Prakash Javadekar, the newly-appointed Information & Broadcasting Minister, on Friday emphasised that press freedom is the essence of democracy and that the government not only recognises it but also cherishes it.

Javadekar, who has also been appointed as the Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister, held several portfolios in the previous Modi government. This included a brief stint as the Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the I&B Ministry in 2014.

Speaking to the media after taking charge, he said: “In the history of free India, the freedom of the press was curtailed only once in 1975 during the Emergency imposed by the then Congress government.”

“That was the black period for the media. We fought against it under the leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Advani ji,” Javadekar said.

He added that press freedom was among the key issues that the leaders fought for during the Emergency period. “I also fought and went to jail for 16 months. So for us, press freedom is the basic essence of democracy and the PM has also reiterated this,” he said.

Asserting that with freedom comes responsibility, Javadekar said media already works in this responsible atmosphere and will continue to do so in the days to come. “That will strengthen democracy,” he said.

Key issues

Some of the key issues the Ministry is expected to pursue in the second innings of the BJP government include finalisation of new licensing norms for DTH players and revamp of the archaic Cinematograph Act.

In addition, there were talks of bringing in a national broadcasting policy. The Ministry is also expected to take up the issue of holding e-auctions for the third batch of private FM radio frequencies under the FM Radio Phase-III policy, which got the Cabinet nod in 2017.

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