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{{Use Indian English|date=June 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2015}}
'''Balakrishna Vishwanath Keskar''' (1903 – 28 August 1984)<ref name="164.100.47.132">{{cite web|title=Second Lok Sabha – Members' Bioprofile: BV Keskar|url=http://164.100.47.194/loksabha/writereaddata/biodata_1_12/790.htm|accessdate=30 October 2014}}</ref><ref name="Overview- B.V. Keskar">{{Cite journal|title=Overview- B.V. Keskar|url=http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100034754|publisher=Oxford University Press|accessdate=30 October 2014}}</ref> was an Indian politician and [[Minister of Information and Broadcasting (India)|Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting]] between 1952 and 1962. Remembered for creating the [[Vrinda Vadya]] and promoting classical music through [[Akashvani (radio broadcaster)|All India Radio]], Keskar, who was India's longest serving Minister for Information and Broadcasting, was also responsible for banning Hindi film music, cricket commentaries and the harmonium on All India Radio.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kasbekar|first1=Asha|title=Pop Culture India!: Media, Arts, and Lifestyle|date=1 January 2006|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-636-7|pages=132–133|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sv7Uk0UcdM8C&dq=cricket+commentary+banned+all+india+radio&pg=PA4}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Born in [[Pune]] to Vishwanath Keskar in 1903, Keskar was educated at the [[Kashi Vidyapith]] and the [[Sorbonne University|Sorbonne]] from where he earned a [[D. Litt]] degree.<ref name="164.100.47.132"/> Keskar worked as a lecturer at Benaras' Sanskrit Vidyapith and was trained in [[dhrupad]] by Hari Narayan Mukherji of Banaras.<ref name="Nayar1989">{{cite book|last=Nayar|first=Sobhana|title=Bhatkhande's Contribution to Music: A Historical Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MQ74dNGEnoEC&pg=PA321|date=1 January 1989|publisher=Popular Prakashan|isbn=978-0-86132-238-1|page=321}}</ref>

== Early political career ==
Keskar joined the [[Indian National Congress]] during the [[Non Cooperation Movement]] of 1921<ref name="Mehta2008">{{cite book|last=Mehta|first=Nalin|authorlink=Nalin Mehta|title=Television in India: Satellites, Politics and Cultural Change|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ToV8AgAAQBAJ&pg=PT34|date=3 June 2008|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-06212-6|page=34}}</ref> and served as a Secretary in the Foreign Department of the [[All India Congress Committee]] during 1939–1940 and was a General Secretary of the party in 1946.<ref name="164.100.47.132"/> Keskar also served as a member of the [[Constituent Assembly of India]] representing the [[United Provinces (1937–50)|United Provinces]].<ref>{{cite web|title=LIST OF MEMBERS OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY (AS IN NOVEMBER, 1949)|url=http://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/constituent_assembly/constituent_assembly_mem.asp|publisher=Parliament of India – Rajya Sabha|accessdate=30 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=LIST OF MEMBERS OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY (AS IN NOVEMBER, 1949)|url=http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/debates/members.htm|publisher=Parliament of India|accessdate=30 October 2014}}</ref>

== Political career in independent India ==
After Independence, Keskar was appointed a Deputy Minister in the [[Ministry of External Affairs (India)|Ministry of External Affairs]] and in the [[Ministry of Railways (India)|Ministry of Railways]] and Transport between 1948 and 1952.<ref name="164.100.47.132"/> In 1952, he was elected to [[Parliament of India|Parliament]] from [[Sultanpur (Lok Sabha constituency)|Sultanpur]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Affidavit Details of B. V. Keskar|url=http://www.empoweringindia.org/new/preview.aspx?candid=497894&p=p&cid=43|accessdate=30 October 2014}}</ref> and was made Minister of Information and Broadcasting a post he held from 1952–1962. Keskar was twice elected to Parliament from Sultanpur and [[Musafirkhana]].<ref>{{cite web|title=List of winner and runner MPs in 1957 General Elections|url=http://www.elections.in/parliamentary-constituencies/1957-election-results.html|accessdate=30 October 2014}}</ref>

