The Gujral Committee Report - Language in India

English papers on the strength of their circulation there. The same rule should, in our view, apply to Urdu newspapers. The criteria, therefore, should not only be the publication of a paper from a State but also its circulation there In Gujarat, for example, to
overhelming majority speaks Gujarati. There is, however, a large sprinkling of Urdu speakers who read Urdu newspapers published from Maharashtra. A number of Calcutta Urdu journalists have stated that their papers have circulation in Assam. The the
of Gujarat and Assam should, therefore, consider occasional Insertion of Governments
advertisements in such Urdu newspapers as have circulation within their area to put across information about governmental policies. 6.141 Reverting to the analysis of expansion of official advertising in Urdu, we find that Government
in West Bengal,the allocation for Urdu has risen from 0.72 per cent in the base year to.22per cent in 1971-72 in Punjab it has come down to 25.62 per cent from 72 per cent. while
Without a definite policy either with regard to the release of advertisements, or to 6.142
sharing of allocation by Urdu newspapers, the profession at large suffers from a sense of insecurity and uncertainty. What happens to one set of papers may happen to another also. the
It has been alleged that in a few States advertisements have been used as patronage. This has been emphatically denied. We, however, feel that the policy governing the distribution of adverti- sements by some State Directorates of 6.143
Relations lacks clarity and coherence. The position Is further Information,Public
by the decentralisation of release of advertisements. Individual depart- ments to whom a large number of State Governments have delegated powers to release advertisements exercise them without proper guidelines. Fears, even if complicated
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The Gujral Committee Report
unfounded, should be removed by laying down definite guidelines to ensure that advertisements are given on merit, that is circulation, class appeal and the area served. The first step towards achieving the objective would be to centralise the issuing of all advertisements in the Directorate of Information/Publicity in each State. They would be able to rotate advertisements in the smaller and medium newspapers in a manner that
on Urdu