Prakash Javadekar Returns as India’s Media Minister

By Naman Ramachandran

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Prakash Javadekar has been appointed India’s Minister of Information and Broadcasting in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet that was announced Friday. He has also been allocated the portfolio of Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Javadekar previously held the Information & Broadcasting post for a few months in 2014, when Modi first came to power. During this tenure, he signed a long-awaited co-production agreement with China.

One of Javadekar’s first tasks will be to push through film production incentives, plans for which bureaucrats at the information and broadcasting ministry had revealed at the Film Bazaar, Goa, in 2018 and again at Cannes earlier this month. These include a rebate scheme for films shot in and international co-productions, and the possibility of tax cuts for the sector.

India has periodic outbreaks of censorship issues and these are likely to crop up again during Javadekar’s tenure. He will also oversee the creation of a new National Broadcast Policy, which was announced at the Frames media industry conference in March. At the time I&B Secretary Amit Khare stressed the need for self-regulation in the media industry, rather than mandarins in Delhi imposing their will.

Javadekar succeeds Olympic shooting silver medallist turned politician Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore in the position.