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Wednesday 4 July 2012

Guru Purnima Special


Revisiting Tomorrow; Yesterday! #01
(Indian perspective on a modern technology of communication;
paper given at IIC while working at CENDIT New Delhi)

Whether it is the unbearable pressure of phenomenal population growth, or the demands of more food or the burdens of unemployment & poverty; there is a growing tendency to look to science & technology to show the way. India is not unique in this, but shares with many countries, both developed & developing, the fond hope that science & technology can come to grips with complex issues facing the country. The high priority assigned to science & technology in India is, therefore, not surprising. For the year 1984-85, electronics industry alone is expected to expand at a compound growth rate of 23%.

Development of technology is a continuous process that includes stages of generation, diffusion & application of knowledge. The time scale involved from research to utilization, however, is long and in many instances, development of technology begins with technology transfer. Despite being the tenth most industrialized country in the world, India still depends considerably on technology transfer even in the high investment field of electronics. While imported technology is explicitly confined to equipment, it brings with it a certain amount of philosophy in regard to content. This aspect is crucial in communication technologies, especially those involving the mass media such as broadcasting, where the final product is a ‘message’. Policy guidelines and planning strategy, therefore, need to be concerned more with the programming component, to ensure that technology imbibes indigenous cultural values and felt needs during adaptation process.

Need for Communication Policy:

Given the rural/urban diversity and complex socio-economic factors in these two divided sectors in the country, the need for an appropriate national communication policy is of crucial importance. Prof. Yash Pal cautions against mere transfer of technology, without appropriate adaptation in the field of broadcasting that might lead to ‘technological dependence on metropolitan centers and ultimately to patterns of broadcasting inappropriate to rural development needs of the nation as a whole’. Curiously enough, despite repeated recommendations of various committees & commissions, we have not yet arrived at a nationally relevant Communication Policy.  This absence of policy is more conspicuous in comparison to the existence of a national policy in almost every other field, be it population, universal education, eradication of poverty or forestry. Lacking guidelines, the growth of communication facilities has been haphazard and their use insignificant and in certain cases, even wasteful. Television broadcasting is a case in point.

The emergence of such means of communication in India as P&T, telephone and radio date back almost to the time of their first appearance on world scene. With television, however, the case is different. While it made a rather dramatic entry elsewhere, television received a cool & indifferent reception in India. A country of villages in various stages of under-development & poverty & so many languages had no time for an elitist entertainment in the national language. This argument was sustained for almost two decades. The SITE project during the 70’s followed by a series of satellites in orbit for domestic use reversed that thinking. So much so that television, preferably in color, is considered an essential rural commodity today.

The commissioning of low power transmitters in remote areas of the country is being speeded up. In the next year or two, more than 70% population is expected to be covered with a hybrid approach of direct reception by satellite and re-diffusion by microwave linked surface transmitters. The villages, in the mean time, continue more or less in their stagnant state of neglect. This change of heart, unfortunately, is neither the wisdom of hindsight nor based upon any systematic study of the medium and its potential as an agent of social change. Lacking a concrete communication policy, it is an indication of frantic last minute effort to cope with an invading new technology.

A state of un-preparedness is hardly surprising in Indian communication planning process. A review of the communication campaigns and publicity activities of various developmental agencies such as health, agriculture and others provide ample proof. Total lack of co-ordination, indifference to relevance of timeliness of information and centralized approach to production and communication content that loses significance in the diversity of Indian countryside; do not indicate sincere efforts in planning.

As late as 1979-80 the budget estimate of the technology component of the Information & Broadcasting Ministry was a low 0.52 crores compared to 10.32 crores for Communications and 48.49 for Space. This, despite the fact that the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting is primarily responsible for mass communication in the Country and shelters over 18 media departments, with activities ranging from production of publicity materials to field campaigns, documentary films, news-reels and other programs in 14 languages.

