we have created regulatory authorities in various other fields, like in case of MTNL we have created a regulatory authority; in case of insurance, we have created a regulatory authority; in case of petroleum and natural gas we have created a regulatory authority, likewise in the field of television and other information also we could think of creating a regulatory authority. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is the arbitrator. Doordarshan and All India Radio come under it. Therefore, it would be prudent if the Government created a regulatory authority to govern all these things as well as to decide about their sharing with other channels. Therefore, in the interest of the Government, in the interest of the State, I approve this Bill, I support this Bill wholeheartedly and I once again congratulate the hon. Minister for his act.

               

DR. K.S. MANOJ (ALLEPPEY): Sir, I rise to support the Bill which seeks to provide listeners and viewers on a free to air basis of sporting events of national importance through mandatory sharing with Prasar Bharati. It is a fact that not only the private channels but Prasar Bharati also is not interested in telecasting the sports events that are not economically beneficial to the channels. I had a bitter experience of that.

            Last year, in my district, we organized two sporting events – one was the Asian Power Lifting Championship and the other was the National sub-junior Table Tennis Championship.  The organizers approached the Prasar Bharati for telecasting the events, but they were not willing to telecast those events. I, myself wrote a letter to the hon. Minister about this, but till date I have not received any reply to my letter. When enquired, it was learnt that Prasar Bharati is not telecasting it because if they were to telecast those events, then the organizers had to pay a certain fee for that. In rural backward areas where the organizers are constrained to raise funds to organize such events and so it was very difficult for them to pay any fees for telecast of such events. So, my request to the hon. Minister is that all sporting events, not only cricket, but other events  like athletics, football, hockey and sporting events particularly popular in rural areas like Kabaddi and Kho kho and other such events which are played even at the national level, not maybe of national importance, should be telecast by Prasar Bharati and also should be made mandatory for other channels to telecast such events.

In this context I would like to mention that Governmental encouragement to sports is on the decline. In this year’s Budget also apart from allocating a certain amount for the Commonwealth Games and for some national event scheduled to be held in Mumbai, no allocation has been made for other sporting disciplines. Earlier, grants were given to the States for building up sports infrastructure in the rural areas. Also, assistance was given to universities. But now there is no provision for any funds for these events. Many renowned sporting personalities have emerged from excellence at school, college and university levels. So, some financial assistance should be provided, grant should be given to the school level, college level and university level sportsmen and women. There should be financial support also to the States for building up rural sporting infrastructure.

Sir, with these few words, I conclude my speech.

THE MINISTER OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS AND MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING (SHRI PRIYA RANJAN DASMUNSI):  Sir, I sincerely thank all the hon. Members who took part in this discussion and have extended their support to the Bill.

            Sir, first of all, before I go to the merit of the entire debate, on behalf of the Government and of course, on behalf of all the Members of the House I would like to send my best wishes to the Indian cricket team for their resounding success in the cricket world cup scheduled to begin next week.

            Sir, this Bill that has been brought forward by the UPA Government is not intended for any particular game and is neither named as `Cricket Right Sharing Bill’, though the discussion on the Bill remained substantially confined to cricket. It is titled as Sports Broadcasting Signal Bill. I would like to make it clear that this is not a Bill that is cricket specific. Cricket, of course, is one of the sports, but it is not a cricket specific Bill. It is a sports specific Bill. [R35]              Madam, the first question that was asked was about the necessity of an Ordinance and why was the Government sleeping.  The Government was not sleeping.  Since 1997 till 2001-2004, be it the Government under the former Prime Minister Shri Devegowda or the Government under Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, each Government tried to bring a comprehensive broadcasting legislation covering another space for sports management within broadcasting.    All these Bills could not find the light of the day either due to dissolution of Lok Sabha or it could not proceed beyond introduction.  And the cry today throughout the world is, why does not a country like India having more than 8 per cent growth, having more than 310 television channels and more than 3000 newspapers and periodicals operating,  have a kind of regulation.  At the same time,  Madam, you will appreciate that the word ‘regulation’ smells a kind of control, a kind of regulation which is not appreciated in the free market economy by many players who feel that they will be controlled or interfered.   Therefore, the UPA Government, from day one, took a decision that they will bring a Broadcasting Regulation Bill or a comprehensive Broadcasting Regulation Bill after a detailed discussion with the stakeholders, the newspaper industry and the television industry in consonance with the fundamental rights of our Constitution which should not be compromised without interfering with the contents or editing.  Ours is one of the biggest democracies of the world.  We cannot suddenly bring a Bill and show our intention.  That process  is on and hopefully, we shall bring a comprehensive legislation very shortly in Parliament after disposing of major business and after talking again to the stakeholders.   I claim with all humility at my command that the kind of legislation which we will bring will be one in the whole world and no country in the world can claim such a kind of transparency in that legislation.

