Tamil nadu govt to nationalise private cable TV operations

The Tamil Nadu government will be nationalising all private cable TV operations in the State. The Arasu Cable Corporation, launched by the previous DMK government and which was defunct for the last three years, will soon be revived. This was announced by governor Surjit Singh Barnala in his address to the first session of the 14th legislative assembly on Friday.

Also, a commission of inquiry headed by a retired High Court judge would be constituted to probe alleged irregularities in the construction of the new Legislative Assembly and Secretariat complex. And the status of Anna university would be restored to its original.

“The government will revive the Arasu Cable Corporation in public interest and nationalise the private cable TV operations in the state without affecting the interests of the last mile local cable operators,” said Barnala.

Cable TV distribution in the state has been dominated by Sumangali Cable Vision owned by Kalanithi Maran, grandnephew of former chief minister M Karunanidhi and elder brother of union textile minister Dayanithi Maran.Alagiri, another union minister and Karunanidhi’s elder son, controls Jack Cable Service, a cable TV distribution company.

The Tamil Nadu government launched Arasu Cable TV in 2008, fallout of the fighting between the Maran brothers and members of the Karunanidhi family. Following the inter-family rivalry, the DMK government launched Arasu Cable TV to take on the Marans who had dominated cable TV distribution in the state. Kalaignar TV too was launched by the Karunanidhi family to challenge the Maran’s Sun Group, south India’s largest satellite TV network.

The governor also announced that a commission of inquiry headed by a retired High Court judge would be constituted to probe alleged irregularities in the construction of the new Legislative Assembly and Secretariat complex which was inaugurated by the prime minister last year.

The AIADMK government has also decided to restore the original status of the Anna University in Chennai which was split into five different universities by the previous DMK government. Educationists like Prof M Ananthakrishnan , governing council chairman, IIT Kanpur, had criticised the move then and had alleged that vice-chancellorships of universities were being auctioned at the rate of Rs 7.5 crore.

“The move to restore the status of the Anna University is a laudable approach. The government should also come out with a roadmap to transform universities into the world class institutions. Standard of research and education in these universities and affiliated colleges should be improved by a new management system of governance,” said Prof S P Thyagarajan, former vice-chancellor, Madras University.