NEW DELHI: The Central Board of Film Certification, which is changing its role from that of a regulator to a facilitator, is to engage detectives to check whether the films being screened in theatres are the ones actually certified.
The CBFC has demanded a sum of Rs 25 million – at the rate of Rs five million per year – for hiring detectives and providing ‘vital feedback mechanism for Board Members’, according to the strategy paper of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
This entails re-introduction of an old scheme which had been abandoned several decades earlier.
The Board has demanded a sum of Rs 625 million for various schemes in the 12th Plan.
The CBFC has also worked out strategic planning for implementation of the Report of the Committee on Piracy and sought a sum of Rs 500 million (Rs 100 million per year) during the 12th Plan.
The funds would be required to launch a multi-media campaign involving all the stakeholders from film, broadcasters and music industry: Iconic personalities including those from film and media would be asked to appear in advertisements asking people to refrain from buying pirated goods. These campaigns would be carried on Doordarshan/AIR and private TV channels and private FM stations.
There will also be periodical advertisements in leading dailies.
The CBFC will upscale the level of sensitisation of police, judicial and administrative officials about the Copyright Act. It is proposed to conduct training programmes, workshops in different parts of the country for police, judicial and administrative officials. Reading materials, power point presentations etc would be required for carrying out these programmes.
Some funds will be earmarked for promoting conversion of traditional theatres in smaller towns into digital theatres and releasing genuine DVDs etc in bigger cities simultaneously with theatrical release.
The CBFC will provide funds to non-governmental organisations engaged in anti-piracy initiatives.
There will also be allocation of funds to develop relevant information data base regarding the effects of piracy and counterfeiting to understand the scope of the problem, to develop and implement public-private strategies, and to measure progress.
CBFC would coordinate with various stakeholders and play a leadership role towards coordinating the efforts of all for combating piracy,
Meanwhile, the CBFC has sought a sum of Rs 30 million for strengthening its capacity. This will envisage a national level seminar in which international level resource persons will also be invited to evolve benchmarks for CBFC; hese benchmarks will help in framing “CBFC- Vision: 2040”. This will involve a sum of around Rs five million.
There will be a Mission Attachment for giving exposure to the legislative framework in different countries relating to certification of films, entailing an expenditure of Rs.five million.
Exposure of content management of films to Examining Officers will entail Rs t10 million, and commissioning a study on the changing scenario and role of CBFC will entail another Rs 10 million.
The Board has also sought a budget of Rs 55 million for computerisation. While the work of computerizing a website of the CBFC has been completed, indiantelevision.com learns that the computerisation of CBFC to ensure paperless work right from submission of a film for certification to the stage where a censor certificate is given to the film at an advanced stage, though the strategy paper says it should have been completed by December 2010.
Similarly, web enabling the application - online submission of a film where the applicant does not have to visit CBFC office many times – was to have been completed by the end of June 2011 but is still under implementation. This facility will be optional initially as not all film producers are tech savvy.
Digitisation of film data with a comprehensive data of all the films certified in last 25 years with complete information on their certification details will be completed by 2013.
Generation of reports, data and statistics with the help of the digitised film data will be completed by 2014.
In addition, the Board wants a sum of Rs 40 million for monitoring and modernisation of Certification Process. This scheme is to be continued in view of the enlargement of films as a media more spatially as well as intensively to enable the board and its members to be equipped with latest tools for discharging their duties, the strategy paper states.
