Scrap BBC Tax at a time of austerity

James Whittingdale is expected to take a close and
hard look  at the BBC Charter and the Licence Fee

The Secretary of State for Media, Culture and Sport, James Whittingdale, should take a close and hard look at the Licence Fee when discussing the next BBC Charter, which will come into force at the end of 2016.

When the Conservative government is resorting to Victorian penny pinching and making the poorest and the weakest in Britain more vulnerable, the BBC is employing the resources generated through Licence Fee in Britain to launch a television programme in Bangladesh.

The launching of the BBC Bangla TV programme - BBC Probaho, on Bangladesh’s cable/satellite station, Channel-I is nothing short of an expediency as it will not reap any benefit for Britain and those who help the corporation survive by paying the Licence Fee.

It beggars belief that the new television programme being launched by the BBC Bangla Service will cut any ice with the audience, not least because of the sustained decline in the BBC’s influence in Bangladesh, but also due to the fact that the media market in the country is crowded by the presence of nearly a dozen television channels, if not more. Moreover, the continuous decline in the audience figures of the BBC Bangla's radio programmes are a testimony of the listless editorial leadership of the service.

The BBC World Service has a dubious distinction of floundering with public money when it attempted to launch its Hindi television channel in India in the 1990s. As the BBC faltered, its supplier the Asian News International or the ANI flourished. There is a widespread apprehension that like the ANI in Delhi, Channel-I is prospering at the cost of the Licence Fee payers in Britain as BBC Probaho is destined to fail.

The sponsorship of the longstanding relationship between BBC Bangla and Channel-I by the BBC Media Action also raises serious financial and editorial questions. Questions are being raised as to why the British taxpayers' money should be used to help a foreign media business flourish. Secondly, is the editorial stature of the BBC, despite its continuous decline, compatible with Channel-I's position in the media landscape of Bangladesh?  

When the government is making additional cuts, it should ensure that the ordinary people have enough resources at their disposal to make a decent living. Resources at the disposal of the ordinary people would  be better utilised to meet their basic needs rather than paying the bills of an expedient move by a maverick or a dubious BBC manager.

Also available: Why should I pay for the BBC

Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay is a freelance journalist and media consultant. 
He can be contacted at tirthankarb@hotmail.com 
All comments are personal.

High time India reciprocates to reap diplomatic dividends

What a gesture of friendship and camaraderie by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, first to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee​ and then on Saturday to Prime Minister Narendra Modi​. The people of Bangladesh have always been at the heart of the Indians and their struggle for independence remembered with reverence on the other side of the border and so are their strides on the social indicators of development.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has
walked the extra mile for friendship

Prime Minister Sk Hasina was quick to acknowledge the tide of geopolitics and its significance in South Asia, although it must be said that she had always been on the right side of a cordial relationship with India.

Notwithstanding the irritations in the bilateral relations, Sk Hasina has walked the extra mile not only to strengthen the friendly ties with her neighbour but also delivered on the promises made by the Bangladesh government to make the historic relationship smooth and render it with due cordiality.

It wasn't an easy task though!

Sheikh Hasina had to tread a dangerous path not only in the country, to overcome the widespread anti-Indian sentiments and wipe out an air of suspicion, but also within her party the Awami League to make Bangladesh's relationship with India effective and meaningful. She had to stave off strong and often conspiratorial opposition to friendly ties with India from a section of the domestic media, other groups in the civil society and also an arm of an influential international media organisation having strong roots and historic links with Bangladesh. Quite expectedly, this arm of the international media organisation downplayed the success of what is being termed "a historic trip" and highlighted Khaleda Zia's allegation, during a one-to-one meeting with Prime Minister Modi, that "democracy is at its peril in Bangladesh".

It is high time that India recognises the friendly gesture of Bangladesh in the backdrop of a bilateral relationship which has been on a roller coaster ride over the past more than four decades and with the evolution of geopolitics.

India should be mindful of fulfilling her commitments to the people of Bangladesh, made on several occasions. The public perception in Bangladesh is that India is quick to make promises but falters when it comes to delivering on time, often seen by Dhaka with suspicion and as a sign of lack of commitment. This perception is of course not without reason. The promises made by the then Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee on reconstruction of villages post the devastating cyclone Aila took a lot more time to deliver than the usual period of gestation.

