December 16-31, 2006

Political and social activists, journalists, writers, and a large number of working people from the media participated in an impressive public convention held on December 1, 2006 outside on the lawns of Rafi Marg in the capital.

The Citizens Convention on future of news agencies and freedom of press was organised by the Citizens for UNI .

The UNI, as we have reported earlier in this newspaper, is one of the the two premier news agencies of India, the other being the PTI. Both agencies were the premier source of news to both print and electronic media till recent times. They served a number of purposes. One was that they enabled the press in the different states in the languages of the people, an easy and relatively inexpensive access to news from accross the country and abroad. The news supplied by UNI in English, Hindi and urdu, can be received on the ticker and translated if necessary by journalists and editors of hundreds of newspapers in far flung regions of the country. Both news agencies are essentially trusts, which were established with the express purpose of both preventing a monopoly in the supply of news. Thus in the UNI, a number of newspapers have shareholdings, but no one news paper has a majority shareholding. UNI and PTI were essentially run as non-profit institutions, basically breaking even through subscriptions from the government and private news channels and papers.

It is this character of UNI which is under attack with the take over bid by Subhash Chandra owner of the Essel Group, chairman of Zee telefilms, and owner of the Mumbai newspaper DNA. This takeover bid, if succesful will give majority control of UNI to Zee for a mere Rs 34 crores. It must be noted that the total assets of UNI are conservatively valued at Rs 1000 crores, with the land in Rafi marg near Parliament itself estimated to be worth Rs 200 crores. If Zee telefilms succeeds in this venture, the brand name of UNI will be with Subhash Chandra as well as its marketing network, and this will be used by Zee telefilms to establish control first over news and then over newspapers in different parts of the country. These are some of the factors behind the desperation of Zee in the take over attempt on UNI. In many ways, it is similar to the take over and liquidation of Modern Foods by Hindustan Lever.

Some of the issues that have been raised by the UNI employees and the wellwishers of UNI are:

Will not the take over of UNI by Zee be the beginning of efforts to take over of the PTI by Zee or some other monopoly so that there will be no news agency remaining which is independent, non partisan, and all India in character.

Secondly, on what basis can the control of land and other assets given to UNI under the Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 at subsidised rates, be handed over to a private monopoly for profiteering?

The UNI employees have been waging a principled struggle in defence of the institution, despite facing suspensions and transfers, as well as the threat of mass retrenchment.

On behalf of the Citizens for UNI , veteran journalist Anil Chamadia conducted the proceedings of the Convention. Among those who addressed the Convention were Prakash Rao, Convenor of the Lok Raj Sangathan, which has been consistently supporting and popularising the struggle of the UNI employees. Over 30 personalities addressed the Convention, including CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta, veteran journalist Amit Sen Gupta, Former Editor of UNi EC Thomas, writer Pankaj Singh, writer and novelist Panja Singh Bisht, Prof of Philosophy in JNU Anand Kumar, Professor of Mass communication Anand Pradhan, and Arvind Kejriwal.

As we go to the press, the UNI employees have won an important victory. The Company Law Board, in which some of the directors of the UNI have challenged the takeover bid, has declared in its first hearing that the deal to sell 60% of UNI shares for 34 crores to Subhash Chandra is prima facie illegal. The Directors who have pushed through the illegal deal have been asked to present their case within three weeks.

The struggle of the UNI employees in defence of their institution is a just struggle which is in the interests not only of the one thousand working people of UNI, but also in the larger social and national interest. Peoples Voice extends its full support to this struggle.