The moral police constables are at it again. After imposing a ban on AXN for its “Sexiest Advertisements” show, the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry yesterday decreed that FTV, the fashion channel, should go off the air. The official reason: “The programmes aired by the channel are against good taste and decency and denigrated women. Such shows were likely to adversely affect public morality.”
Questions: Should the government be in the business of deciding what is decent and what is not? Is it right to deny access to the channel to everybody just because it is not of liking to a few? Who decides what public morality is? By this yardstick, how “decent” are most of our movies and fashion shows? What will the government ban next? Who should decide what you watch: you or the mantris and babus?
30 March 2007 at 12:25 pm
to be fair FTV was more of an anorexia channel ( this is just opposite to most of the mantris and babus are) …of course govt can and will control what it deems to be right, remember not long ago even churumuri was blocked for some time.
30 March 2007 at 12:48 pm
kila kilaaa!!
illa…. (sigh, sigh), nanage FTV bEkooo….. (sigh, sigh)….. yaaraadroo Enaadroo maaDeeppaa!!!!
bEkaadre ‘exchange’ aagi aa mudee nari (Fox) Arjun Singh na ‘Ban’ maaDi….
definitely not FTV!!
kila kilaa!!!
30 March 2007 at 2:12 pm
Many adolescent boys will be sorely disappointed and switch on to Internet porn… Indian society’s moral guardians ‘succeed’ yet again.
30 March 2007 at 2:27 pm
Govt. has no right to ban channels on basis of false claim of protecting indian morality. How can a mere channel telecasted freely everywhere gets bannec in India. What signals are we giving out to the whole world. If this goes on then certainly people will start think of Indian as a society of backward & untouchables. (
30 March 2007 at 11:48 pm
Someone or Somebody has to decide what is moral and what is not so moral. If everything must be taken like the author suggests – as the large group wants, then we would have exams removed because the student body would be against it. Also if a nationwide poll is taken, there would be a overwhelming resentment against the present political system. Just because the bulk of the population wants it, constitution cannot be abolished or the legislatures removed. Alva?? Enanthirappa?
31 March 2007 at 12:04 pm
Dasmunshi seems to have nothing to do except sitting up and watching channels in the dead of the night. He is trying to go one up on Sushma Swaraj and gain brownie points. For the moral police I have only suggestion except to read the Seven Minutes by Irving Wallace.
5 April 2007 at 10:09 am
Does banning a channel really work? As far as I know, I can access much more morally questionable material with just a few clicks. So what if our babudom bans channels, one always has videos being streamed.
On a side note, dont our ministers and babus have anything to do other than watching late night tv?