Cinematograph Amendment Bill 2023 introduced in Rajya Sabha

Minister of Union Information and Broadcasting, Anurag Thakur introduced the Cinematograph Amendment Bill 2023 in Rajya Sabha which aims to tackle film piracy.

What’s in News?

According to a report by Ernest and Young, the Indian film industry suffered a loss of about Rs.18k crore in 2019 due to piracy. To address this issue of piracy, the Government of India has introduced the Cinematograph Amendment Bill 2023 in Rajya Sabha. The bill seeks to amend the Cinematograph Bill 1952, which regulates the certification and exhibition of films in India.

What is Piracy?

Piracy is considered to be an unauthorised copying, distribution or exhibition of films without the consent of the rights holders. The Indian film industry is facing the challenge of piracy, which affects its revenues and quality.

Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2023:

The Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill 2023 was introduced with an aim to address the challenge of piracy.

The new bill has also provisions to classify films on the basis of age group, instead of the current practice of ‘U’, ‘A’ or ‘UA’. The amendment seek to add new classification- “UA-7+”, UA-13+” and “UA-16+” in place of 12 years.

This new bill seeks to bring uniformity in categorization of films and content across platforms.

Once the bill will released, the act of piracy will become an offence legally and hold stricter punishment for those who are responsible for piracy and the punishment include three years of imprisonment and Rs.10 lakh penalty.

Cinematograph Bill 1952:

Censor Boards have been created at many cities by the Indian Cinematograph Bill 1920 and were placed under the police chiefs. In 1952, it was reconstituted as the Central Board of Film Censors. In 1983, it was renamed as Central Board of Film Certifications.

The Cinematograph Bill 1952 is an act to make provisions for the certification of cinematograph films for exhibition and for regulating exhibitions.

According to the act, the film will not be certified if any part of the film is:

• Against India’s sovereignty and integrity.
• Against the State’s security.
• Against friendly relations with foreign nations.
• Against public order.
• Against decency.
• Involves defamation or contempt of court.

As per the rules and guidelines of Cinematograph Bill 1952, title of the film is also scrutinized. According to the act, scenes showing extreme violence, obscene language, vulgarity, contempt of court, an insult to the national symbol, the incorrect portrayal of personalities, religion etc. are not permitted.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Find More National News Here