Tv an Idiot Box

Television nicknamed by the Ameri so-and-sos as idiot box is one of the ab come out revolutionary inventions of the twentieth century. Its vast potentialities as a powerful strong point of mass communication open firenot be underestimated. It is, indeed, the kick the bucket world in hold backment and enlightenment. It lowlife enlighten our illiterate and ignorant masses it stop hold out their mental horizon and help them to rise above communalism, racialism, regionalism etcetera it cig bette countenance international understanding and it tin green goddess generate a wake slight climate for peaceful co-existence. precisely in the hands of incompetent mess, it can dam maturate public morals, it can breed religious fanaticism and it can vitiate international atmosphere and even precipitate a war. In a country like India wherein a very large issue of people do not know how to read, a visual long suit like tv set has unlimited possibilities. Yet in the development of tel ecasting, India has lagged far rear end many otherwise countries including some which are otherwise much less developed. According to statistics released by UNESCO in 1970, the number of video recording fixeds per 100 inhabitants in India that year was only 0. 2 as compared to 0. 2 in congou tea and 26. 4 in the Federal Republic of Germany. Television had been devised by washstand Legie Baird, a Scottish inventor, in 1928. Thereafter, its development in the technologically pass on countries of the west was rapid and very quick progress was registered in evolving advanced techniques which do multi-channel color television a possibility. The launching of communication satellites in the space-age has inclined further fillip to television, investing it with a truly international character. directly it transcends international boundaries. It has enabled people in one corner of the globe to learn with their own eyes events happening in other remote corner, make the world appea r much smaller than it is. It was only in 1959 that the archetypal experimental television station in the country was setup in Delhi with the co-operation of UNESCO and a private firm. The manufacture of TV sets stated seven eld later, after the Central Engineering and Electronic Research. Institute had developed native technology for the industry.In 1972, it was estimated that there were 20,000 TV sets in the country out of which 15,000 were in Delhi house holds. That India was on the brink of a television volley was made clear, by a survey conducted by the Department of atomic Energy which pointed out that the demand for TV sets was likely to exceed cardinal lakhs by 1973. Today there are about 160 TV stations all over India and there are at least 2 lakhs TV sets in Delhi alone. Looking to Indias requirements, it is by on style an ambitious programme. Translated into practice, it can fill an immensely useful purpose.It was can serve as an informational device and provide the missing affiliation between the administration and the people, giving the latter a greater feel of involvement in the task of building a new India. Handled with imagination, it can be used for promoting national aims like population control, Rational desegregation etc. But in inept hands, it can be a formidable instrument for mischief. And that raises a number of questions How and by whom should television be controlled? What do we mean by imaginative handling? How best can ii be made a medium of mass breeding?What should be the proportion of fosterment and culture in television programmes? etc. There are several ways in which the responsibility for streamlet a national television service in India can be apportioned. We have complete state control of Doordarshan as exists in the berth of the All India Radio. There is something to be said for that. In moving towards the goals it has set for itself, a developing country like India needs a greater amount of national discipl ine, even regimentation, than could be countenanced in an economically well-developed democracy.But then State ownership tends to blunt the edge of creativeness and damps the government to the charge of placing restraints on freedom of expression by monopolizing another powerful mass-medium. Two of the elementary objectives of the television are obviously to entertain people and to promote their cordial awareness. But what are the other social objectives to be achieved? Very high on this list should be the education of our ill-informed farmers. Television can play a very significant voice in enlightening them about the latest technical devices of agricultures the utility of various(a) kinds of fertilizers and pesticides, or any other ethods of raising agriculture productivity. It can also pull them out of their superstitious world and modernize their thinking Secondly, television can be used to disseminate the message of family planning. No other medium can reach such a large atom of our society and communicate the message so effectively as television. Thirdly, television can be used to promote national integration. It can expose viewers to carefully designed programmes from various regions and emphasize on their minds the basic cultural unity, of India.Finally, television can be of immense use in educating students at schools and in the universities. In scientific education, in particular, good television programmes can easily make up for a bad teacher or an ill-equipped laboratory. Problems of technology and administration apart, the success of instructional televisions in India will depend in the ultimate analysis on the presentation, contented and range of the programmes it brings into view, the extent to which the producers are successful in combining instruction with entertainment and the rapport they can establish with their audience.Considering that TV in India is to date in the primitive stage, we have no great tradition of professionalism i n the field, Television is neither a glorified version of the radio, nor a miniaturized film-show. It can flourish only if its distinct individuality is recognized and allowed to develop in its own way. The general standard of the programmes being telecast from our existing centres has step by step improved during the past few years. Rural folks stand good benefited from their exposure to television.Educational programmes are more imaginatively produced and comprehend an enkindle variety. News presentation is now quite interesting though there is passive considerable scope for improvement in this sphere Sunday pictures are no longer drab. The decision to hold the premier shows of award sweet movies on television has warmed the hearts of even the staunch critics of Doordarshan. But what has revolutionized the entire television world is the advent of sponsored serials.Programmes like HumLog, Buaiyad, Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, Rajni have become household words. Ramayana broke all record s of achievements and all barriers of class and creed. Viewers have taken to flies to honey. They heatedly discuss the last night, episodes and them like eagerly await the ones to follow. While these serials have undoubtedly increase the standard of television programmes in general, not all of them are commendable. near of them appear to be mediocre stuff hurriedly produced in faux of formula films.If cheap comedy, insipid romance, noisy, rhythm less music, blatant devolve on display and bloodcurdling violencethe hallmarks of an average Indian movie arrive the television serials also, it will do irreparable damage to social climate. It is hearten that some good directors like B. R. Chopra and Shy am Bengal have agnise the potentialities of the medium and decided to produce meaningful serials. With the progress of the television age in India, the visual image is bound to overshadow the spoken and the printed word.The immense potentialities of the new medium can be exploited 6al y if its functioning is made mass oriented and it is not allowed to become another means of rude display of opulence. We have to make sure that for all the public property invested in it, we get adequate social returns in accelerating our development effort, usefully augmenting educational facilities, familiarizing the farmer with improved agricultural techniques, and helping the people in general to rescue themselves from ignorance and disease.