I&B Ministry
Action against GECs almost three times more than against news channels
NEW DELHI: Action was taken by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry (I&B) 74 times against different television channels in the three years between April 2011 and March 2014.
Of these, action mostly in the form of advisories was taken suo moto by the I&B Ministry 12 times – seven against general entertainment channels and five against news channels.
Of the balance 62 cases, there were reports of violation by GECs 46 times and news channels 16 times.
In 16 cases, channels had to stop transmission for varying periods, while other punishments were either warnings or directives to run apology scrolls.
There were only six cases relating to advertisements, four of them about deodorants and two about liquor.
There is only one case where a channel was prohibited from telecasting a certain film in day-time following a Court order.
The rest of the cases were about telecast of adult certified films before 11.00 pm or in day-time, screening films without showing the certificate of the Central Board of Film Certification, obscene or vulgar content, scenes denigrating children or likely to affect them, revealing identity of sexually abused women or children, inflammatory or provocative matter, scenes that showed the lower castes or dalits in a bad light, and scenes promoting superstition or blind belief.
Individually, action was initiated against Bindass five times and three times each against Sony Entertainment Television, Colors, and Manoranjan TV. Action was initiated twice in the case of Channel V, SS TV, FTV and Comedy Central. 40 other channels faced action only once each.
The advisories from the Ministry related to guidelines relating to taking children in TV programmes or hiding identity of trauma-affected children, telecast of quiz-based programmes, against programmes promoting superstition and blind belief, news about movement of troops, showing as news scenes from uncertified films, barring telecast of a round-the-clock public demonstration, comparison of prime minister’s speech on Independence Day with that of other leaders, and live telecast of Republic Day parade from Doordarshan with sign language interpretation.
I&B Ministry
Government sets up AI governance group to steer policy
AIGEG to align ministries, assess jobs impact, guide AI deployment.
MUMBAI: If artificial intelligence is the engine, the government is now building the dashboard and making sure everyone reads from the same screen. The Centre has constituted a new inter-ministerial body to coordinate India’s approach to AI, formalising a key recommendation from its governance framework and the Economic Survey. The AI Governance and Economic Group (AIGEG), set up by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, will act as the central platform to align AI-related policy across ministries, regulators and departments, an attempt to bring coherence to what has so far been a fragmented and fast-evolving landscape.
The group will be chaired by union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, with minister of state Jitin Prasada as vice chairperson. Its composition reflects both technological and economic priorities, bringing together the principal scientific adviser, the chief economic adviser, and the CEO of NITI Aayog, alongside key secretaries from telecommunications, economic affairs and science and technology. A representative from the National Security Council Secretariat is also part of the group, while the MeitY secretary will serve as member convenor.
At its core, AIGEG is designed to do two things: coordinate and anticipate. On the policy front, it will review existing regulatory mechanisms, issue guidance across sectors and ensure companies remain compliant with evolving legal frameworks. Beyond that, it will oversee national initiatives on AI governance, with a focus on enabling responsible innovation rather than merely regulating it.
The economic dimension is equally central. The group has been tasked with assessing how AI-driven automation could reshape jobs identifying which roles are most at risk, where those impacts may be geographically concentrated, and whether technology will augment or replace human labour. Based on these assessments, it will develop mitigation strategies and transition plans, signalling a more proactive stance on workforce disruption.
In parallel, AIGEG will work with industry stakeholders to chart a long-term roadmap for AI adoption, categorising use cases into “deploy”, “pilot” or “defer” buckets depending on readiness factors such as data availability, skill levels and regulatory clarity. The aim is to move from broad ambition to structured execution deciding not just what can be built, but what should be built now.
The group will function as the apex layer in India’s AI governance architecture, supported by a Technology and Policy Expert Committee that will track global developments, emerging risks and regulatory priorities. Together, the two bodies are expected to shape both the pace and direction of AI adoption in the country.
In a landscape where technology often outruns policy, the creation of AIGEG signals an attempt to close that gap ensuring that India’s AI journey is not just rapid, but also coordinated, accountable and economically grounded.
