Old stories: 2016 : "Politicisation of public services has negative impact on society"
Somethings remain permanent, somethings will remain
Least to say, former Chief Election Commissioner T N Seshan, known for his maverick style, had acidly coined a phrase "I am sorry" for abbreviation of IAS.
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| Illustrious N N Vohra |
Former J&K Guv Vohra has said: Politicisation of public services has negative impact on society
NEW DELHI, MARCH 17 : Even as the post-retirement stand taken by former bureaucrats in the Ishrat Jahan case has re-exposed the chink in the politicians-babus nexus, a new book by Jammu and Kashmir Governor N.N. Vohra says "politicisation of public services" has left a negative impact.
"The politicisation of public services, with money and muscle power playing an increasing role, has negated the scope of orderly functioning," says the book 'Safeguarding India - Essays on Governance and Security' by Vohra, also a former union home secretary.
"To remain in power at any cost, the political executives consciously select pliable officers," says Vohra, who in 1993 authored the famous Vohra (Committee) Report on the nexus among criminals, politicians and bureaucrats in India.
"Over the years, governance through known policies, systems, rules and procedures has been vitiated by political interference and all kinds of extra-constitutional pulls and pressure," says the book (published by Harper Collins Publishers).
Serving officials, on the condition of anonymity, agree to most of what Vohra says with a few stating that mostly the political class and hidden ambitions of the babus are to be blamed for the loss of credibility of Indian steel frame.
"The latest instances suggest politicians of all hues believe in using and abusing the bureaucracy," said an office-bearer of IAS Association in poll-bound West Bengal.
"The instances of former Delhi police commissioner B S Bassi playing into political tune or former top babus like G.K Pillai coming forward turning the tables on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's known detractor P Chidambaram vis-a-vis Ishrat Jahan case is a point in case," he says.
The political class seems to agree about the rot.
"If G K Pillai had an issue with the affidavit on Ishrat case, he should have complained then. I did not expect this from a senior officer," K C Tyagi, member of parliament of Janata Dal (United), told IANS.
In 2011, a bizarre episode reflecting muscle-flexing by bureaucracy had come to light when a parliamentary panel probing the 2G scam found that former Telecom Secretary A. V. Gokak had "overruled" then Prime Minister I K Gujral in 1997 and referred the study on licensee fees to other fora instead of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) as directed by the then prime minister.
"This was a major lacuna. This should not have happened. Prime Minister is the highest authority and any order from him should have been implemented in letter and spirit," then Joint Parliamentary Committee chairman P C Chako had said.
But complexities in Neta-Babu relations is nothing new as there have been several such instances of bonhomie and at times political arm twisting as well as kowtowing of the steel frame in front of the political class.
Under UPA several babus and former military men thrived in post-retirement careers.
Top brass in intelligence M K Narayanan was accommodated first as National Security Advisor and then as Governor of West Bengal.
The likes of P C Haldar and R S Pandey were assigned as negotiators to deal with ultras in the northeast.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 3 during his reply to the debate on President Pranab Mukherjee's address to Parliament made terse remarks on babus in the Lok Sabha and said, "arbo-kharbo ka tankha ja raha hae (Crores are being given as salary of government servants)".
True, Indian bureaucracy, known for its huge numerical strengths and peculiarity in performance, has grown from 1,232 in 1951 to over 5,000 in 1996.
By 2011, according to officials in the Ministry of Personnel, total sanctioned strength of IAS officers as on January 1 was 6,077 and of these 4,488 were in position, thereby making a shortage of 1,589.
The problems for babus mount once good work yields reprimand, say some. "I know of former Punjab DGP O P Sharma who worked in tandem with KPS Gill to curb the spinal cord of Punjab militancy. But once government changed in the state, he was hounded out by the Brar government," says a Punjab cadre official.
Least to say, former Chief Election Commissioner T N Seshan, known for his maverick style, had acidly coined a phrase "I am sorry" for abbreviation of IAS.
Kashmir needs panchayat reforms, existing leaders resist them: Ex-Home Secretary Pillai
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| Blogger |
NEW DELHI, MAY 1 : Changing governments every five years has harmed Kerala, senior Congress leader K.V. Thomas says, exuding confidence that his party will make history by retaining power in the state.