            Now what was the urgency of the Ordinance?   The Supreme Court gave a declaration long back, before 1995, that air webs are not public property.   The whole thing emanated from there.  The signal which is coming from abroad to India is called downlinking and the signal which is going from here is called uplinking.  Now, if it is a public property, then should there be a mechanism managed by Indian Telecommunications Act or managed by our broadcasting system in a manner that we get  the right things in a right manner with right management..… (Interruptions)  So, the UPA Government felt it proper to go not with a law but to take the stakeholders into good faith.  My predecessor, Shri Jaipal Reddy talked to the stakeholders in terms of sports.  As regards sports channels in India, excepting DD Sports with a little bit of ZEE Sports these days, all the sports channels are foreign channels.  They are companies having foreign origin with a unit in India to have the downlinking and uplinking guidelines.   The UPA Government, with the help of my predecessor, Shri Jaipal Reddy, brought these guidelines not all of a sudden.  It was debated in the Group of Ministers for a month and then the guidelines came into being after consulting the stakeholders saying  that we are not imposing a stick on them;  you cooperate with us; and we will cooperate with you.  Madam, I would like to place it on record that some in the sports marketing group did cooperate with the spirit of the guidelines till 2006.  Suddenly some of them felt that if they can confine the whole operation limited to cable network and satellite, their price valuation and profit making process shall go up.   Meanwhile what had happened?  Madam, you will be shocked to hear the whole story. 

A question came like how Prof. Rasa Singh Rawat had put.  Why Doordarshan did not bid?    It is a very important question.  I can bid, I can lose or I can win.  That is a different matter.  But Doordarshan cannot go and bid for a property which it does not own.   Doordarshan owns only terrestrial property and not satellite or mobile or the Internet.  The stake holder bundled all the property in the common bid basket without consulting us.  My property, which is terrestrial, was also bundled with other properties.  How can Doordarshan go and bid for a property which it does not own?  We do not own mobile telephony; and we do not own internet.  We only own terrestrial platform.  It is very limited.  Therefore, it was difficult for me to bid.  Naturally, the other bidders bought the other properties and bundled them together and then chose not to exploit the terrestrial because if they exploited the terrestrial, as per the guideline they have to share the signal.  If they share the signal, then people of India will see it.  So, they tried to confine it to satellite operation so that the cable fee and satellite fee can go up and only those who can afford to pay can see it, with the result, only 60 million homes will be able to see it and the other 50 million homes will remain dark. 

            When West Indies match came, we relied on the good faith because the same group followed the guideline in 2006 matches.  Then they said: “We cannot follow the guidelines and we are prepared to talk to you provided you give 15 minutes delay of the match.”  Then, I said: “How can it be because it is the guideline of the Cabinet?”  Some of them went to court.  The courts said that they cannot give stay to the guideline.  Courts did not stay the guideline. They argued that guideline is not a law, so they are not bound by it.  They repeatedly said that guideline is not a law and that they are not bound by it. Then in the West Indies match, the hon. Court said: “I will dispose of the petition later.  But the people are crying to see the match.  You ask for 15 minutes delay and we allow 7 minutes delay.  Deposit Rs. 5 crore with the Prasar Bharat immediately.”  We had to accept 7 minutes delay ordered by the court because guideline is not a law.  After all, it is only a guideline. 

            Then, they said that they will sit with us and settle the issue the next evening.  When my people were waiting for them the next evening, instead of  coming, they sent the notice of the court, to appear before the court.  The decision of the Government, the decision of the Cabinet, the will of the people and the desire of the millions of sports lovers were put on hold.  At that point of time, we felt that we should go through the ordinance route because at that time I could not bring in a law as Parliament was not in session.  At that time the last match of India-Sri Lanka was pending.  Finally, the India-Sri Lanka match was shown. 