Parallel to this, at the state level, are departments of information & publicity spreading the communication network to the rural level. The Planning Commission has recognized the fact that research based developmental programs can not be confined to time scales of national five-year-plans. This has yet to percolate through to the communication components of development plans that are implemented on a yearly basis with budgetary provision relegated to second decimal. In this context it is not very surprising that while INSAT-IB is on launch pad, the Min. of I&B has yet to identify users and program priorities; thereby emphasizing the importance placed upon acquisition of technology rather than its application.

Concepts versus Action:

Absence of a policy can be a policy itself. The dichotomy, however, lies in the contrast between stated intentions to use media technology to serve rural poor, while implementing an urban base of media infrastructure. The urban group, which is also elitist, has had considerable influence in the rapid expansion and development of television in recent years. Until 1955 television was confined to the class room, extending only to a few tele-clubs in villages surrounding Delhi. By 1974, with the establishment of more television centers in metropolitan areas, the entertainment component of programming stood at 31% compared to 2% of programs meant for tele-clubs. Following ASIAD games of 1982, the urban takeover was complete. While the un-announced (& un-admitted) shift toward urban entertainment need is quite obvious, official statements continue to declare that television will be used, primarily as a means for social education; that it will never be allowed to become a rich man’s toy; that it will be used as a weapon against illiteracy & ignorance; that as an instrument of social change it will involve our communities in a free dialogue, shunning elitist approach this will evolve a true national model for communication in a diversified India. The platitudes continue, implying that television in India will be used almost exclusively for the benefit of the Rural Indian.

The reality, however, is quite different. In the daily schedule of four programs that is the present television fare, all the programs originate from metropolitan urban centers, and less than 5% come under what may be called ‘social education’, or ‘rural oriented’. Also, the SITE continuity plan provides for television transmission to a segment of the ‘rural audience’. There are, however, no rural based production centers. Though field equipment as well as man power are available exclusively for these purposes, they are all hiding in the nearest metropolitan television centers. The resulting urban base programs hardly fit into rural ethos.

Recognizing this, the evaluation report of SITE calls for a separate organization for rural communication purposes, preferably, rural based. The present use of satellite technology, however, merges harmoniously into existing centralized communication system. Technically & administratively such an approach might bring television to every village in India but it will not ensure its merger into the mainstream of village life. It remains an elitist, urban intruder, best ignored.

Indian National Satellite System (INSAT)

SITE is now a part of history. The focus has shifted to the Indian Satellite System. Since conclusion of the SITE project in 1976, the TV network has been expanding from 20 to 42 transmitters. Of these 28 use & totally depend on satellites for their operation. Currently the transponder leased from the Statsionar-6 of the Soviet Union is being used for uplink from Earth station Delhi. Once operational, INSAT-IB will take over.

The overall INSAT-I system, except for its TV segment, was approved for implementation in 1977, the TV ground segments, however, were approved only in July 1983 about eight weeks before satellite launch. Under this special provision the network expansion consisting of thirteen high power and 112 low power TV transmitters will have “receive only” terminals for direct feed from the satellites. The plan envisages to set uo 6 production centers to meet the needs of community viewing in the villages. Compared to the 8,ooo or more direct reception sets to be placed among rural communities, the production work load on these new centers is colossal.

From experience, Doordarshan will have to rely considerably on importing programs from the commercial film industry and the Films Division of the Min. of I&B. Concurrent with this elaborate expansion in equipment there is no indication of the proposed investment for development of appropriate programs. More significantly, there are no program guidelines other than the plan to use TV for educational purposes. This aspect, however, is being inadequately handled by Dept. of Education with six ETV centers.

The INSAT-I series is considered a unique system designed specially to meet Indian requirements of telecommunication, methodology & mass communication. The INSAT-IA satellite, launched in April 1982 was de-activated in Sept.1982, following technical snags. The successfully launched INSAT-IB is expected to have a life span of seven years. INSAT-IC, scheduled to b launched in 1986, will complete the first phase of the space program. The INSAT-II series is scheduled to begin from 1988 onwards. Such advance planning in techno-deployment is certainly impressive. Equally impressive is the selective neglect of the application & use of technology.

