Chennai : An increasingly beleagured UPA Govt is resorting to bribing private television channels using funds allocated for its much criticised Bharat Nirman scheme. This was confirmed in an RTI reply issued by the DAVP (under Ministry of Information & Broadcasting) to one Amrish Pandey of Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh) last month.
In fact the list of TV channels which have been allocated spots to broadcast the controversial advertisments is long that it runs into over 500 pages and includes several overseas TV channels including some in Russia, Moldovia and United States of America. The scheme has also grossly exceeded its sanctioned budget of Rs. 10 crores with Rs. 68.73 crores being spent till last week.
India's Information & Broadcasting Minister Mr. Manish Tewari did not respond email questionnaire sent to him on this subject. One of the questions was about the status of the TRAI's recommendations on "paid news" which the Minister had referred to the Telecom & Broadcasting watchdog to draft regulations on.
पालिटिक्स इंडियान्यूज आरएचक्लाउड डॉट कॉम से साभार.