            A section of the media argued that the Government of India is interfering in somebody’s property and grabbing it, which they are not entitled to.  I would like to answer that.  By doing this we helped the game of cricket and the stakeholders.  Since those who gave the advertisement knew that it can reach only 60 million homes, they were prepared to pay them only 100 dollars.  But once the companies got the message that after this the reach will be 110 million homes , they were prepared to pay 150 dollars.  We argued in that way.  But they did not listen. 

            The same channel which showed the match, the Neo Sports, said in the Press that they were impressed by this decision and that their profit margin has gone up more than their expectations.  The moment the companies came to know that after the decision of the Government, it will reach 110 million homes, many big Indian companies which were not giving advertisements earlier, agreed to give advertisements.  I would like to dispel that wrong impression that we are disturbing their business.  We are not disturbing their business. Rather, we are increasing their business.  We told them, “You earn as much money as you like and you have as many advertisements as you like, but allow the people of India to watch the matches in reasonable terms.”  Are we gaining by this decision?  No.  The Prasar Bharati is losing.  By showing a match the whole day, we are not earning revenue, but we are losing revenue.  If you see the Act, 75 per cent of the revenue generated by the stakeholders or by us will be taken away by the property holders. The 25 per cent of the revenue which will remain, that will take 9 to 10 per cent for our opportunity cost, sending camera, positioning camera and sending people.  The balance whatever will come to the coffers, the net may be15 per cent, 16 per cent or 17 per cent.  With that, we brought a new idea that even that amount we shall not use for our purpose and we shall not give it to the coverage.  … (Interruptions) I agree with you.  You wrote to me.  We cannot help because if I give you the coverage and cost for nothing, there is a scanner of C&AG as to how can you spend this money where you have no earning.  So Prasar Bharati was helpless.  What do they do?  Then we thought of which are the disciplines bringing respect for the country yet do not get a sponsor, no banner of any company.  For example, wrestling, archery, kabbadi, shooting, track and field, women’s hockey, people have started forgetting all these disciplines because they have no sponsor.  They asked that if you simply give the coverage, then we can organize money.  It is because some company in my locality said, if my banner is shown, I will pay you one lakh of rupees.  We cannot guarantee that banner and that is why they could not show. This amount we are keeping to distribute for the national events, championship, final, semi final, major exposure to give some exposure. How do we do it? 

           

You please see Section 7.  We are bringing the rules which will be laid on the Table of both the Houses.  We will consult (a) the Ministry of Sports and b) the Apex Body – Indian Olympics Association which are the disciplines which you think can be protected in the year 2007 or 2008 or 2009.  The National Championship will be held either in Hyderabad or in Kolkata or in Coimbatore.  Which are the disciplines you feel to be protected?   We will go by their consensus decision and those disciplines or coverage will be shown by Doordarshan.  That cost we will bear from that and they will mobilize money from the market.  What could be more friendly legislation than this?  I do not know why there are a lot of arguments as if we are acting as a dictator.  The answer is no.  This compelled me to bring the Ordinance.  Why?  It is because we had a contract with GCC for the World Cup long back. We felt nervous.  If based on the guidelines again somebody goes to the court on the eve of the World Cup and say we are not bound, the hitch will go on and people will not listen. 

            You are all Members of Parliament representing people.  People’s right is the terrestrial.  It is sold in the market without talking to the Parliament, without talking to the custodian of the right, the Prasar Bharati. It is not being exploited.  People feel that the Government has no capacity to utilize its right which is sold without consulting the Government to a brokerage.  That is why we have no other alternative but to bring the Ordinance.  Normally a Government does not desire an Ordinance route unless serious situation comes.    Therefore, we felt it proper that there will be a panic among the viewers that we will be deprived of seeing the match.  Therefore, to legitimize the guidelines, we had to bring the Ordinance.   We added only two things in the Ordinance (a) the revenue to be spent for other discipline, whatever we will save after the whole thing as net that and second the selection of the national importance game to be decided not by the Minister, not by the Ministry, but by the Prasar Bharati, Ministry of Sports and the concerned discipline of that game.  Take for example Tennis.  If Sania Mirza qualifies in qualification round or quarter final, or reach the second round of the Wimbledon, please try to do it.  We will negotiate with them. If the Volleyball Federation says in Asiad they are going to reach the Quarter Final, please show that event.  Then we have to show that event.  If Football Federation says that we are qualifying in the Olympics, please show that match.  We will show that event.  We cannot do on our own arbitrarily.  We have to talk to the concerned Federation where we feel it is very important. The national importance mechanism should be worked out with the Ministry of Sports, Prasar Bharati and the concerned discipline or their Apex Body. So it is again more transparent. 

