Sure, freedom of press is in peril

Press and Registration of Books and Publications Bill, 2011 is a sinister design Space for one-man journalism is asked to make way for corporate ventures
Government of India has introduced a new bill in Lok Sabha on 16th. December, 2011 termed as Press and Registration of Books and Publications Bill, 2011 to replace the old Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867 (PRB Act, in short) as in its view times have changed and a new piece of legislation is required to regulate the media in view of the liberalised policy of the government. Since, the corporate media is by and large in agreement with this object, a complete silence on this front from this sector of journalism is not surprising. And it knows its strength well. Yes, the proposed bill is fully liberal to the world of financial interests but, sinister in design to the local ventures those who choose to exercise press freedom in expression. It is a bill that disguises much more than meets the eye. It is a sinister piece of legislation that seeks to change relations dramatically in its quest to overhaul the legal system in obedience to the call of its duties towards globalised financial capital. In this proposed legislation the very little space left for district level ventures by citizens at present is sought to be obliterated. No one Ganeshshankar Vidyarthi now will be able to pursue what the grand father of Indian journalism did in his time, if this bill gets nod of the parliament. The Bill is now before a Standing Committee for consideration. Curiously, the ever vigilant national media on much lesser issues has so far kept this bill away from public glare by design or for sheer ignorance. Let there be no ambiguity. We said it in so many words earlier to the powers that be when they had mooted the idea for change in the old PRB Act, both during NDA and UPA rule. There was a need to scrap the old PRB Act of 1867 as it was a bad piece of legislation the colonial rulers had introduced to curb the dissent and control the printing presses to advance its colonial interests, more so after the revolt of 1857 against their rule of plunder and punishment. It was considered as one of the black piece of legislations at that time by Indian public opinion. (Lack of space does allow here to recount the long list of atrocities at the hands of colonial power the emerging press in India had to suffer for its devotion to the cause of freedom struggle. It will be rewarding if some one devoted to the cause of journalism takes up this challenging task of putting all these cases together, covering all the areas country wide). To put the record straight, one fact may be placed on record: the Indian bureaucracy was feeling very uneasy of late about the media and voiced the necessacity of revising the old legislation of British vantage and the present bill before the Lok Sabha seeks to fulfil that cherished urge of the rulers. During NDA rule there were murmurings to that effect with one alibi or the other. The new bill bears imprint to all their wish lists and much more.

This new avatar from the UPA government is nothing better but worst than the old black bill, in no way preferable than the infamous Bihar Press Bill that had enlisted strong opposition from the entire journalist fraternity. This proposed bill is a sinister piece to advance the plunder and punish policy in the new circumstances, after independence. It is time that fine prints of the bill are scrutinised carefully and efforts are made to read the real motives of the rulers in view of the constitutional guarantees accorded to its citizens in a democratic set up. The bill seeks to place the freedom of the press at the mercy of police officials and the district magistrates which, the British rulers had shied away to do in their times, even after tasting the bitter lessons of 1857. The first aspect to study about this bill is the philosophy of the rulers today that lurks behind it. It is not flattering to the people. The danger from terrorism is again used here as a convenient alibi to frighten opposition to what is proposed. It is time to fight it out. Otherwise, it is going to eat out every freedom of the citizens to its skin. As said, there is a dire need to come out of the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867 in the first place, since it was intended to restrict the civil rights of a subjugated nation. In light of the new urges that found expression in the Constitution of India, it was desirable to do away with the said old law and allow the citizens breathe free in an atmosphere of unrestricted freedom of expression with least regulation from the state. We believe that the free nation had the vitality, despite all difficulties. Unfortunately, old regime of coercive laws is still continuing. The British rulers were scared of the press that had played a role in the uprising when the old PRB Act 1967 was promulgated. There is no need now to restrict the right of expression in independent country like India by administrative, legislative or financial means and must be allowed to flower. This is the only way of avoiding the pitfalls of restrictive governance. India has the strength of its own to overcome difficulties with the active participation of its citizens in exercise freedoms and obligations as enshrined in the Constitution. In any case, if a need to regulate the media is felt in independent India, the coercive restrictions should find no place in any proposed legislation on the subject, as are proposed in the said bill. The people of this country deserve respect as citizens of a free nation and the faith in their robust sense of right and wrong need be recognised. Let the state learn to believe the people and their strength. Though late, still it is a saner way to govern an independent citizenry. History is a good teacher: the British could not retain its colonial possessions with Unlawful legislations and the like alibi, for long. The proposed bill seeks to not only strengthen the postulates of the old Bill it seeks to repeal and replace with but does something more harmful to the fundamental rights of the people, more so to the right of expression as informed by the freedom of press in independent India. The proposed bill is premised on the understanding that more the coercive provisions, better the governance. The Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI) must be happy with the steely and sharp teethes being provided under this legislation for non-performance so far. The bill betrays an old colonial understanding of the modern world in a completely new era. It needs to be dropped altogether as it thoroughly betrays democratic content and reflects an urge for more coercive authority to its bureaucracy with arbitrary powers, thereby placing media under its heels. An embedded media is contemplated through this legislation in an era of democratic aspirations.

