If the Group of Ministers' (GoM) recommendation is anything to go by, Indian readers hungry for foreign publications will now have a bigger spread of choices and at an affordable price.

The GoM's recommendation Thursday to allow foreign newspapers to publish facsimile editions in India means that some of the prized foreign publications, such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time and The Guardian, can be published the same day from India and be made available at a reasonable price.

Currently, these publications are forbiddingly expensive because of which few people can afford them.

The GoM will send a formal proposal to the cabinet for approval in about a fortnight. 

The decision has been widely welcomed.

S. Nihal Singh, columnist and former editor of The Statesman, said: "It had to happen one day and I am glad it's going to happen soon. We are a free society. Why deprive readers here easy access to top foreign publications?"

Moreover, the proposal is being seen as in sync with the global aspirations of India, which is emerging as a major power in its own right.

"Our coverage of foreign affairs is minimal. At a time when India is trying to carve a place under the sun and it is rapidly globalising to achieve this aim, an easy access to foreign publications is essential for encouraging global thinking among Indians," Singh told IANS.
 
Sevanti Ninan, columnist and media critic, hailed the proposal. "Now, the Indian reader will have more to choose from. It's in line with the liberalisation that is happening in the rest of the country," Ninan said.

To print these facsimile editions, the foreign publications will have to register themselves with their Indian counterparts as per Indian laws. The editions will not have local Indian content to prevent them from "influencing public opinion". 

But not many see this as a precursor to relaxing the 26 percent FDI limit in the print media.

Singh said there were legitimate anxieties about possible foreign control of the print media. "These worries are real and legitimate. We are not ready to give foreign media houses control over such a vital sector of the media," he said.

Singh praised the proposal to increase the syndicated content in a newspaper from 7.5 percent to 20 per cent of a particular issue, saying exposure to world-class writing helped.
 
The GOM, headed by Home Minister Shivraj Patil, was set up in September 2004 by the cabinet to review the print media policy in the context of publication of The International Herald Tribune from Hyderabad with The Asian Age editor-in-chief M.J. Akbar as its editor.  

The cabinet can now decide on amending the Press Registration of Books and Periodical Act 1876, which sets the rules for registration of newspapers in the country.

Another key proposal cleared by the GoM allows Foreign Institutional Investors to take up 26 percent stake in print media companies as in the case of FDI in the print media. This allows the Indian media access to international funds.

Three years ago, the government allowed 26 percent FDI in news and current affairs publications and 74 percent foreign investment in the non-news and non-current affairs journals.

--Indo-Asian News Service