            Lastly I would like to say that besides these reasons what the Ordinance says, I will first dispose of Ordinance and then I will come back to other. The moment the market is very clear that no showing is certain in the terrestrial network, with all respect to all the business group, I would say that speculation in the market starts as to what will be the official rate of the Cable to hook the game and what will be the unofficial rate. I am sorry to say that in spite of the CAS, I am told that in Delhi, during the West Indies match when they were clear that Government could not show it on the television screen, the Neo Sports signal by the cable was bought at Rs. 55, Rs.52, Rs. 48. Our rate which was stabilized by  TRAI for all the pay channels is only Rs.5.  So, these things happen when speculation starts. Now, there is no speculation because they know that we will see it in the terrestrial network also. These are the reasons for bringing forward the Ordinance. I hope the hon. Members will share it with me.

            The merits of the Bill could have been discussed more. Many have discussed it. But, I think, the discussion is almost a discussion on the promotion of sports and future of sports for which, you will appreciate, my distinguished colleague Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar can answer if he finds time to have a discussion. He cannot participate in it now. It is difficult for me to answer all the issues on sports within the ambit of this small Bill.

            Shri Ajoy Chakraborty has referred something to me directly. I would like to inform him – he was with me in Spain – that he knows that Football has got a three-dimensional change.  In the days you talked of, Football was to be played for 60-70 minutes. In Kolkata, some ten years before, Football match was to be played for 70 minutes. All our past heroes played for 70-75 minutes. Now, the regular play of Football has gone up to 90 minutes and definitely up to 120 minutes. The kind of professionalism has come throughout the world. There is the market economy. We are still languishing in amateur activity. We are slowly trying to lift it up to semi-professional level. Finally, we can go to professional level. It is not easy and it cannot be done by a stroke. I can only inform Shri Ajay Chakraborty and a few others, through you, Madam, that there are countries and their law is somewhat a peculiar law. I can hire a guy from other country, give him temporary citizenship in my country, I can field him in the team, win the medal and  go away with that. But the Indian law is not that. I do not like to mention the name of any country. My dear sister, the golden girl of India Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, mentioned about Qatar. You simply take the list of the players who won the gold medal. Where do they belong to?  How long have they stayed in Qatar? Also, it happened in Andhra Pradesh when the Afro-Asian Games took place. Shri Yerrannaidu is here. Shri Chandrababau Naidu picked up the best boys and girls from Bengal; made them residents of Andhra Pradesh and won the game. But in the national team, the law of the land does not permit it in India. … (Interruptions) It is permitted elsewhere. The Senegalese are playing in the French League.

            We are moving towards professional game.  Till we do not reach the professional level, still we do not have that skill, that needs money. You say we are getting the rejected players and hiring a coach to train them. Do you know what their salary is? I am involved in this discipline for the last so many years. The entire cost of a full World Cup match of Cricket is just the bare minimum cost of one club of football called Real Madrid. What all the top stars of cricket get is only one-year salary of David Beckam. You should understand the gap in the professional support and the market.

We are trying and struggling. We have to reach that level with the market support. Nowhere in the world – I can challenge any expert – excepting the countries which are controlled by a regimented system in the Middle-East or some socialist countries, Government supports or pays for the sports. Sports are developed by the market support on their own. Government only gives a little bit of infrastructure support. Be it in Japan or any part of Europe, it is the company which supports, it is the market that supports. Therefore, when that debate comes up before this House, I will respond to that. [R36]              I would like to put the record straight on one thing which was referred to by Shrimati Jyotirmayee Sikdar. She said that we are giving 25 per cent of the advertisement revenue to medal winners in other games. I would request her not to make that mistake. Otherwise, I will be caught in the wrong trap. We said that we would cover those games, which are bringing medals to our country and which do not get sponsors, with this resource. It is not that we are paying this money to medal winners. That is not correct.

