FDI in TV channels the secret war

 Nearly three months ago, S Gurumurthy, the Chennai-based chartered accountant and convenor of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, flew into the capital to meet information and broadcasting minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

 Though on what seemed to have been a casual visit, Gurumurthy dropped a bombshell at the meeting: he suggested that the 26 per cent ceiling applicable to foreign investment in the print media and to television news channels uplinking out of India should now be extended to entertainment channels, namely, Sony, Star, Discovery and the like.

 Indian culture needs to be protected, he reasoned (see interview). Gurumurthy, by now perhaps India