Work with developing nations' media on information disparities, India tells UN

India has called upon the UN to renew efforts to create a more just world information order by working with the media in developing countries to correct the disparities in the flow of information.

S. Srinivas Prasad, a minister in India's UN mission, urged the UN Department of Public Information (DPI) "to increase interaction with media in developing countries to reduce existing disparities in information flow and ensure a free flow of information at all levels".

India hoped "there will be a renewed emphasis on the establishment of a new, more just and more effective world information and communication order to strengthen peace and international understanding", he said Tuesday at a session of Committee on Information.

He also suggested that the UN set up a language development centre in India to get its message across to a larger population on the subcontinent.

While India welcomed the weekly UN broadcasts in Hindi, Urdu and Bengali reaching a large number of South Asians, "there are still millions of speakers of other major languages within the sub-continent", he said.

The DPI "could think of a language development centre based in India to reframe content in these major South Asian languages in order to reach a more wider and diverse audience in the subcontinent", he added.

Another area that called for DPI action, Prasad said, was promoting the work of UN peacekeeping operations, which have recently faced a slew of criticism.

He noted that India was one of the largest contributors to peacekeeping operations and said: "We urge the DPI to fast-track its plans of highlighting this contribution on media platforms, both in the troop donor countries as well as worldwide."

--IANS

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