Mamata Banerjee is not the only senior politician who wants a dedicated television channel to propagate her views. Many top UPA-2 ministers too have put in similar requests with the government in a bid to make the common man aware of their “people-friendly policies” and their ministries’ achievements.
They include agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh, HRD minister Kapil Sibal and culture minister Kumari Selja. Most of them believe a dedicated channel is needed due to the “specialised nature” of their domain, sources said. “They feel the national broadcaster (Doordarshan) is unable to do justice to the demands of these ministries, which is sector specific,” a source added.
The Planning Commi-ssion has, however, so far refused to give its go-ahead, as each of these channels is likely to cost `200 crores.
It is learnt the proposals by most of these ministers claimed they needed dedicated channels as citizens had to be made aware about the UPA-2’s policies and achievements.
The HRD ministry has asked the department of space for two Isro transponders to start 50 subject-specific interactive education channels, where experts will give lectures. The agriculture ministry feels Doordarshan programmes like Krishi Darshan are insufficient, and more “tec-hnical” programmes on agriculture must be beam-ed more frequently to farmers. The culture ministry similarly wants a channel to “document the cultural diversity of our country for future generations”.