The operators in South Block should recognise the fact that Bangladesh may be small in size but it occupies a position of strategic importance and it is only in India's interest to nurture the bonhomie and friendship that's in the air at a time of sweltering heat and high humidity in both the countries.

Prime Minister Modi's strategy of extending an olive branch of friendship to South Asian neighbours like Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, notwithstanding her size and importance in regional and global politics is bound to reap diplomatic dividends in the time to come.

Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay is a journalist and media consultant. 
He can be contacted at tirthankarb@hotmail.com 
 All comments are personal.

An authentic Highlander with chubby looks & cheeky smile

My Tuesday morning passed with a sense of loss. Political passing has never been so remorse, at least recently. I encountered a similar sense of loss when Tony Benn passed away in March last year. Back home in India, political passings are full of statist grandeur, depicting the clout and power of politicians. A sense of loss is often overtaken by the public display of grief.

Courtesy: The Telegraph

I gulped emotion ever since the news of Charles Kennedy's untimely demise flowed from the television sets during the breakfast programme. A stream of  condolences followed. For Paddy Ashdown, whom Kennedy succeeded as the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, he was a repository of decency, wit, humour and charm, when large parts of modern day politics were bereft of the traits that rendered it humane.
Kennedy's high point in politics was when he vehemently opposed the Iraq War in 2003. With Tony Blair being the bagpiper in the campaign against Saddam Hussein's "weapons of mass destruction" and the Conservative Party under Ian Duncan Smith following suit in Britain, the Liberal Democrats under the stewardship of Kennedy stood rock solid as a moral compass, despite his denouncement for "treachery and treason", against the divisive war. Over a decade after the war, Kennedy's apprehension about its credibility had been proved right. The liberal in him insisted that inspectors be deployed to make sure that the weapons of mass destruction were destroyed rather than going all out for the scalp of Saddam Hussein.

Iraq is not the only issue where he instinctively made "an exceptionally shrewd" political judgement. The bleak performance of the Lib Dems in the recently concluded general election is a testimony to the gut feeling of Kennedy opposing any possible coalition with the Conservatives. The two parties were in coalition for five years and in the end the Conservative Party gained at the cost of the Liberal Democrats. Kennedy's opposition to the coalition was based on the intuitive apprehension that "David Cameron would use it to re-brand his party as Liberal Conservatives destroying the real Liberal Party in the process".

When Kennedy became the leader of the Liberal Democrats in 1999, the political landscape in the United Kingdom was dominated by New Labour and more so by Tony Blair. The Tories were in utter disarray with leaders like William Hague, Ian Duncan Smith and Michael Howard grappling as to how to cope with the Tony Blair phenomenon. Although the leader of the third largest party in the House of Commons, Kennedy with his captivating charm, authentic touch with the ordinary people, principled politics and brilliant oratory performed the role of a 'de facto' leader of the opposition in parliament.

It is to Kennedy's credit, and also that of Paddy Ashdown, that the Lib Dem apparently turned into a party of intellectual and ethical refuge for many - who despised the Tories and yet were not necessarily heart and soul with New Labour - despite its inability to become pivotal in the once effectively predominant bi-partisan electoral politics in Britain.

It was under his leadership that the strength of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Commons reached 62, the highest tally for a third party since the old Liberal Party days of the 1920s, in the 2005 general election, only to plummet to 57 under the stewardship of Nick Clegg in 2010.

As tributes flow from all sides of the political spectrum, Kennedy will be dearly missed in Britain for delving into the humane terrain of politics, his gaiety and serious principled politics. His stance on the Iraq War made the Liberal Democrats stand apart in the face of jingoism worldwide. Kennedy's lovable chubby looks and cheeky smile endeared him to many well beyond the murky world of politics. Binge drinking was his demon and Kennedy had to pay dearly for it. British politics will never be the same again without the sandy-haired Highlander.  

Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay is a journalist and media consultant. 
He can be contacted at tirthankarb@hotmail.com All comments are personal.