The Hindu : International / India & World : British media coverage of India more positive now: Ronen Sen

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Saturday, May 01, 2004

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International - India & World

British media coverage of India more positive now: Ronen Sen

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, APRIL 30. Ronen Sen, outgoing Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, has called for the British media coverage of India to reflect the ``totality'' of the country's reality.

Alluding to a recent Channel 4 programme on the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir, Mr. Sen said he was not against criticism. In fact, some of the most robust criticism had come from Indians themselves. ``We are not a police state,'' he said. He did not believe in ``knee-jerk'' reactions. What was not on was ``negative stereotyping.''

However, Mr. Sen pointed out that in the past two years that he had been here, he had noted an appreciable change in British perceptions of India. The media coverage of India had not only increased, but was now becoming more positive. ``The process is gathering momentum.''

Mr Sen, who retired today, said that Indo-British relations were at their best today and the Indian potential in a whole range of areas was being increasingly recognised. In the past two years, there had been a quantum jump both in British investment in India and the Indian investment in Britain. ``Indian investment in Britain now equals the British investment in India,'' he said, pointing out that British exports to India had gone up by 30 per cent.

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