This refers to the editorial “Doordarshan made anew” (February 5). The facile assumption that the independence of Prasar Bharti from the government could reform and turn around the fortunes of the public broadcaster is to challenge the conventional wisdom of the triumph of hope. In fact, the idea suggested for financing the public broadcaster through the imposition of “licence fees” on “TV owners” is hare-brained. Why should the public be taxed to keep alive and floating this white elephant, which has no meaningful content to offer to its viewers? If taken to its logical conclusion, why not levy “air tax” on air passengers to keep Air India flying, or levy “telephone tax” on telephone users to keep state-run MTNL and BSNL going. And the jamboree goes on. Having diagnosed the ills of the public broadcaster, the solution ought to be immediate dismantling of Prasar Bharti, and foreign direct investments in the print and electronic media to generate meaningful competition, resulting in various choices for viewers.
K D Singh, New Delhi
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