Kashmir Row: Ministry of Home Affairs and Doordarshan to come up with shows to promote unity

New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in collaboration with state-owned Doordarshan (DD) has come up with a new idea to promote ideas secularism, peace and Patriotism through TV shows similar to hit Kaun Banega Crorepati said senior home ministry official on Monday.

The ministry is also considering to introduce other talent shows that will be judged show Judges or Mentors said the official adding that will also expose Kashmir’s audience to various types of “different cultures of India”.

According to the official, these shows are meant to promote national unity, democratic values of India, communal harmony, merits of secularism, patriotism and also highlight the perils of fundamentalism.

“These proposals are currently being discussed, nothing has been finalized yet but introducing such TV shows will definitely have positive effects on the society…” said the official.

“Other than promotion of democratic values, these shows will also revamp DD’s approach towards its audiences. In Kashmir, the channel had started airing latest Bollywood films which had raised its viewership. We are hoping the proposed TV shows will serve a dual purpose of raising viewership and providing content that encourages ideas of peace,” the official added.

The Government hopes to encourage unity through these shows while experts are of opinion that these shows will work only if serious efforts are put in.

Former home secretary GK Pillai, said, “One of the challenges is a limited viewership of the channel… But most important is the effort undertaken on the ground. You can keep talking about developmental work but if ground realities reflect something different, the entire project will fall apart.”

Ajay Shani a security expert speaking on the new developments said such projects have earlier failed in Kashmir, adding, such efforts were important for the “articulation of Indian secularism” in the valley to promote unity, HT reported.