Govt. says private individuals own over 81 percent of newspapers in India

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry on Thursday said that according to data available with it, private individuals owned a majority of the country's newspapers, followed by joint stock companies.

I and B Minister Manish Tewari said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on Thursday that out of 16,310 newspapers that furnished annual statements for 2011-12, individuals own 13,312 (81.57 percent) of registered newspapers or periodicals.

According to reports, as per the data shared by the minister, joint stock companies own 2,091 (12.85 per cent), societies and associations own 406 (2.5 percent), trusts own 317 (1.95 percent) while firms and partnerships own 184 (1.13 per cent) of the registered newspapers or periodicals.

Tewari asserted that for the electronic media, permission was given to companies registered under the Companies Act, 1956.

He also said that 152 community radio stations are operational currently of which 52 are run by NGOs, 89 by educational institutions and 11 by Krishi Vigyan Kendras.

Meanwhile, Tewari also informed that there have been 23 complaints about indecent depiction of women in ads to the Advertisement Standard Council of India (ASCI) in 2012-13 and ten of these cases were upheld.

As per the information provided by Tewari the number of such complaints was 18 of which 8 were upheld in 2011-12.

While replying to another question, Tewari said that Prasar Bharati constantly reviewed the content, quality and popularity including TRPs.

He said that DD National was placed fourth in the ratings as per the TAM report for General Entertainment channels during the period July 14 to 20, 2013.