Thomas also insisted that the Congress-Left tie-up in West Bengal "will have no impact" on the May 16 assembly polls in Kerala, where the two are in direct conflict.
"I am confident the Congress and UDF (United Democratic Front) will return to power," Thomas told IANS in an interview.
"People of Kerala have begun to realise that changing governments every five years has often harmed development.
"People are realizing that in a state like Kerala there is a need for continuity in governance. Hence, we as Congressmen have every chance of a pleasant surprise this year," Thomas said.
He said the politics of Kerala and West Bengal were different.
"In Kerala, we (Left and Congress) are strong opponents of each other. But in Bengal we needed to come together to fight the tyranny of (Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee."
Analysing the situation in Kerala, he said: "Developmental works and programmes like the chief minister's 'Jan Sampark' programme, wherein he goes to every district and village periodically, as well as a number of welfare schemes and major projects like Kochi Metro and Vizhinjam port will help the Congress and UDF."
The state government has signed an agreement with Adani group to build the Rs.7,525 crore port.
"The Congress government has also inaugurated the Kannur airport. The government is working on a budget airline for Gulf countries," said Thomas, who has also been Kerala's excise and tourism minister.
He said in the past some good programmes launched by Congress governments were either stalled or altered when the Left Democratic Front (LDF) led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) took power.
"One such initiative was in the education sector where the Congress encouraged private educational institutions along with those run by the government. But once the Left took power, they favoured bringing everything under government control," Thomas said.
"The reality is that often the government does not have adequate financial and technical resources."
Thomas said the Congress had been moving towards total prohibition "step by step" but the Communists have a different perception.
Kerala voters have changed governments in every election since the 1980s.
Asked about his two-year stint as chairman of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of parliament, which has recommended bringing the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) under parliament's control, Thomas said: "The stint has been particularly satisfactory as we made good recommendations in terms of reforms for PACs both in the centre and state levels and also on the role of CAG.
"Besides stressing that appointment of CAG should not be left as the exclusive purview of the government, the PAC also felt that state legislatures should work towards having independent cadres of officials like the secretariats of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha," he said.
NEW DELHI, APRIL 14 : Bihar's Nitish Kumar government should have been more pragmatic before announcing prohibition as this cost Nagaland dearly in terms of revenue and only helped "bootleggers of neighbouring Assam", a former minister from the north-eastern state has said.
"I think the Bihar chief minister should have been more careful and done a more in-depth study. This prohibition idea is a folly. Prohibition has either failed as in Nagaland or Manipur or had to be withdrawn as in Mizoram," Thomas Ngullie, an Independent legislator and former information minister, told IANS here.
"We brought in the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition Act in 1989. I was part of the Congress party that brought the law. But that was a mistake. We only helped the bootleggers of Assam and cash-starved Nagaland lost huge revenue," he added.
Apart from bootlegging, spurious liquor too takes its toll on consumers.
The Naga politician's lament, though, is not in isolation.
Within minutes of the announcement that prohibition had been enforced in governance-starved Bihar, microblogging site Twitter and social networking Facebook were on fire.
This striking oneliner went viral: Breaking news: Bihar announces massive investments in bootlegging industry.
This has generally been the outcome of prohibition laws wherever they have been imposed or tried.
An IANS report from Kathmandu said that at a recent meeting in Forbesganj in Bihar, Indian authorities sought help from their Nepali counterparts to curb the movement of people seeking alcohol from Nepal.
"Mizoram was reeling under Prohibition for 18 years and one of our governors said: 'Mizoram is the wettest dry state in the country.' Not a comment to be proud of. Let's not indulge in hypocrisy," wrote Hmar C. Vanlalruata from Mizoram capital Aizawl on Facebook on the day prohibition was enforced in Bihar.
Christian-majority Mizoram declared prohibition under the influence of church bodies but lifted this in July 2014 after 18 years of struggling with its failure.
In another northeastern state, Manipur, prohibition was brought in 1991 and for more reasons than one everyone seemed to believe in its limitations.
There have been reports of bootlegging and also increase in drug abuse.
In July 2014, Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh stated in the Manipur assembly that his government favoured exploring options of lifting prohibition. He also had suggested that the country liquor produced in Manipur by scheduled castes and tribes be sold in other states "for revenue".
