Watch What You Break

In the days of the Raj, it used to be called the Central Monitoring Service, the eyes and ears of the British intelligence. When the British left, the relic faithfully continued under the care of babus who monitored news on the radio and later on TV. Now the CMs is being revamped and rechristened as the Electronic Media Monitoring Centre (EMMC). Its main focus will be to keep track of private TV channels for violations, if any, of the programme and advertising code. The total cost of the project is Rs 11.65 crore, out of which Rs 2.90 crore has already been released. Another Rs 5.85 crore has been allocated under the Annual Plan 2006-07. Now, the question everyone’s asking: why is I&B in such a hurry to set up a surveillance centre, when even a debate on the contentious Broadcast Bill is yet to happen in Parliament? After all, the Bill does have its draconian provisions to check "improper" news from being telecast.