There can be hardly any doubt that the bureaucracy in the country has attained a status of an octopus. It is breathing too heavy over the shoulders of citizens. It is dangerous to be bestowed with more administrative powers through various legislations to govern. With its thoroughly corrupt means, the arbitrary use of authority by bureaucrats leaves virtually no remedy with the people except to curse the regimes and fret. Here the dictum seems to run like: least freedom, better governance, more coercion, better administration. The proposed bill is fully honest to this premise. It reposes more faith in a corrupt and habitually arbitrary bureaucratic set up than the honesty of purpose with the journalists. Restrictions enumerated in the proposed bill are too serious to overlook. The only beneficiary of the bill will be the corrupt bureaucracy in curbing this right with such penal propositions, apart from hefty fees and fines for arbitrary services. The old colonial law is much liberal on the subject than this one under consideration. In a regime of liberalised and globalised economy efforts are unfortunately afoot to transform every thing into a commodity, including the emotions and passions. Media is being overtaken by the big capital. It however is different from any other field of economic activities and cannot be equated with any commercial enterprise. Media cannot be put at par with other commodities for trade. It is the vehicle to exercise a natural right with the people. It cannot be traded like a commodity in the market. By providing a statutory status to FDI in media and sanctifying syndication material of dubious intent in Indian publications through this proposed bill the media is being turned into a commercial activity like any other for maximising gain with fierce rivalries of the corporate world with no hands barred. It will help emasculate the thinking faculties of the nation and spell death of a vibrating culture of its own to contend. It is a dangerous proposition to trade it indeed. Going beyond the ambit of the old bill, the proposed bill intends to extend the sphere of control over publications of books and newspapers, journals, periodicals etc, bringing even the pamphlets under its ambit by enlarging the definition of books under section 2(1) of the proposed bill. Even ordinary pamphlets/ tracts are proposed to be brought under control (see s.2(b). The proposed bill seeks to restrict the freedom of expression of its citizens beyond reasonable limits. It is too restrictive to breathe free. The media is being asked to be subservient to highly unbridled police and administrative machinery, thus killing its freedom and vibrancy. For example: to seek a new title for a publication has been made much more cumbersome than before and rather an impossibility in certain cases, entrusting with arbitrary power of cancellation to a bureaucrat at the local level where media is to operate. For the first time in independent India, journalists are asked to face police verification for antecedents before getting a title for launching a newspaper under the proposed bill. Apparently, it is designed to control the media through such subterfuges. So far the title was considered as the property of the holder. In the proposed bill it will be reduced to a transitory item of possession with all accompanying uncertainties. The title of a publication, once given popularity by a particular holder may by connivance be deprived on flimsy ground (s) to the advantage of someone else The proposed bill contains such obnoxious penalties under various sections even on minor failures that were not contemplated even by the British rulers under the old bill and will leave the practitioners in journalism at the mercy of police and the babudom. The bill seeks a strict regime of reports and accounting for the RNI to remain in good humour whose 3

office seldom followed the prescriptions of law in the past and who has been bestowed with extra-ordinary powers with sharp teeth in this bill to make the office probably quite attractive to bureaucrats on prowl. It expects journalists, especially one-man ventures, to maintain offices at a level, which is beyond their means to run if all the formalities and reports it is demanding of them are followed meticulously under the threat of exorbitant penalties and jail terms. Behold: preferring an application for seeking title of a newspaper will attract a fee to be prescribed by government from time to time. So far since 1867 the government did not feel the necessity of a fee for an application on this account. But now it is the prescription. The government is behaving like a street corner shopper in penury to charge for every thing, even for guiding any stranger to a neighbouring house. Such an obsession with a market mindset will spell disaster to the moral aspect of the administration. Similarly, in the case for inspection of authenticated declarations, an exorbitant fee of one hundred rupees is prescribed and two hundred rupees for getting a certified copy of it. There is no economic rationale for such a hefty and illogical charge, except that the executive is out to discourage the normal functioning of the media. One can compare it with the system of getting copies under Copies Act and RTI. Act. The bill however, bends backwards to help foreign publications and accord special treatment by safeguarding their property / commercial interests, as under s.9 of the proposed bill. A legal frame is now provided to what it had been doing by executive steps so far in the liberalised era. It is distressing that the government, so brazenly going beyond its mandate, is pushing such policies on the people.