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Broadcasters and sections of the television industry who were just about heaving a sigh of relief that the Cable TV amendment on conditional access, proposed by information and broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj, would have to wait until the Monsoon session of parliament to get cleared, may have relaxed too soon.
The latest news is that while Swaraj is in Cannes pushing the film Indian industry‘s cause at the international film festival there, hectic activity is taking place in the I&B ministry to push it through as an ordinance by next week.
The I&B ministry‘s pitch: with an Indo-Pak conflict in the offing, the government needs to get a handle on television channels which had given it a bad name during the Gujarat carnage.
Swaraj had almost single-handedly managed to get the bill listed on the last day‘s agenda of the Rajya Sabha last week at the last minute but a lot of behind the scenes manoeuvring by another minister ensured that the CAS amendment could not be taken up for discussion.
Swaraj is expected to return from Cannes by the end of the week.
