NEW DELHI (PTH): The Indian government is planning to tighten censorship on the visual media to Prevent “pornography.”

However, leading personalities in the fields of advertising and Media are opposed to it as they feel it would “infringe on the basic fights of the people.

 The federal minister of state for information and broadcasting K. P. Singh Deo said recently though earlier the state-owned TV programs were exempted from Censorship, from now onwards no film-based material would be telecast without being certified by the Censor board and “scenes offending public decency” be deleted from non-film programs.

The Indian government had already advised the Hong Kong based star TY network to “desist from telecasting to India, songs and clips from Hindi films that have not been certified by the censor board,” the minister said in his Speech read in absentia at a seminar here on ‘phonography in the media how far and no further.”

On the other hand, opposing governments move, at the seminar, eminent communicator Alyque Padamsee, made a strong plea for abolishing censorship on films depicting sex but wanted curb on showing violence as according to him “violence was phonographic.”

Padamsee wanted India to adopt the Denmark solution which has lifted bans on all phonographic material or sexual Censorship leading to a Sharp drop in sexual crimes and clandestine material.

This was, however, strongly opposed by several media personalities, like Rami Chabbra, Tara Sinha, information and broadcasting secretary Bhaskar Ghose, former minister Vasant Sathe, They felt adopting the Denmark solution in India with its mix of “reaction and the irrational” would create more problems than solving them.

They all supported the view that phonography and violence should both be censored, especially when the target was a woman.

 Deo said the government was amending rules to ensure compulsory representation to women on all censorship panels and provide 50% women members on the revising Committee of the censor board.

Article extracted from this publication >> August 12, 1994