I&B Ministry
MIB petitioned on pre-censorship of period cinematic content
NEW DELHI: If a fringe group from Rajasthan has its way, then period cinematic dramas may face pre-censorship, which sooner or later could also lead to government interventions for TV content that still doesn’t face much content regulations and pre-screening vetting.
Rajasthan’s Karni Sena wants pre- censorship of period films and plans to approach the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) in this regard. It had recently protested against Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s period film `Padmavati’ accusing him of presenting “distorted facts”, according to a PTI report.
“We are asking the I&B ministry about the pre-censorship of historic films. We are also hoping for some support from producer and director associations and in fact they are ready to give their support,” the PTI report quoted Karni Sena chief Lokendra Singh Kalvi as stating.
Karni Sena had stalled the shooting of the Ranveer Singh-Deepika Padukone starrer by vandalising the set at the Jaigarh Fort in Jaipur in the northern state of Rajasthan and also assaulted director Bhansali. The acts weren’t strongly condemned by either the State or the Central governments and MIB minister M. Venkaiah Naidu had made some vague statements about freedom of expression in seemingly limp support of the film industry.
“Our demands have been fulfilled by them (the film-makers of `Padmavati’). They have promised that they won’t show any kind of personal rapport between the actors in the movie (Rajput queen Padmavati and the then Muslim ruler in Delhi Allauddin Khilji),” Kalvi told PTI.
According to the report, Kalvi said his group will also try to hold discussion over pre-screening of all historic films to journalists and historians so there was “no distortion of history.”
TV and film industry observers opined that if the government capitulated to such pre-censorship of demands regarding films, it would be just a matter of time when similar demands would be made of historical and period serials aired on TV channels, the number of which are increasing on GECs.
Incidentally, the film `Padmavati’ is based on `Padmavat’, a celebrated fictional ballad written in the Awadhi dialect of Hindi by 16th-century Indian Sufi poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi. The plot revolved around the beautiful queen Padmavati, originally hailing from Sri Lanka, who married a Rajput prince and came to the then India that was made up of a plethora of independent and princely states and had to commit suicide by jumping into a pyre to save her honour from the Muslim ruler of Delhi Khilji who got besotted by her reported beauty and annihilated her husband’s kingdom.
As some critics have said, fiction is being turned into history in the 21st century India and artistic creativity was being stifled.
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.