While the state was declared dry, scheduled castes and tribes were permitted to brew liquor for traditional purposes.
This situation continues till today.
Prohibition had beeen in force in what is now Tamil Nadu since pre-Independence days and was lifted in 1971. It was again briefly imposed in 1974 before being lifted. Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha has promised to turn the state dry if she is voted back to power in the assembly elections later this year.
Prohibition was imposed in Haryana in July 1996 by the government headed by then chief minister Bansi Lal, who had ridden to power on the promise of a dry state. However, it remained in force only till March 31, 1998. One of the reasons is that neighbouring Punjab has one of the highest per capita consumption rates of liquor, so it was always easily available.
Rajasthan briefly flirted with prohibition in 1977-79.
Bombay State - now Maharashtra and parts of Gujarat - briefly imposed prohibition from 1948 to 1950 and again from 1958 to 1960.
With Maharashtra and Gujarat created on May 1, 1960, today there is prohibition in only three of Maharashtra's 36 districts - Wardha, Chandrapur and Ghadchiroli.
Gujarat is quite a different story. Prohibition is as old as Independence and the fact that it is violated openly is also as old.
Just like home-delivered pizza, illicit liquor is just a phone call away and the industry has grown exponentially. There are scooter-borne small bootleggers in thousands delivering one and two bottles of your choice. Then there are the sophisticated ones by who come dressed like a guest to your home to ensure nobody notices their purpose and deliver stuff nearly packed in grocery bags and flower bouquets.
Some bigger suppliers have got tech-savvy: They keep lap-top computers and employ GPS to keep track of where the supplies have reached. The police is well aware of this, and so are ministers and bureaucrats.
Gujarat looses Rs.5,000 crore ($750 million) in excise income to implement the dry law. The government tries to recover this from its 52 Permit Shops, where liquor is officially sold to 70,300 permit-holders.
Revenue loss is also what Kerala will have to deal with by deciding to impose total prohibtion by 2023 when all the 730 bars will shut down and liquor will only be served in 29 five-star hotels.
Kerala may be shooting its cash cow.
"Alcohol helps in giving Kerala's economy a good high - shockingly, more than 40 percent of revenues for its annual budget come from booze," a posting on the BBC website said.
In all these states, experience shows demand for prohibition is mostly guided by populism and surrendering to the pressure tactics of influential groups.
Little wonder then, that celebrity Rishi Kapoor retorted in the context of Bihar: "Any law which tries to stop the people from doing something is bound to fail."
But for the moment, more politicians are falling for prohibition policy's double-edged sword.
(With inputs from V. Jagannathan in Chennai, Jaideep Sarin in Chandigarh, Anil Sharma in Jaipur, Darshan Desai in Ahmedabad and Sanu George in Thiruvananthapuram)
(Nirendra Dev can be contacted at nirendra.n@ians.in)
Tough for rightist party like BJP in largely Left-leaning Bengal
April 8, 2016
The Left Front may be huffing and puffing but the BJP, desperate to make a mark in West Bengal, is realising that Bengali votes may be culturally and intellectually "essentially pro-Left".
West Bengal, where staggered assembly elections began on April 4, offers more than a Herculean challenge and jigsaw puzzle to the BJP and its politics of neo-nationalism, liberal economic policies and Hindutva slant, say those in the know of things.
Even as the saffron party's electoral fortune surged in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in Bengal, party leaders acknowledge that they are up against "basic ideological barriers" more than organisational weaknesses.
"The fact that Bengali voters and even others in the state remain pro-Left ideologically, culturally and intellectually makes things difficult for the BJP in West Bengal, unlike in Assam where the pro-Hindutva slant always had acceptance among upper caste Assamese," a Bharatiya Janata Party leader who did not want to be identified told IANS.
Thus, BJP managers believe that while the party is near a striking distance in Assam, the going would be tough in West Bengal despite an aggressive campaign against a limping Left and the ruling Trinamool Congress.
In Assam, upper caste Hindus relate to the Brahminical appeal of the RSS and the BJP unlike in West Bengal where, ironically, the upper caste Bengali 'Bhadrolok' has for decades been associated with Marxist politics.
One reason why Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee cornered what was once a solid Left vote bank and why she remains popular is that she never portrayed herself as anti-Left -- despite being the biggest political foe of the Marxists.
