Information and Broadcasting Minister Jaipal Reddy taking his chair on the first day of his office at Shastri Bhavan.

NEW DELHI, May 2: Though the new Information and Broadcasting Minister, S Jaipal Reddy, has said change at the top does not mean change at all, clearly a transformation in the ministry appears to be in the offing.

Taking charge on Friday, Reddy said it was too early for him to comment yet. But when pressed, he said no section of the proposed Broadcasting Bill cleared by the Cabinet earlier this week was ``sacrosanct''. It would be subject to change if it militated against the autonomy of the media or was contrary to national policy in any way.

He was echoing what Prime Minister IK Gujral said in an interview with Vir Sanghvi on Star Plus on Friday. Gujral said the ``approach to media should be positive not negative, not to close society''. Decisions, he added significantly, should not be taken by bureaucrats or the Government. ``There should be intellectuals, artists, poets and painters to spell out what we should do in this direction.''

Reddy also said his priority was ``liberty''. He would like ``to liberate the Ministry from the Minister''. He stood for optimal autonomy and had an open mind on all points of view. He did not accept the view that the Bill had already been under discussion for almost two years and therefore should be considered final.

He said he as well as the Select Parliamentary Committee, it was referred to, would listen to all points of view before giving a final shape to the Bill, as it was a ``major piece of legislation''. He did not want to pre-empt public opinion on provisions such as uplinking facilities, entry of foreign media or Direct-To-Home TV.

He said he would try to get the Bill passed in the monsoon session or definitely by the end of the winter session. He added he wanted authorities like the Broadcast Authority of India to be autonomous and therefore have a minimum number of government officials.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.