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Panel on foreign equity in print media to report in 3 weeks

A parliamentary committee reviewing a government ban on foreign investment in Indian print media will take a decision within three weeks, the panel chairman has said.

"We may take a decision in two or three weeks and then give our report," Somnath Chatterjee, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader and chairman of the Standing Committee on Communication and Information Technology, said.

The committee was asked to study the issue after editors of Indian publications met Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj seeking a re-look at allowing foreign equity in print media. The editors suggested that foreign investment be allowed provided ownership and editorial control were in the hands of the Indian partner.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha on Friday, Swaraj however said the government continued to be guided by the cabinet's ban on entry of foreign print media in news and current affairs.

Swaraj said: "The government continues to be guided by the 1955 Cabinet decision which prohibits publication of foreign-owned newspapers/periodicals in the country and Indian editions of foreign publications dealing mainly with news and current affairs."

The minister told the House that no changes had been made in the policy since then.

Though foreign investment is strictly prohibited in news and current affairs, the government has no stringent rule for foreign-owned technical and scientific journals that are freely available in India.

Indo-Asian News Service

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