            Madam, I, now, come back to the core issue of the law. There was also an argument in the media and in television channels that such an Act is being passed only in India. No, this is not correct. I would like to remind the House that 70 per cent of entire world’s cricket revenue flows from India and Indian market and when Indian market contributes 70 per cent of the cricket revenue generated in the world, sometimes it goes up to even 80 per cent, can the common viewers of India be deprived of seeing the game live on television? Australia contributes not even 10 per cent of the world’s cricket revenue and United Kingdom contributes not even 5 per cent and yet there are laws in the United Kingdom and Australia which are far more stringent than the one we are passing today. In those countries, the law says that the Minister would decide the matter. But we brought out a very modest and compromising arrangement under this law. Some people are saying that we have brought out a draconian law, we have become dictatorial, interfering in the freedom of rights holders, taking away somebody’s rights etc. It is not correct.

            There is a lot of criticism about Prasar Bharati. I am prepared to accept most of the criticisms. We are trying to overhaul it. We have got a very strong Chief Executive Officer now. Prasar Bharati did not have a full Board for years together, including the period when the BJP was in power. But within the shortest possible time, we have constituted the full Board of the Prasar Bharati according to the Act. Then, we have also appointed a Group of Ministers to take note of all the evils that are afflicting the Prasar Bharati now, including the harassment of casual workers and we have requested them to come out with a decision soon. We will even amend the Prasar Bharati Act, if necessary. We are taking care of all these things. It was nobody’s baby. Everybody who came here played havoc with this organization. I am told by the officers of Prasar Bharati that more than Rs. 2,500 crore are the due to be paid by defaulters. It is under arbitration. I would not like to name anybody here. But everybody tried to play with Prasar Bharati. We have to clean it up. It is a challenging task. The best possible cameras are with Prasar Bharati now. I also have information that a few of those have been used for a private purpose, not for the official purpose of public service obligation. I am looking into this also. We will not compromise an inch on such matters.

            I would like to put certain facts before the House. Who carries the campaign of Pulse Polio in the country? It is Prasar Bharati which does it. Did Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi Serial ever carry this campaign? Who carried the news about Tsunami victims and how they survived? Who carried the campaign against AIDS? Who carried the campaign on Mid-Day Meals? Who carried the campaign on Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan? All these campaigns are carried only on Doordarshan.

            My friend Shri Tathagata Satpathy is not here.

SHRI TATHAGATA SATPATHY : I am here.

SHRI PRIYA RANJAN DASMUNSI (RAIGANJ): He is here. He was very arrogant and he talked about All India Radio’s role during the Emergency. Let us forget about the Emergency episode. Whatever little I learnt to run this Ministry, I learnt from the legacy of my great sister, his mother Nandini ji also who had been the Information and Broadcasting Minister of the Congress Government when Indira ji was the Prime Minister. Let us not see everything as a sick thing. I would not like to say anything about which is imperialists’ game or non-imperialists’ game. But I would like to say that it is in the same India, in 1911 in the field of soccer, the Mohan Bagan Club, Calcutta, raising the flag of the national movement, defeated the first British Team. Therefore, it is not that everything is bad in Doordarshan. Was it not Doordarshan who screened the great epic serials of Mahabharata and Ramayana? Was it not Doordarshan which also screened the classic Hum Log? Was it not Doordarshan which screened The Sword of Tipu Sultan? We are not commercially viable because we have to carry a lot of public service obligations. Tell me any private channel of the country other than the Prasar Bharati, does the Krishi Samwad in the Prasar Bharati that we do, talks of that?

SHRI B. MAHTAB (CUTTACK): E TV.

SHRI PRIYARANJAN DASMUNSI: They tell the crop price and not how to see and all these things… (Interruptions) I say with responsibility that the space that we occupy, no private channel occupies.

            Again I come back to you.  This day, after the UPA Government came in – please do not take it otherwise – we are not doing any India shining or India smiling campaign.  You watch tonight’s Doordarshan, you will find the Prime Minister speaking.  Yes, you will find him speaking because he is the Prime Minister.  If you had watched Doordarshan two days’ back, you would have found Advaniji speaking.  You take out from the Chief Ministers of Bihar to Orissa, most of the Chief Ministers, irrespective of their Parties, whenever they contribute a major thing in the Assembly, I am trying to record that. 

            The objectivity has gone up substantially.  Therefore, please always do not think in bad eyes that he is doing bad, he is doing bad.  As I have shown the Government programmes, Mr. Satpathy, equally, I have shown in Doordarshan the glamorous picture of the Chief Minister of Orissa with Lakshmi Mittal in a private investment in Orissa.

