I&B Minister Reddy: Censorship? Naah, just regulation

On the face of it, there's nothing alarming about Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Minister S. Jaipal Reddy's proposal to set up an autonomous The Broadcast Content Regulatory Authority. It will probably be a part of The Broadcast Authority Bill, which he had authored in his earlier stint as I&B Minister in 1997, and which he proposes to reintroduce in the coming Monsoon Session of Parliament.

Broadcasting regulators the world over, including United Kingdom's Media-and-Telecom Regulator in the Office of Communications, have elaborate content regulation setups in place. In India, the industry prefers self-regulation. But as recent history-the running feud between then I&B Minister Sushma Swaraj and Fashion TV, the public outrage over the Kaanta Laga video album, and several other instances-shows, there is a need for transparent and clearly laid out regulations to govern television content.

Currently, the sector is governed by The Prasar Bharti Act, the Cable TV Network Regulation Act and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. But surprisingly, none of these covers direct-to-home television, which has been beaming into the country for more than a year!

"There is no proposal to introduce censorship for television. However, a proposal for setting up an authority to regulate content is under consideration," Reddy told Parliament during the Budget session. A lot will depend on the constitution of the content authority. Since the draft Broadcast Bill of 1997 envisages filling up the authority with serving bureaucrats and other government nominees, there are very real fears of the political class and the babus exercising mindless control over what 85 million television households in India see.

There could be a lesson for us in the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), which has a robust citizen/viewer feedback mechanism that regulators depend on to bring erring broadcasters to book.

Though the details of the proposed The Broadcast Content Regulatory Authority are awaited, it will be interesting to see if it focusses merely on "negative content regulation"-that is, what broadcasters should not show-or also includes a full-fledged charter on promoting variety in broadcasting and measures to strengthen the abysmal level of public service broadcasting in India.

There is a thin line between regulation, control and censorship, and everything depends on who wields this power and how. It's a grey area; so there's a need to have watertight safeguards to guarantee against misuse. Over to you, Mr Reddy.

-Shailesh Dobhal

FOOTLOOSE
The Shoe Computer

Adidas India MD Andreas Gellner

What took four years to develop, was launched with a spike jonze advert and can make 50,000 calculations per second? Answer: The 'Adidas 1', the world's first intelligent shoe. Its embedded microprocessor senses the weight you put on the sole and adjusts the cushioning accordingly. Buyers of this limited edition shoe will get a CD-ROM and full service support. Its price: Rs 12,499. Hmm!

-Kushan Mitra

M&A
TAFE Revs Up

The pecking order of the Indian tractor industry just underwent a change. Tractors and Farm Equipment (TAFE), which recently took over the Eicher Group's Rs 500-crore tractors business, is now in second position with a 14 per cent market share. Mahindra & Mahindra remains the top player in the 2.36 lakh units per annum domestic market with a 25-30 per cent slice of the overall pie. Punjab Tractors, the previous numero dos, now falls back by one position to # 3.

According to TAFE Director Mallika Srinivasan, the deal will give her company a larger footprint in the lucrative North Indian market. TAFE, which has a strong presence in the high end of the market (30 hp and above), can now leverage Eicher's 50 per cent share of the low end (20 hp) to offer tractors at more points of the price spectrum. The company is also eyeing the export market. It has introduced a 75 hp tractor targeted at large farms in countries like the United States.

-Rahul Sachitanand

Q&A
"I've Made A Huge Difference"

"Vfend is a significant therapeutic advance in the treatment of fungal infections"

The problem with drugs meant for fungal infections until recently was that they would destroy healthy cells along with the bad ones. And it took Dr Subramaniyan Narayanaswami to change that. A medicinal chemist of Indian origin and until recently Associate Director at Pfizer Central Research, Dr Swami led the discovery of Vfend, Pfizer's pre-eminent drug for fungal infection. In India recently to launch the drug, which was introduced in the us in 2002, he spoke to BT's Roshni Jayakar on the discovery process. Excerpts:

How did Vfend come about?

The discovery process for Vfend was sparked by the clinical findings from an already known drug developed inside Pfizer-fluconazole or anti-fungal Diflucan. But that blockbluster drug was not an effective treatment for life threatening but common fungus infection, aspergillosis. For aspergillosis, it was difficult to construct a compound that would destroy the fungus without harming healthy human cells. We synthesised the molecule designated uk-109, 496. After synthesising and testing nearly 1,000 different compounds, it was clear that Voriconazole (Vfend) was the pre-eminent anti-fungal agent with an ability to fight life-threatening conditions like aspergillosis and destroy the fungus without harming healthy human cells.

Will Vfend be a blockbuster drug?

It is not a blockbuster earner (will add $200-300 million, Rs 880-1,320-crore, to the bottom line globally), but it is a significant therapeutic advance in the treatment of patients with fungal infections.

How does it feel having invented a drug like Vfend?

As a chemist you are trying to find a solution that does not exist. There was a need in the market to develop a drug that would fill a vacuum in the area of fungal infections post organ transplantations. Several chemists have worked on drugs that have never got to the market. If you look at statistics only one in 10,000 compounds makes it to the market. I know that with Vfend, I have made a huge difference to the world.

MOOLAH
CVC's Gravy Train

CVC's Relan: Great timing

Stock market investors may be a jittery lot these days, but private equity players aren't about to take their bets off India. On the contrary, there's a surge in growth capital coming into the country. The most recent inflow is from CVC International, Citigroup's venture capital arm, which has raised a $1.7-billion (Rs 7,480-crore) global fund. Of that, as much as 40 per cent ($680 million, or Rs 2,992 crore) could come India's way, although $500 million (Rs 2,200 crore) may be a more realistic number, says CVC's India head, Ajay Relan. What are the sectors that CVC would be looking at? "Well, we are more of a deal-to-deal firm, but we would be looking at high-growth sectors and companies that have a clear global strategy," says Relan. Jubilant Organosys and Wockhardt are some of the companies in which CVC has invested in the recent past. With the stock market falling, CVC may be able to buy equity at prices more attractive to itself.

-R. Sridharan