India's newspaper barons and left-wing intellectuals are poles apart on most issues, but united on one— foreigners may not be allowed to invest in the country's vibrant but insular newspaper industry.

Last week, a parliamentary panel, created to examine a proposal by the right-wing, pro-economic liberalisation, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or Indian People's Party government to partially open print media to foreign direct investment (FDI), was surprised by consensus that the print media must remain firmly in the control of Indian citizens.

Somnath Chatterjee, who chairs the panel and is a leader of the Marxist Communist Party of India from West Bengal state, said a majority rejected even the proposed 26 percent cap on foreign investment and guarantees that editorial control would remain with Indian citizens.

''Print media has a larger dimension than profit-making,'' Chatterjee said, adding that the simple logic of investment and dividend did not fit the nature of the industry.

The report of the committee was music to the ears of India's big-time newspaper owners, who have opposed, tooth and nail, any attempt to modify a Cabinet resolution dating back to1955 that ''no foreign-owned newspapers or periodicals should, in future, be permitted to be published in India''.

India boasts the world's fifth largest print industry, with 6,830 English-language and nearly 40,000 vernacular newspapers, but is barred from seeking foreign investment.

This is unlike the newer electronic media, which is gaining in leaps and at present offers 22 terrestrial and 100 satellite channels.

Since the fifties, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has held the view that ''foreign participation in ownership or control of newspapers would inevitably tend to be used for the purpose of influencing Indian opinion in support of the foreign interest''.

But the advent of electronic media and the sea change in India's investment climate since the country embarked on an ambitious structural reforms policy a decade ago, have encouraged Sushma Swaraj, the present minister for information and broadcasting, to attempt a review of the 1955 law.

Ideological domination

Opposition to her policy is concentrated mainly in 34 newspapers that control 76 percent of India's total circulation of 18 million and a combined readership exceeding 132 million, according to a recent survey conducted by the industry.

Typically, the strongest opposition has come from market leaders such as the Times of India newspaper, which are anxious to retain their monopoly.

For instance, Times editor Dilip Padgaonkar has made dire predictions of '' foreign media conglomerates with their financial and technological prowess riding roughshod over domestic industry.''

Padgaonkar said it was concern over ideological domination and political interference that led to the creation of laws requiring the Indianisation of staff and and capital in print media in 1955.

According to Padgaonkar, in today's climate of 'international terrorism' the 1955 Cabinet resolution had added relevance.

''The country has paid a heavy price for turning a blind eye to foreign funds fuelling religious fanaticism in certain educational institutions,'' Padgaonkar said referring to 'madrasah' or Islamic schools.

But Padgaonkar's arguments run curiously counter to the general policy of the Times of India of supporting foreign investment, liberalisation and economic liberalisation.

Besides, highly successful, foreign-owned Indian television channels, such as the Hong Kong-based Star-TV , run by James Murdoch, have yet to be accused of attempting to destabilise the country.

Cultural imperialism

If anything, Indian-owned television channels have a vast footprint over the region that is seen as a source of silent ''cultural imperialism'' by several neighbouring countries. Recently, Pakistan banned the airing of Indian channels.

Commented Shekhar Gupta, the editor of the Indian Express : ''It is the height of naivete to believe the government will be incapable of regulating publications once FDI is allowed. No self-respecting government will allow a situation in which its national security is compromised.''

Gupta, one of the few editors of big-time print media who advocates foreign investment in the industry, says it will help create a competitive environment and inevitable improvement in quality, which can only be in the interests of readers.

But Gupta's views have only brought on an attack from a major opponent of FDI, the Hindustan Times newspaper, which accused rival media managements of trying to wriggle out of current difficult times when advertising revenues are down and commitments to pay staff salaries heavy.

''Media barons can sell out to foreigners and escape to comfortable exile in London, Dubai or the Bahamas,'' the Hindustan Times said in an editorial, which listed itself among other major groups that steadfastly oppose foreign investment in print media. (IPS)