The Indian Government Monday said that no financial penalty yet has been imposed on TV channels for breach of programme code under the cable TV rules, though other actions were taken against erring channels.

“There have been 37 instances between March, 2005 to June, 2021 where broadcasters were prohibited the transmission/re-transmission of a channel for a specified time period, or permission to downlink the channel was cancelled, for violation of the Programme Code,” Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur informed Rajya Sabha or the Upper House of Parliament.

He added, however, “No monetary penalty has been imposed” yet for violation of the programme code.

Thakur was answering a question posed by a fellow parliamentarian on the status of the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2020, which proposed increasing the penalties for violation of the programme code and whether there had been any recent instances where monetary penalty was imposed or a TV channel prohibited from airing under the relevant provisions of the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act for violating the programme code.

Several Queries from Parliamentarians on Content:However, this session has seen a slew of queries in both Houses of Parliament on content on TV and those on streaming platforms.

On Monday too there were several such clarifications sought from the MIB Minister on content.

One such poser asked whether it was true “too much portrayal of obscenity and violence on television in the form of web series” was having a “negative impact on children, youth and Indian culture”.

Another part of the same question from a parliamentarian asked whether the government was planning to set up a “screening body for web series” on the lines of the film certification body, popularly known in India as the censor board.

The government did not directly state that it was not contemplating certification of streaming content, but mentioned that the new digital regulations, which came into effect from May 2021 after being notified earlier in February, were adequate to take care of concerns on content s the Code of Ethics in the IT Rules outlined the content red zones quite categorically.

“[The] Government has notified Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 under the Information Technology Act, 2000 on 25th February, 2021, a copy of which is available on the website of the Ministry i.e. www.mib.gov.in.

“The Rules inter-alia provide for Code of Ethics to be followed by online curated content providers (OTT Platforms) relating to films, web series etc. on such platforms. The Codes require OTT players not to transmit any content, which is prohibited by law and undertake age-based self classification of content, based on general guidelines provided in the Schedule, along with adequate safeguards for restricting age-appropriate content for children with adequate access control measures.

“The Rules provide for a three-level grievance redressal mechanism in case of violation of the Code of Ethics, including remedial action for such violation,” Minister Thakur explained.