The centre will not allow private FM radio stations in India to broadcast news and current affairs programmes for at least next two to three years and a fresh look will be taken on the issue after observing the content being broadcast by these channels, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Das Munshi has said.

"Let us first wait and see what content would be offered by these stations for the next two to three years and then we will think about the next step.

We are presently not allowing news and current affairs programmes on private FM radio stations, as it is better to delay it so that nothing wrong goes on Air rather than trying to control the damage afterwards," Das Munshi told a BBC Hindi programme on January 22.

"The fact with radio is that the news broadcast on it is considered the last word and has unmatched credibility. Therefore it is our duty to see that the news being broadcast on radio is correct and does not provoke any section of the society," he said.

"We cannot compare ourselves with any other country in the world, as first of all we have to keep our country united. Nowhere in the world so many language and dialect channels are there," the Minister said.

Asked how would the content on private FM stations be monitored, Das Munshi said "government will evolve a content monitoring mechanism for private FM stations, and this will not be done by the government, but instead would be handed over to the players themselves, and government will step in only if there is a violation of the mechanism."

( www.financialexpress.com)