In what would seem totally out of place in the time of Twitter and Facebook, a community in chief minister Ashok Chavan’s hometown of Nanded has decided to do away with television sets from June 14. On Sunday, some members of the community smashed 50 television sets in Nanded as a precursor of things to come.
Calling television the prime culprit in destroying the morals of the children in the community — apart from affecting their studies — community leaders have decided that it is something best done away with. However what is worrying the state government is the fact that the community leaders have said that their decision has nothing voluntary about it and families that are unwilling to accept the diktat, would be forced to do so. The Bagwan community in Nanded consists of 2,200 families and the panchas samiti which came out with the “out with television” decision, believes all families would abide by the diktat voluntarily. Abdul Samad, a member of the panchas samiti, says that watching television had a bad effect on the young generation.