In a bid to present India’s perspective on global events and ‘subvert the anti-India narrative of the foreign media’, the Modi government plans to launch a digital channel soon.
Estimated to cost around Rs 75 crore, the plan was discussed by a committee headed by the Prasar Bharti chairman, A Surya Prakash, reports Economic Times.
The report adds that the platform will challenge the way foreign media depicts India and its stereotypes while putting forth an Indian perspective.
But it was first suggested by the UPA government.
As per a report published in Economic Times in October 2016, the channel’s idea was mooted by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2007. The UPA government wanted to present a channel similar to BBC and wanted it to be in a public-private partnership mode with several journalists to head its editorial content.
However, the idea could not take off because of bureaucratic hurdles.
Talking about it, the former I&B Minister Manish Tewari said that they regret that the project couldn’t be started in their regime. A channel like that would have helped India in portraying its narrative in the public space, said Tewari.
(Feature image source: Reuters)