== Minister for Information and Broadcasting ==
Keskar was the third person to head the [[Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India)|Ministry of Information and Broadcasting]] in [[independent India]]<ref name="Mehta2008" /> and had a decade long tenure at the helm, making him the longest serving minister in that ministry.<ref name="Kasbekar2006">{{cite book|last=Kasbekar|first=Asha|title=Pop Culture India!: Media, Arts, and Lifestyle|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sv7Uk0UcdM8C&pg=PA132|date=1 January 2006|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-636-7|page=132}}</ref> Keskar believed Indian music had degenerated under the Muslims and the British. He held that centuries of Muslim rule had divorced Indian music from Hindu civilization and caused its bifurcation through the emergence of Hindustani music. Keskar belonged to a generation of Maharashtrian Brahmins who sought to reassert Hindu cultural influence in classical music by purging Islamic influences which they believed had led to its eroticisation and drift from its spiritual core.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rudrappa|first1=Sharmila|title=Ethnic Routes to Becoming American: Indian Immigrants and the Cultures of Citizenship|date=2004|publisher=Rutgers University Press|location=New Brunswick|pages=207–208|url=https://www.questia.com/read/103153896/ethnic-routes-to-becoming-american-indian-immigrants|accessdate=|url-access=|via=|isbn=}}{{dl|date=July 2021}}{{ISBN?}}</ref>

Keskar deemed film songs vulgar, cheap and Westernised.<ref name="Kasbekar2006" /> This led him to initially impose a 10 percent quota on airtime for film music and subsequently to ban the broadcasting of film music on [[All India Radio]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Voice Next Door|journal=The Caravan|date=1 December 2012|url=http://www.caravanmagazine.in/lede/voice-next-door|accessdate=30 October 2014}}</ref> Film music had a growing audience in India and Keskar's decision to ban it on All India Radio allowed [[Radio Ceylon]] to capitalise on the opportunity. Radio Ceylon, which had launched its Hindi Service in 1950, attained great popularity throughout India with its programs like the ''Binaca Geetmala'', ''Purani Filmo Ke Geet'' and ''Aap Hi Ke Geet''.<ref name="An anthem, almost">{{cite news|title=An anthem, almost|url=http://archives.dailynews.lk/2001/pix/PrintPage.asp?REF=/2009/08/20/fea02.asp|accessdate=30 October 2014|work=Daily News|date=20 August 2009}}</ref><ref name="Singh2014">{{cite book|last=Singh|first=Daman|authorlink=Daman Singh|title=Strictly Personal: Manmohan and Gursharan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LUvVBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT62|date=15 August 2014|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers India|isbn=978-93-5136-325-5|page=62}}</ref> It even set up a Radio Advertising Services in Bombay to rake in advertising revenue. Gradually, All India Radio began to lose listeners and revenue forcing it in 1957 to launch the [[Vividh Bharati]] service.<ref name="An anthem, almost"/>

Keskar was also responsible for banning cricket commentaries and the [[harmonium]] on All India Radio.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Sanyal|first1=Amitava|title=The harmonium continuum|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/comment/amitavasanyal/the-harmonium-continuum/article1-631438.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030210219/http://www.hindustantimes.com/comment/amitavasanyal/the-harmonium-continuum/article1-631438.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-date=30 October 2014|accessdate=30 October 2014|work=[[Hindustan Times]]|date=26 November 2010}}</ref> As General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee, Keskar had noted that cricket would not survive the [[British Raj]], arguing that its popularity in India depended on an "atmosphere of [[British culture]] and language".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Broom|first1=Oli|title=Cycling to the Ashes: A Cricketing Odyssey From London to Brisbane|date=2013|publisher=Yellow Jersey Press|location=London|page=226|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SyFY639os28C&pg=PA226|isbn=978-1-4481-1438-2}}</ref> Even though his statement had drawn much opposition, Keskar chose to ban cricket commentaries and was subsequently forced to repeal his decision and allow live cricket broadcasts.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Guha|first1=Ramachandra|title=A Corner of a Foreign Field: The Indian History of a British Sport|date=October 2014|publisher=Penguin UK|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=je7DBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT351|isbn=9789351186939}}</ref>

Keskar has however been credited with providing the common man with access to classical music and musicians with patronage that had disappeared with the abolition of [[princely states]] after independence.<ref name="Classical music for the common man">{{cite news|last1=Sircar|first1=Jawahar|title=Classical music for the common man|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/classical-music-for-the-common-man/article6513432.ece|accessdate=30 October 2014|work=[[The Hindu]]|date=18 October 2014}}</ref> It was under Keskar's initiative that the National Programme of Music, since broadcast over All India Radio on weekends, was begun in 1952.<ref>{{cite web|title=AIR & Music|url=http://allindiaradio.gov.in/Oppurtunities/Music/Pages/Music.aspx|publisher=All India Radio|accessdate=30 October 2014}}</ref> In 1954, the annual Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan was started by All India Radio that served as a platform for both established and emerging young artistes in Indian classical music.<ref name="Classical music for the common man"/>

