Narendra Modi Govt can really do well without unwanted distractions like the recent Censor Board Curse List controversy. These issues occupy media space for a long time, refuse to die down soon, and are unproductive for all the stakeholders. It is just lose-lose equation for everyone – Government, the Board and most importantly us, the citizens. They get etched in the memory of the people, derail the positive, development based narrative that Modi government is trying to put together.
Lost Opportunity
It does not take a “Narendra Modi” to realize that Censor Board is one of the most out dated organization that is out of sync with the realities of the present day, even a common man appreciates this fact. The board is guided by an irrelevant, ambiguous and a defunct “Vision”. Preview the Vision as stated on their website-
The board, as stated on its website is tasked to “regulate the public exhibition of films under the provisions of the Cinematographic Act 1952”. Modi Govt could have used this opportunity to revamp, revisit this archaic Act, the Censor Board, its purpose and the way the classification of content is done in India. For starters, the Govt. could have at least appointed a young and a dynamic person with expertise and vision to deal with this space as the Chairman. With Pahlaj Nihalani in the chair, this opportunity seems to be lost.
Analysis of the Problem
The basic issue is that the Censor board intends to “ensure” Good and Healthy Entertainment. There are quite a few glaring gaps in their intent/vision –
- Good and Healthy entertainment are very subjective terms, how do we classify them?
- In a democratic country, why should Censor Board decide what is good and healthy for me?
As a Nation, it is imperative that we ensure young minds, especially those in the formative years are not exposed to content which are extremely violent, that which has explicit sexual content, or strong language etc. Two distinct things needs to be done here. One, to Classify the content accordingly and second, to regulate the public exhibition of the same. But what the censor board is trying to do is to regulate the content itself. This is what certain people call the restriction on freedom of expression.
Classification of Content
How censor board has been classifying “good and healthy” content is known only to them. The Board and especially the Government needs to understand that they need to do more tangible in this area than being a big brother. The need of the hour is to bring about a systematic, transparent methodology of classifying content. A lot of countries, especially the US has a great, evolved system (if not a perfect one). Why not learn from them?
Technology has just added a newer dimension to this challenge – classification of content that is available online, recent example being the AIB Roast Video. According to YouTube, people watch hundreds of millions of hours of video on YouTube everyday and approximately 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube alone every minute. if this is the scale of content consumption on one such platform, how does the board intend to go about classifying the tsunami of content uploaded and accessible on internet? Do they have to? This is the area they need to spend their time and money on. We can learn a lot of things from countries like US in this regard.
Regulation of Public Exhibition
Once the appropriate classification is done, it should be left for the discretion of the adult viewers to choose whether they want to watch it. This is the most matured way of dealing with this issue. On a philosophical note, there are so many things around which are good and bad, healthy and unhealthy, it is up to each individual to choose what he/she wants.
However, we also need to appreciate the fact that the regulation is a big challenge. There is a need to ensure that mature content must not be exposed to children. This is where the board needs to make the difference. Strict laws, education, awareness, must be brought in.
Concluding Thoughts
With so much to do, the Censor Board is no where close to solving the real problem. Instead it is foolishly harping on issues which are irrelevant and of no value. Everything starting from its vision, mission, to even its website is outdated.
The Government is not thinking big here. It has a great opportunity to revamp the whole system and bring about a much needed systemic change. It just needs to use the opportunity. This can definitely be a game changer in their positive narrative.