I&B minister Sushma Swaraj set the ball rolling at the second annual DD Awards by reiterating her commitment to the cause of elimination of sleaze from the small screen. Once again targeting private broadcasters, Swaraj was emphatic that obscenity would not be allowed to continue on television. "If this is all that sells, don't sell," she told her in absentia targets, "and we will make up your deficit in material terms." The moral deficit that screen sleaze is currently propagating can however, not be compensated in any terms, she affirmed.

Applauding the efforts of DD to award in house talent, Swaraj said that it was the only awards function in the country that felicitated categories like those for agriculture and rural shows.

Producer actor Mukesh Khanna, who came on stage to give away some awards, was equally vocal. It was time Doordarshan instituted awards for independent producers who create software for the pubcaster, he said. Pandit Jasraj, when it was his turn to give away an award, said the pubcaster also needs to give a boost to classical music and encourage upcoming talent.

Not all invitees were as demanding though. Film personalities Kabir Bedi and Nitish Bharadwaj were both humility personified when they reminisced about their long association with DD. While Bedi said he had started out as a DD presenter on a DD Delhi show Mirror of the World Bharadwaj said he too began his career as a news reader on an agriculture based show.