In recent times there have been statements about statements about operating a 2-channel service by Doordarshan to cater exclusively to urban & rural audience. Whether such a surgical separation of technology or a media agency serves the audience better, wherever it is, or sets it further apart has yet to be seen. But first we need to shed our mystic understanding of ‘Rural Audience’. Rural entertainment is not confined to local folk art forms, just as information need is not always an indication of low intellectual ability. The rural populace in India is distant only from the westward looking urbanite. They share a lot that is purely Indian in tradition, culture and a common outlook to life. Sustained and continuous research efforts are necessary to identify the best way to integrate modern technology into the communication patterns of rural India. Again, many useful indicators emerge from the SITE experience.


Space Application Center’s work in the field of program materials involved the testing of various formats for conveying developmental messages. The conception and planning was based on research-cum-production methodology. In the course of time this was refined to a sequence of formative research & production in ‘team mode’ involving a ‘Producer”, a ‘social researcher’, a ‘script writer’ & a ‘content expert’. It would be worthwhile to follow up these experiences; however, there have never been any sincere attempts at formative research in any media agency of the Min. of I&B. Doordarshan can certainly set the trend.

Television is further handicapped by the strangling umbilicus linking it to Radio. Though an independent agency since 1977, Doordarshan has not been able to shake off the ‘radio influence’. In a sense radio has acted as the big brother to TV & is partly responsible for its stunted growth. Most of the senior staff in Doordarshan are imported from radio. This affects their view & use of the medium. TV in India is really a radio with a few supporting visuals thrown in. occasionally, when it does manage to step out of ‘radio syndrome’, TV usually lands in the fantasy world of commercial Indian cinema. The result is a very highly dissatisfied audience, rural as well as urban. The former ignores a condescending free service while the latter explores the new video technology in search of entertainment & relaxation.

Video & Cable Television

The sudden expansion of television network without a corresponding investment in content provides an ideal situation for the invasion of video technology that is the latest phenomenon on the Indian communication scene. Presently confined to urban areas its potential for expansion is limitless. Suddenly, cable TV, offering alternative viewing pleasures to residents of high-rise apartments & complexes is making the news. Pay TV is in. not lagging behind are posh hotels and holiday resorts that promise latest entertainment fare imported all the way from Hollywood & Madison Avenue. Transport companies operating long distance night buses have found a unique pull for middle class travelers in ‘video coach’ showing ever popular Indian commercial films, three in a row, throughout the night journey.

The Government, perhaps quite un-intentionally, falls in line with relaxations of import regulations of electronic goods. Imported VCRs are flooding our markets. Urban middle class households are gobbling them up. The ever increasing demand & swelling audience has resulted in mushrooming growth of video libraries that provide everything from cartoons to latest Oscar wonder, Richard Attenborough’s ‘Gandhi” on ¾” video cassettes. Not only is video cassette becoming popular, it shows every indication of breaking the barrio of rural/urban divide. Video clubs penetrating smaller towns are a thriving business with overflowing audiences consuming coffee & beer on the side. Belated & recent efforts by Government to enforce new copyright laws and regulate video transfer facilities will hardly alter this trend.

Alarmed and struggling to survive the threat from this breakaway technology, there is now an obvious commercial tilt to Doordarshan thinking. Faced with the challenge of an ever shrinking audience, the present policy is to accept & allow imported programs that are commercially sponsored. Also on cards is 17 hours viewing time as against the present 4 hours a day, once INSAT – IB becomes operational. Perhaps Superman will join the ever popular Lunch Show on the TV schedule. Perhaps sleepy Indian villagers looking skywards might eventually see Star Wars. Perhaps…

Caca2369.reading