Govt plans own reality show

The government is considering a reality television show with private partnership to identify innovative minds, which would come up with ideas to solve problems plaguing the country. HT reports.

The government is considering a reality television show with private partnership to identify innovative minds, which would come up with ideas to solve problems plaguing the country.

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The National Innovation Council headed by Sam Pitroda, adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, decided on Thursday to explore the possibility of starting such a show following a suggestion by a member, film director Shekhar Kapur.

"Last year I was a judge on India Has Got Talent and people with amazing skills performed on television," he told reporters after the first meeting of the council, which has members from the private sector including R Gopalakrishnan, director Tata Sons, and Kiran Mazumdar Shah, Chairman and Managing Director, Biocon.

Set up by the Prime Minister, the council is aimed at energising innovation initiatives so as to make them a part of the national effort aimed at reducing poverty, improving governance and making development more inclusive. The government has already announced setting up of 14 Innovation Universities in the country.

Kapur, who has directed Masoom, Bandit Queen and Elizabeth, said television was a strong medium and can encourage innovation.

Pitroda was of the view that a reality show can encourage innovation at the lowest level of the society.

The council will also work on 20 different ideas, which would include incentives and awards for innovation.

"We will set up a fund to reward innovations. To start with, the fund will be set up with a corpus of Rs 1,000 crore which may go up to Rs 5,000 crore. A major portion of the fund will come from the private sector and not the government," Pitroda said.