Ravi Shankar Prasad lays emphasis on regulation of content

Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, was the principal speaker in the main session on legal issues related to ICE at the Inter-Pacific Bar Association conference. 

The 13th Annual Conference of the association was held in New Delhi from February 17 to 19, 2003. The theme of the conference this year being The Dawn of the ICE Age-Legal issues arising from convergence, the focus was on issues related to the IT, communications and the entertainment industries.

Prasad emphasized that for licensing of multiple services, stable regulatory framework and content would be the key challenge towards moving to a convergence regime.

Addressing a gathering of about 600 legal experts from India and abroad, Prasad said, "In broadcasting, it is very important to exercise self control where content is concerned. Along with the carriage, the content also has to be regulated since unregulated inputs beamed by the media could have an undesirable impact on national sovereignty."

The other speakers in this session were Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, The Indian Express; Dr Kiran Karnik, President, NASSCOM and NK Singh, Member Planning Commission.

Cyber News Service