Monumental blunder

I am glad that Archaeological Survey of India’s affidavit on the Sethusamudram project was withdrawn following a prompt intervention by Sonia Gandhi. The affidavit is all the more ludicrous for the reason that the department used to guide tourists around ancient places by associating them with events mentioned in Ramayana. In Chitrakoot and Allahabad’s Bhardwaj Ashram, ASI boards point to various sites associated with characters in Ramayana. Ram’s existence has never been doubted by ASI in Ayodhya, Rameshwaram and other parts of the country. The same department had said that it had found proof of an ancient Ram palace buried underground in Ayodhya. Now, ASI has the gall to say that Ram never existed. The affidavit was no doubt a major mistake.

At the same time, it is difficult to question the logic of the Sethusamudram canal project, which will provide cargo ships with an easy access across the Indian Ocean without having to circumnavigate around Sri Lanka. The project not only promises to shorten the sailing distance by hundreds of miles, and therefore a cut in sea pollution levels and fuel costs, but would also generate large revenues for India. Of the 30 miles stretch of Ram Setu, ships need a mere 300 metres to cross over. With the scope of scientific techniques available today, there is no reason why the project could not be completed without causing any damage to Ram Setu.

DD Day

Doordarshan (DD) recently celebrated 48 years of service in India. While DD enjoyed a monopoly for more than three decades after its launch, the last 15 years have been tough as it faced competition from dozens of private channels. And advertisers often overlook DD’s true reach.

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However, the fact remains that the quality of DD programming has gone down substantially during the last decade. This is because an unhealthy competition existed among successive Prasar Bharti director generals to earn more money than their predecessors. They found an easy way out in increasing the telecast fees, instead of making any sincere efforts to boost the revenues. After a point, producers also got fed up due to the lack of financial viability of these projects. They either compromised the quality of programming or chose to walk away.

Now, thanks to the new CEO of Prasar Bharti, B.S. Lalli, an entire generation of old policies are being reversed in an effort to restore DD to its old glory days.

Everyone was surprised when DD invited for the first time, people from different channels to appear live on TV and express their candid views on its 48th anniversary celebrations. This openness was something entirely unheard of in the older days of DD.

The writer is a Congress MP in Rajya Sabha