The idiot box is on a spiritual high. Nearly a third of the 30 TV channel requisitions for uplinking from India are religious or targeted at specific communities. Four of the 11 proposals the I&B minister says are "under process" belong to the genre. Waiting in the wings: Sudarshan TV, brainchild of Suresh Kanderao Chavanke, president of the RSS-backed Hegdewar Sanskar Kendra at Shirdi. The channel, claims Chavanke, is meant to make "roaring tigers out of our mewing youth". Also awaiting the green signal is Falak and Al Hind, India’s first Urdu channels promoted by ex-Union minister C.M. Ibrahim. While they claim to be entertainment and news channels, one of their key objectives is to bring the "unutilised quality and qualifications of Muslims" to the fore. Also in the queue is the UK-based Ek-Onkar TV, a Sikh channel "with religious content for devotees." Then there’s Shalom TV, devoted to "televangelism."