Foreign magazine map is stamped, India is safe

So even as the Information and Broadcasting Ministry plans to ease regulations on advertising in foreign print media, an archaic practice is delaying their distribution.

Every edition which carries a map of India — particularly one depicting the Indo-Pak border — is delayed by at least two days. The reason: a special cell of the Customs department stamps each map in every single copy imported with the message: “The external boundaries of India as depicted are neither accurate nor authentic”. The ugly sarkari blue stamp impression is often illegible.

“While our magazine is to hit the stands on Mondays, we are only able to make it available on Wednesdays due to this whole map-stamping exercise. This is a problem in the competitive media world. You have a story which must be out on Monday but fails to do so. Then the story becomes stale or has already been published. All the clockwork precision falls apart,” says the bureau chief of a foreign news magazine on the condition that he not be named. “It is ridiculous. The stamping is done manually so the map can hardly be seen properly in any case and, worse, even the stamp impression is unreadable at times. Now that we are picking up circulation, it’s a pity such things can delay the magazine’s distribution so badly.”

In New Delhi, the process starts at the Indira Gandhi International terminal’s cargo shed. The Joint Commissioner, Cargo, heads a 40-member team with an Inspector and Superintendent who have been deputed the job of checking all printed material for anything that may be “inflammatory” or any representation of India in maps which is considered “incorrect”.

In case of any “offensive” representation, the clearing agent of the magazine’s publishing house in India is called to the Customs office. The consignment is opened, and each map in every single copy is then stamped.

While cargo sections at the airports in Delhi and Mumbai carry out this exercise zealously, it is not followed so strictly in smaller cities. To convey its frustration, The Economist, in its edition dated September 5, 2007, published a piece titled “No cartographical conspiracy here” under a section titled “No offence” in its “Asia View” section. (The magazine has an editorial arrangement with The Indian Express.)

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