SHRI B. MAHTAB :  Thanks for your comment.

SHRI PRIYARANJAN DASMUNSI: So, you have seen it!  Therefore, I just tell you that you assess objectivity.  Whatever is wrong, we will correct ourselves, but try to sometimes support a cause which is dedicated to the people and not for any political party or any individual.

            With these words, I do not think, I can narrate any more.  But, yes, Shri Suresh Prabhu raised two points, that is, DTH and Encryption.  In DTH we have a technical problem.  What is that technical problem?  Now, suppose DD-I is a DTH of Tata Sky, DD-I is a DTH of Zee.  DD-I is a terrestrial channel and if in that channel somebody can see cricket and if some subscriber on DTH Tata Sky say I have a right to see my DTH where DD-I is there, I cannot suddenly stop him.  We are examining that matter in the legal framework.

            Insofar as the encryption is concerned, yes, we have 1,400 transmitting stations.  If I decode all 1,400 together and suppose something goes wrong in the country while I am to say de-link cricket as a message, say a message to China or to Pakistan, has to go abroad through DD that something major happened and the Parliament has to make a statement, if I decode everything at a time for 24 hours, that means the public service obligation should not do anything on that day.  All will be closed. 

            Therefore, the Cabinet gave a direction to me to have a technical committee with the stakeholders, with ESPN Star, with ZEE, with Nimbus, with BCCI and have a meeting, find out a common device to protect the signal which cannot be pirated abroad.  These three meetings have been held and 16th is the last meeting.  After the outcome of the meetings, whatever necessary provision is required can be made.  We can put it in the rules.  That is why, I kept Section 7 vide giving the Central Government the power and I shall again report back to the Parliament where the rules will be laid in both the Houses. 

            With these words, I would like to thank all the hon. Members and I feel the Bill may kindly be considered for passing.

MADAM CHAIRMAN : I think, the mover of the Statutory Resolution, Shri Rajiv Ranjan Singh, is not present; so we have to put it to the vote of the House.

            The question is:

“That this House disapproves of the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Ordinance, 2007 (No.4 of 2007) promulgated by the President on 2 February, 2007.”   The motion was negatived.

  MADAM CHAIRMAN: The House shall now take up the motion for consideration of the Bill.             The question is:

“That the Bill to provide access to the largest number of listeners and viewers, on a free to air basis, of sporting events of national importance through mandatory sharing of sports broadcasting signals with Prasar Bharati and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto, be taken into consideration.”   The motion was ado[r37] pted.

 

MADAM CHAIRMAN : The House shall now take up clause by clause consideration of the Bill.

            The question is:

                        “That clauses 2 to 10 stand part of the Bill.” The motion was adopted.

Clauses 2 to 10 were added to the Bill.

Clause1, the Enacting Formula and theLong  Title were added to the Bill.

SHRI PRIYA RANJAN DASMUNSI:  I beg to move:

                        “That the Bill be passed.” MADAM CHAIRMAN:  The question is:

                        “That the Bill be passed.” The motion was adopted.

------------

SHRI MADHUSUDAN MISTRY (SABARKANTHA): Madam, there was lathi-charge in Gujarat by police on Dalits … (Interruptions)

MADAM CHAIRMAN: You cannot raise anything like that without notice.

… (Interruptions)

MADAM CHAIRMAN: Nothing will go on record.

(Interruptions) … * MADAM CHAIRMAN: You give a notice.

… (Interruptions)

सभापति महोदया: ऐसा नहीं होता है कि जब चाहें आप बोलना शुरू कर दें।

...( व्यवधान)

MADAM CHAIRMAN: Nothing will go on record.  This is not the way.  Please take your seats.

(Interruptions) …* सभापति महोदया: आप बिना नोटिस दिए इस तरह से नहीं बोल सकते।

...( व्यवधान)

MADAM CHAIRMAN: This is not the way.  आप ऐसा नहीं कर सकते। यह सही तरीका नहीं है। आप बैठ जाएं।

… (Interruptions)

THE MINISTER OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS AND MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING (SHRI PRIYA RANJAN DASMUNSI):  Madam, now you may take up discussion on the Railway Budget.

       

* Not recorded