Trinamool MP and former union minister Sishir Adhikari explained to IANS: "During Marxist misrule when Singur and Nandigram happened, the people of Bengal saw us as genuine followers of Communist ideology. That was the turning point of Bengal politics."
This was when, he pointed out, Trinamool leaders started mocking CPI-M leaders as "pseudo followers" of Karl Marx.
"This actually helped the Trinamool to get votes. Slowly people in Maoist-hit areas developed courage and faith in democracy," he said.
Thus, when Mamata Banerjee played to the hilt her pro-farmers card against the failed industrialisation attempts of the Left, she appeared to the peopleas a more genuine political leader than the Marxists.
This also made easier the task of those Left cadres who decided to opt for 'Didi' -- Mamata Banerjee -- and her Trinamool Congress and abandon old-style Marxist politics.
The BJP's Asansol MP and union minister Babul Supriyo admitted that Didi's persona too helped defeat the Left.
"Didi's image as a pro-poor leader who wore rubber 'chappals' and a cotton sari actually challenged the Leftists' proletarian claims. But today, while 'Didi' still moves in chappals, her party colleagues are no less than 'crorepatis'," he said.
In sharp contrast, both in economic and social contexts, the BJP lacks the Left slant. So, despite campaigning aggressively, the apprehension in the BJP camp is that the party may not win many seats in West Bengal.
Indeed, there is acceptance that a higher vote share for the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls actually helped the CPI-M.
For instance, in Raiganj seat, CPI-M's Mohammed Salim defeated Deepa Dasmunshi of the Congress by just 1,634 votes even as BJP candidate Nimu Bhowmick polled over two lakh votes.
Sudip Bandyopadhyay, a long-time associate of Mamata Banerjee, has repeatedly underscored the importance of 'being Left' in West Bengal -- if one has to make a decisive mark.
"We understood from the very beginning that the Left Front could not be defeated in Bengal from a rightist platform. So despite the best attempts personally from Atal Bihari Vajpayee and strong opposition from the likes of the late Ajit Panja, the Trinamool quit the BJP-led NDA," he said.
The rest, as they say, is history -- or Didi's story. The BJP is beginning to understand this.
Will AgustaWestland allegation hit CAG Shashi Kant Sharma?
NEW DELHI, MAY 6 : Trinamool Congress member Saugata Roy on Friday made a veiled reference to Comptroller and Auditor General Shashi Kant Sharma, who had earlier worked in the defence ministry, vis-a-vis AgustaWestland chopper scam.
"I want to ask whether you have questioned the DG, procurement," Roy asked Defence Minister Manohor Parrikar during the discussion in the Lok Sabha on the high-profile controversy, but did not take any name.
The MP from West Bengal's Dum Dum MP specifically asked Parrikar to list what action he has "taken in the one-and-a-half years against corruption?" and alleged that while the NDA government has been "shouting from the housetops against corruption", it did not have anything "specific" to divulge.
"You say that Rs.124 crore bribe has been paid," Roy pointedly told Parrikar, and asked him: "What has the CBI under your government done in two years? If bribe has been paid, you should have recovered it".
Sharma held the post of director general (acquisition) -- which the Trinamool MP mistakenly referred to as "procurement" - in the defence ministry in 2007-10.
Allegedly Sharma's name or designation as "DG (Acq.)" - short form of acquisition - figures in the list of people named by middleman Christian Michel as documented in the Italian court order.
Bharatiya Janata Party member Nishikant Dubey also made a veiled reference to the CAG and few other people who continue to hold constitutional positions.
With one reference, he said the then Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj had opposed appointment of a former police official in the National Human Rights Commission.
Of the 1976 batch of Indian Administrative Service, Sharma joined the defence ministry in 2003 as a joint secretary. BJP sources had alleged in 2013-14 that Sharma became DG acquisition in 2007 and has been "literally controlling" the basic process of controversial AgustaWestland chopper purchase.
He continued in the key position till 2010 and became defence secretary later in 2011.
In May 2013, the BJP had opposed appointment of Sharma as CAG, and even last year, a section of BJP leaders made an issue over the powers of CAG.
In fact, on the sidelines of a conference of Public Accounts Committee chairpersons in parliament premises, BJP MP Dubey, also a member of the powerful panel, had sought CAG to be made accountable to the parliament.
