The Ministry of Urban Affairs and Employment notified Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), has been elected as a Member of Rajghat Samadhi Committee. He succeeds Dr. M Aram following his demise in harness.

    The election of Shri Azad has been effected under clause (d) of Sub-Section(1) of Section (4) of the Rajghat Samadhi Act, 1951.

    The Rajghat Samadhi Committee comprises a Chairman, four non-official Members, three Members of Parliament including one from Rajya Sabha and two from Lok Sabha, Mayor of Delhi, and three official nominees, who are Chief Secretary, Delhi Government, Joint Secretary(Works) and Joint Secretary(Finance) in the Ministry of Urban Affairs and Employment. Of the three elected Members of Parliament, two representing Lok Sabha are yet to be elected. Of the four non-official Members, two are vacant. Smt. Nirmala Deshpandey is the Chairperson of the Rajghat Samadhi Committee.

    The Rajghat Samadhi Act is administered by the Ministry of Urban Affairs and Employment.
 
 

    The Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Shri P.G. Mankad called upon the State Governments and Union Territory administrations to set up regulatory mechanism on priority basis for Enforcement of provisions of Cable Televisions Network (Regulations) Act, 1995. Addressing the Secretaries of Information and Cinematography from the States/UT here today Shri Mankad pointed out that cable operators do not give same importance to Doordarshan channels as to other private channels adversely affecting the quality of Doordarshan programmes and thereby reducing its viewership. He urged the State Governments for their active co-operation for effective implementation of the provisions of the Act.

    Discussing the necessity of granting `industry' status to the film sector in the States, the Secretary said that this would enable the film activity in the States to become eligible for the benefits that accrue to an industry from the State Government agencies. The Central agencies, namely, the banking and financial institutions would also be considering the financial proposals from the film sector of their respective States as well he further said. On the issue of transfer of the subject `Cinema' from the State List to the Concurrent List, the Secretary pointed out that there should be an enabling provision to the Centre for taking remedial action in this are a with a view to removing discriminatory legislation, bringing in uniformity in the legislations and correcting any anomalous situation that may arise on account of introduction of different legalisations. The proposal was in no way meant to impinge upon the autonomy of the States, assured the Secretary.

    Need for rationalisation of entertainment tax rates by the State Governments for having a uniformity was also deliberated upon at the meeting. Shri Mankad informed the delegates that the Information and Broadcasting Minister has already written to the Chief Ministers to review the Entertainment Tax pattern in their States to see that if, by some rationalisation, they can get a larger overall benefit by enhanced activity on the film distribution side. If the State Governments undertake this exercise, there may be a possibility of revenue from Entertainment Tax increasing rather than going down.

    Talking about the problems of video piracy the Secretary pointed out that the enforcement under the control of State Governments should try to develop a mechanism of interaction with copyright holders who have reasons to believe that their copyright is being violated in the jurisdiction of the respective enforcement agencies by way of facilities being set up for duplicating video cassettes or by illegal exhibition of pirated editions through the cable operators and the video parlours. Prompt action in such cases is required on the part of the enforcement agencies. On the issue of de-blocking of titles for newspapers/periodicals, which have been verified and have not commenced publications, the Secretary informed that the matter has been considered in consultation with the Ministery of Law who has advised that the provision of Sub-Section 5 Section 5 of the PRB Act can be used to treat the titles which have not been used for sufficiently long time as de-blocked/freed which can be allotted to new applicants after giving due public notice. He urged the State Government to extend a great deal of co-operation and co-ordination, particularly at the level of district megistrate in completing the process of de-blocking timely and smoothly.

    Some other issues which came up for discussion at the meeting were integration of publicity efforts of the Centre and State Governments, production and co-production of documentaries, short and annimation films by the Films Division on subjects related to State Governments and so.

    Apart from the representatives of States and Union Territories the meeting was also attended by senior officials from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and its various media units.