Govt's political strategy is economic consolidation: Tewari

In what comes as a relief for broadcasters dependent on advertising revenues, Information and Broadcasting minister Manish Tewari told CNBC-TV18 that the government would lay in place a roadmap for eventually achieving 12 minutes advertising per hour, suggesting that for now this rule is likely to be relaxed.

He also said that the government’s political strategy for 2014 is economic consolidation and the passage of the Insurance and Pension bills is on the agenda for this Parliament Session.
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Below is the edited transript of the interview with CNBC-TV18 Q: What do you think about Narendra Modi and his stand? A: For us, the Chief Minister of Gujarat is a non-issue. He maybe an issue of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) because the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh turns around and says that whenever people talk about prime ministerial ambitions, they reduce the BJP to a laughing stock. As I jokingly keep telling my friends, you have lurking prime ministerial ambitions, sulking prime ministerial ambitions, has anybody of any gravitas in the political system ever questioned the stability of the government? The answer is clearly no. So, therefore people understand and people in politics who have run coalitions over the last two decades understand that people of India do not reward those who create instability. So, this government is here to stay, we will stay the course till 2014 and on the strength of our achievements we will go to the people. Q: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is trying to enforce the 12 minute per hour advertising rule. It is an old law they are trying to enforce, but when digitisation is not complete and I know broadcasters have met you on this, do you think this is the appropriate time and are you going to be speaking to TRAI about this? A: We are trying to work with TRAI. The IBF, the Indian Broadcasters Foundation and the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) came and met me and they have a fair point. I have asked them to go and speak to the TRAI chairperson. Once they get back to me, we will take this dialogue further.