MUMBAI: As predicted by indiantelevision.com, senior Congress leader S. Jaipal Reddy was allotted the information and broadcasting minister's portfolio late last night. Reddy, who has been I&B minister before and was instrumental in piloting the Broadcasting Bill into parliament in 1997, will also handle the culture portfolio
The other important portfolio for the television industry is the communications minister's. And that will be looked after by DMK elect Dayanidhi Maran. Maran's elder brother Kalanidhi heads the Chennai-based Sun Television Network. Dayanidhi himself had steered the group's cable TV operations SCV into the force that it is today.
Maran is quite well suited for the task and it is quite likely that he will do something for the cable TV sector because of his group's strong involvement in the same. The issue of the rollout of conditional access halted last year and has been brought under the purview of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) which has been soliciting industry and the people's view on the way forward. With Maran in the hot seat, industry should expect some firm decisions from the man on this score.
The key issue is whether Reddy will revive his pet Bill and again commence discussions on the setting up of a Broadcast Regulatory Authority of India quite distinct from Trai.
Lobbying has been on for the past couple of years to merge the I&B and communications ministry in an era of convergence. But some circles in industry have been expressing the view that broadcasting should be kept independent of communications and under the I&B ministry.
The other ministerial appointments include:
Cabinet Ministers
Shivraj Patil, Congress: Home
Pranab Mukherjee, Congress: Defence
P Chidambaram, Congress: Finance
Arjun Singh, Congress: Human resource development
Sharad Pawar, Nationalist Congress Party: Agriculture, food & civil supplies, consumer affairs and public distribution.
Laloo Prasad Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal: Railways
Ram Vilas Paswan, Lok Janshakti Party: Chemicals and fertilisers. He will also take charge of steel.
Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress: Parliamentary Affairs and urban development
S Jaipal Reddy, Congress: Information and broadcasting. He will also look after culture.
Sisram Ola, Congress: Labour and employment
Mahavir Prasad, Congress: Small scale, agro and rural industries
P R Kyndiah, Congress: Tribal affairs and development of the Northeast
T R Baalu, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam: Road transport and highways
Shankarsinh Vaghela, Congress: Textiles
Kamal Nath, Congress: Commerce and industry
H R Bhardwaj, Congress: Law and justice
P M Sayeed, Congress: Power
Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, RJD: Rural development
Priyaranjan Dasmunsi, Congress: Water resources
Mani Shankar Aiyar, Congress: Petroleum & Natural Gas. He will also take charge of Panchayati Raj.
Sunil Dutt, Congress: Youth affairs and Sports
Shibu Soren, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha: Coal, mines and minerals
A Raja, DMK: Environment and forest
Dayanidhi Maran, DMK: Communication and IT
Meira Kumar, Congress: Social justice and empowerment
K Chandrasekhar Rao, Telangana Rashtra Samithi: Shipping
Anbumani Ramdoss, Pattali Makkal Katchi: Health and family welfare
Ministers of state (independent charge)
Santosh Mohan Deb, Congress: Heavy industries and public enterprises
Jagdish Tytler, Congress: Non-resident affairs
Oscar Fernandes, Congress: Statistics and programme implementation
Renuka Choudhury, Congress: Tourism
Subodh Kant Sahay, Congress: Food Processing
Kapil Sibal, Congress: Science and technology, ocean development
Vilas Muttemwar, Congress: Non-conventional energy sources
Kumari Selja, Congress: Urban employment and poverty alleviation
Praful Patel, NCP: Civil aviation
Premchand Gupta: Company affairs
Ministers of state
E Ahamed, Indian Union Muslim League: External affairs
Suresh Pachauri, Congress: Personnel, parliamentary affairs
B K Handique: Defence, parliamentary affairs
P Lakshmi, Congress: Health and family welfare
Dasari Narayan Rao, Congress: Coal and mines
Shaqeel Ahmed, Congress: Communications & IT
Rao Indrajit Singh, Congress: External affairs
Naranbhai Rathwa, Congress: Railways
Rehman Khan, Congress: Chemicals and fertilisers
K H Muniyappa, Congress: Road transport and highways
M V Rajasekharan, Congress: Planning.
Kantilal Bhuria, Congress Agriculture, food and civil supplies, consumer affairs and public distribution
Manikrao Gavit, Congress: Home affairs
Sriprakash Jaiswal, Congress: Home affairs
Prithviraj Chavan, Congress: Prime pinister's office
Mohammed Taslimuddin, Congress: Heavy industries and public enterprises
Suryakanta Patil, NCP: Rural development, parliamentary affairs
Mohammed A A Fatmi, RJD: HRD
A Narendra, TRS: Rural development
R Velu, PMK: Railways
S S Palanimanickam, DMK: Commerce and industry
S Regupathy, DMK: Home affairs
K Venkatapathy, DMK: Law and justice
S Jegadeesan: Social Justice and empowerment
E V K S Elangovan, Congress: Petroleum and natural gas
Kanti Singh, RJD: HRD
Namo Narain Meena, Congress: Environment and forests
Jay Prakash Narayan Yadav, RJD: Water resources
Akhilesh Singh, RJD: Agriculture, food and civil supplies, consumers affairs and public distribution
An official government release pointed out that prime minister Manmohan Singh would look after the ministries that have not been allocated.
