Needed: A National Media & Entertainment Policy Framework

Nehru’s contempt for newspaper barons, whom he referred to as the “jute press” (since Birla, Goenka, Dalmia and Jain had made their initial money in jute business) was well known

- Amit Khanna

The fact is in 70 years India has never had a national media or entertainment policy. Needless to say, every government talks about the fourth estate and freedom of expression and does precious little to ensure it. So many times political leaders have acknowledged the role of films as India’s biggest cultural ambassador but done nothing to promote it. Millions of people are informed, entertained and even reformed through media and entertainment, yet as a sector it remains neglected. This when politicians and governments need its support to not only inform the public about their policies and work but also for propaganda and, in case of film stars, for drawing attention or raising awareness. This has been the case since Independence. Let’s take a look at some history.

Media and entertainment has since Independence received mere lip-service from successive governments. The drafters of the Constitution had no time for this sector, as it does not even find a mention in their debates. In fact, it remains on the states’ list (where entertainment was included as a sin activity along with gambling etc.), as it was not important enough for the Union or Concurrent list. The first government under Pandit Nehru ignored entertainment, except for legislating a new Censorship Act in 1952, which actually carried on the legacy of colonial British rulers. Nehru‘s government did, however, pass the Indian Copyright Act in 1957 ushering in the first modern intellectual property regime.

As far as print media is concerned while lauding the role played by Indian press in the freedom movement and then nation-building was lauded by all politicians but no one was actually happy at giving complete freedom to it. Nehru’s contempt for newspaper barons, whom he referred to as the “ jute press” (since Birla, Goenka, Dalmia and Jain had made their initial money in jute business) was well known.