Keskar was also responsible for the establishment of the [[Vadya Vrinda]] as a national orchestra and created a new genre of '[[light music]]' by commissioning the [[sitarist]] [[Ravi Shankar]] to head the Vadya Vrinda and to provide a 'light' musical alternative to the classical musical broadcasts.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kasbekar|first1=Asha|title=Pop Culture India!: Media, Arts, and Lifestyle|date=1 January 2006|publisher=ABC CLIO|page=133|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sv7Uk0UcdM8C&pg=PA141|isbn=978-1-85109-636-7}}</ref>

== Later life and death ==
Despite his decade long tenure, Keskar remained politically a lightweight and never enjoyed [[cabinet rank]] with the ministry being lowered in rank to that of a [[Minister of State]] during his second stint from 1957–1962.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Mehta|first1=Nalin|title=Television in India: Satellites, Politics and Cultural Change|date=3 June 2008|publisher=Routledge|location=Abingdon, Oxon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ToV8AgAAQBAJ&pg=PT34|isbn=978-1-134-06212-6}}</ref> Keskar lost the [[Indian general elections 1951–1971|General Elections of 1962]] from [[Fatehpur (Lok Sabha constituency)|Fatehpur]]<ref>{{cite web|title=List of winner and runner MPs in 1962 General Elections|url=http://www.elections.in/parliamentary-constituencies/1962-election-results.html|accessdate=30 October 2014}}</ref> and was defeated again, this time by the Socialist leader [[Ram Manohar Lohia]], in the [[bye-election]] from the [[Farrukhabad (Lok Sabha constituency)|Farrukhabad parliamentary constituency]] in 1963.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Roy|first1=Ramashray|title=Congress Defeat in Farrukhabad – A Failure of Party Organisation|journal=The Economic Weekly|date=29 May 1965|pages=893–902|url=http://www.epw.in/system/files/pdf/1965_17/22/congress_defeat_in_farrukhabada_failure_of_party_organisation.pdf|accessdate=30 October 2014}}</ref> [[Indira Gandhi]] is said to have told [[Roberto Rossellini]] that Keskar had managed to retain his post for so long only because there was an "acute shortage of ministerial talent" in newly independent India.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Sanyal|first1=Amitava|title=The harmonium continuum|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/comment/amitavasanyal/the-harmonium-continuum/article1-631438.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030210219/http://www.hindustantimes.com/comment/amitavasanyal/the-harmonium-continuum/article1-631438.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-date=30 October 2014|accessdate=30 October 2014|work=Hindustan Times|date=26 November 2010}}</ref>

Keskar authored and edited several books including ''Indian Music: Problems and Prospects''<ref>{{cite book|title=Indian Music: Problems and Prospects|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yZYxAAAAMAAJ|last1=Keskar|first1=Balkrishna Vishwanath|year=1967}}</ref> and ''India -The land and people''<ref>{{cite web|title=India -The land and people.Ed by B V Keskar.1971|url=http://jnuonlinecatlog.jnu.ac.in:8000/cgi-bin/gw/chameleon?sessionid=2013080517570123087&skin=jnu&lng=en&inst=consortium&host=localhost%2B1111%2BDEFAULT&patronhost=localhost%201111%20DEFAULT&search=KEYWORD&function=INITREQ&sourcescreen=INITREQ&pos=1&rootsearch=1&elementcount=1&u1=5&t1=India%20-The%20land%20and%20people.Ed%20by%20B%20V%20Keskar.1971.&beginsrch=1|publisher=Jawaharlal Nehru University|accessdate=30 October 2014}}</ref> and later headed the [[National Book Trust]].<ref>{{cite web|title=List of members of the Central Advisory Board of Education|url=http://www.teindia.nic.in/mhrd/50yrsedu/g/12/1N/121N0501.htm|accessdate=30 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030195039/http://www.teindia.nic.in/mhrd/50yrsedu/g/12/1N/121N0501.htm|archive-date=30 October 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Keskar died in [[Nagpur]] on 28 August 1984.<ref name="Overview- B.V. Keskar"/>

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Authority control}}
{{Ministers of Information and Broadcasting}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keskar, B V}}
[[Category:1903 births]]
[[Category:1984 deaths]]
[[Category:Date of birth missing]]
[[Category:Politicians from Pune]]
[[Category:Lok Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:University of Paris alumni]]
[[Category:2nd Lok Sabha members]]
[[Category:1st Lok Sabha members]]
[[Category:Ministers for Information and Broadcasting of India]]
[[Category:People from Sultanpur district]]
[[Category:Members of the Constituent Assembly of India]]

B. V. Keskar - Revision history

->Citation bot at 20:28, 27 November 2021