Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PM's speech at the inauguration of DD Direct Plus - India's first free DTH Broadcast Service

"It gives me great pleasure to be here for the landmark event in the history of Indian broadcasting and communication. Prasar Bharati's Direct to Home Television and Radio Service is a very important step forward in the continuing process of emotional integration of our people and the social and intellectual development of our country - in this vast and ancient land of ours.

When Mahatma Gandhi addressed the nation live over All India Radio in November 1947, he described the microphone as "a wondrous thing" and said, "In it I see Shakti: the miraculous power of God." Today's event is the first step to use the miraculous power of television to reach out to every household without the intervening medium of cable operators and terrestrial transmission centres.

Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that along with Green revolution and the White revolution, the Telcommunication Revolution is a truly a pan-Indian phenomena and that it has transformed our country is well recognised. We are entering into an unprecedented era of information and entertainment revolution. Doordarshan and All India Radio have, long established the largest terrestrial communication network in the world. With DTH they have now the capacity to reach out to every household in this country and beyond. I commend Prasar Bharti and all concerned for making this revolution happen and for enabling a dream to come true.

However, all this is progress in the development of the "medium". As the "media guru" Marshal McLuhan said many years ago, in the age of television the "medium is the message". So we must pay attention to what messages we are conveying. It is essential to focus on the importance of content in public broadcasting, in particular. Media must organize content in a manner that promotes the values of our Republic, in particular, the values of Liberalism, pluralism, secularism and of "Unity in diversity". While eschewing the temptation to do so, by indulging in vulgar propaganda, public television must present information in a manner that encourages positive thinking and free debate, and affirms values of decency and fairplay in our public life.

We must salute today the pioneering vision of our leaders like Indiraji and Rajivji, and the many technologists and managers who took keen interest in the development of our national communication networks. An informed citizenry is the foundation of a vibrant democracy. Fully aware of the central importance of rural India in our political, economic and cultural life, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai had said "We should consciously reach the most difficult and least developed areas of the country, and because they are in this state, we should reach them in a hurry. Direct Broadcast of TV from a satellite represents the use of advanced technology, which for the first time does not impose a penalty on account of dispersal of the receiving units away from urban centers". This sense of urgency in communicating is based on our vision of bringing the most backward regions of India on par with the most developed, both economically and socially.

Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, the government has not been able to deliver "in a hurry", as Dr. Sarabhai had hoped we would. However, I consider the launching of this DTH service an investment in the cause of development, which will give tremendous returns, economically, socially and culturally. While celebrating this historic occasion, which heralds our entry into a new era of greatly enhanced TV coverage, I would like to focus your attention on the role of the public broadcaster in acting as a source of development, education and empowerment.

We must recognize that Prasar Bharti, Akashvani and Doordarshan, are a public resource - a source of empowerment through information and education and for strengthening our citizens' access to participation in our nation's public affairs. Radio and Television are also a marvellous medium of cultural expression and national integration in a diverse country such as ours. They are also a strategic instrument of socio-economic development. By stating all this I am not downplaying the role of Prasar Bharti as a medium of entertainment. We have to remain mindful of the compulsions of the market as well.

What I do want to stress is that in a democracy, there is a special role for a public broadcaster. We must define and develop that role. We must prepare programmes, which will have depth and content required by people living in rural and urban areas and in different parts of this vast country of ours. I recall Indiraji's famous speech in which she described how some farmers had labelled a particular high yielding variety of paddy as Radio Rice. They were not aware of the name give to it by the agricultural scientists, but had identified it as "radio rice" because they adopted that variety after hearing about it on the radio. What is, therefore, required in a public broadcaster is an attitude and a mindset that addresses the needs and concerns of ordinary people. There is a thirst for information and we must quench that thirst to the best of our ability.

I hope that the new DTH channel will enable households across the country to access Classical music, sport, science and wholesome entertainment. This in itself can be an enriching experience, which will make our lives more satisfying.

I believe that this service is among the first of its kind being provided by any public broadcaster in the world. The DTH network will enable DD and the constituents of the bouquet to reach out to a global audience, especially the audience in our wider neighbourhood of West, Central, South and South-East Asia. Therefore, we must ask ourselves - what image of our country will we present to the people of this neighbourhood? What values, what aspirations, what ideals and ideas are we going to transmit? Indeed, what worldview will we present? If the DTH platform is merely the "medium", a global gateway, what should be the "message"? Is Doordarshan ready to become like BBC and CNN - a global news channel? Do we have the software capabilities? The ideas, the content, the vision and the aspiration to launch an Indian news channel for the world? These are issues to which we should pay adequate attention in the months and years that lie ahead. I sincerely believe India's problems are numerous, but we must think big about the future of our country. We must think big in the realm of ideas. Our technologists have shown us that we can think big in creating the hardware required. Our intellectuals, artists, journalists, media managers and social activists must now do the same and create the content for a global audience. We must reach out to the world anew, as did our teachers, traders and travellers many millennia ago, to spread the ideas of tolerance, of pluralism and of liberalism, which are values that define the core of our nationhood.

In conclusion, I congratulate all those associated with the DTH service and wish you all success in your future endeavours".