I&B Ministry
IFFI to highlight films from NE; FD commissions films from region: Julka
NEW DELHI: Information and Broadcasting secretary Bimal Julka has said that the forthcoming International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in November will have a special section on the North East to expose the feature and non-feature films made in Meghalaya.
In addition, the Films Division has implemented a special component under a Plan Scheme for production of short films from the North East. The Division has commissioned 54 films from the North East in the past five years.
Julka was speaking after inaugurating the third edition of the Indian Panorama Film Festival at U Soso Tham auditorium in Shillong last evening. The festival opened with the screening of the award winning Marathi film Dr. Prakash Baba Amte: the Real Hero, directed by Samruddhi Porey.
A host of film personalities including director Anjan Dutt were present at the inaugural ceremony, which was also attended by Meghalaya chief minister Dr. Mukul Sangma and Meghalaya Information and Public Relations minister A.L. Hek.
Julka said that the Ministry has been focusing on showcasing films from the North East to encourage production of films in the region. A North East Film Festival was also held in New Delhi recently.
Appreciating film productions by young film makers from the North East, Julka said numerous short and non-feature films from the region have received National Awards.
Julka informed that in 2014-2015, a week-long film-making workshop was also organized in Aizawl in Mizoram and another workshop is currently being conducted in Silchar in Assam. In this endeavour, the Films Division plans to conduct four such film making workshops every year in the North East, to familiarize film makers from these states with the latest technology in film making.
Eight feature films and three non-feature films will be screened over three days. The film festival is being organised by the Directorate of Film Festivals in collaboration with the state Government.
Other feature films to be screened during the festival are Drishyam (Malayalam), December 1 (Kannada), Kuttram Kadithal (Tamil), Ankhon Dekhi (Hindi), Othello (Assamese), Ri (Khasi), Teenkahon (Bengali) and Ranjana Ami Ar Ashbona (Bengali). Non-feature films to be screened during the festival are Songs of the Blue Hills by Utpal Borpujari (Nagamese/English), A Dream Never Dies (Assamese) and Ek Hota Kau (Marathi).
Indian Panorama Film Festival is being held in Shillong for the last two years and this will be the third edition of the festival.
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.