"We have the incumbent CAG Shashi Kant Sharma, a former defence secretary, who is now auditing his own actions as the defence secretary when a few deals materialised," Dubey had said.
It is understood now that the government is now making a case for the Central Bureau of Investigation to "question Sharma".
"We are not being vindictive. In the national interest and also in interest of justice the concerned investigating agency needs to or has the duty to question the incumbent CAG," a BJP MP told IANS.
The argument for the same has only gained currency once the Italian court judgment has included the "bribe list" as given by fugitive Michel as annexures.
However, Roy argued in the Lok Sabha on Friday that the words and testimonies of a fugitive should be "taken with a pinch of salt".
Overt and covert caste discrimination prevails in JNU
NEW DELHI, MAY 12 : Elite educational institutes like Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) should have no place for caste discrimination, but this prevails in an "overt and covert" manner in the varsity, BJP MP and chairman of parliament's Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Faggan Singh Kulaste has said.
"As a committee, most of us, if not all, were surprised with the complaints from teaching staff, others and students that caste discrimination continues in the premier university. We are deeply pained that the education system here is functioning on the exclusion of caste," Kulaste told IANS here in an interview.
He said the 30-member panel comprising 20 members from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha were surprised to find that among the teaching faculty and non-teaching staff, "none of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from JNU were sent for foreign training in the last three years".
He said the panel, which has members like D. Raja (CPI), Kariya Munda (BJP), Ramdas Athawale (RPI), Santokh Singh Chaudhary (Congress) and Pratima Mondal (Trinamool Congress), was of opinion that an "evaluation system" must be in place for checking the discrimination and to plug the dropout rates of the SC/ST students.
Kulaste said the parliamentary panel's study on JNU had nothing to do with the recent controversy as the committee visited the university campus on August 21, 2015.
"The study was made on the role of educational institutions, including universities, technical, medical and engineering, in socio-economic development of the SCs and STs and implementation of reservation policy in JNU".
Answering to a question, he said the committee proposes to visit other universities too in near future.
"In near future, we may visit other universities, including Aligarh Muslim University and the University of Hyderabad. But no dates have been finalised yet," he said.
With regard JNU vis-a-vis the complaints of discrimination, Kulaste said, often replies provided to the parliamentary panel were indicative of seriousness of the problem.
"Often they (JNU officials) told us either the SC-ST candidates do not apply or do not fulfill the essential criteria. These were just excuses and the committee was not convinced," he said.
"We work in consensus. The best part of our panel is to work as a team to help out our own communities, as members of this committee are derived from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes alone," he said adding, party affiliations never come up during the committee's work.
"No one will work against his own community," Kulaste said.
However, he said the study was necessitated as there have been "increasing incidents" of caste discrimination and prejudices against the SC-ST communities, including teaching and non-teaching staff in educational institutions.
He said during on-the-spot study in JNU, it was found that the reservation policy for appointment of SC-ST candidates as assistant professor is in force since 1982. But by 2013-14, there were still 38 posts vacant.
However, the lawmaker from Mandla constituency in Madhya Pradesh said: "With the ongoing process of recruitment and positive responses, it is expected that at least 80 percent of the total reserved posts will be filled in next 10-12 months."
But as an individual MP, who has been in parliament since 1996, Kulaste said: "Only reservation policy is not enough to annihilate the hydra-headed monster of caste. Therefore, we have recommended that proper training and civic education to both teachers and students are provided to enhance the skill and competence level of the students."
Flavour of romance in uniform: 'Love in Olive Greens'
NEW DELHI : Title: Love in Olive Greens; Author: Anju; Publisher: Notion Press.Com; Pages: 85; Price: Rs.125 What is love? What does love mean in our lives?
We have often heard that love happens only once. It is said "love is blind", but is it really so?
We have also heard that the mutual love by two individuals is never the same. Of the two - one would be definitely loving the other more than he or she gets in reciprocation.
This is neither an exception nor a hurdle.
This difference in love actually make things move, it is said.
In the context of the story at hand, both protagonists are military personnel and hence the title.
The author Anju Bala is a serving army officer and so is her husband. So, the 85-page thin book, in all likelihood, has a few autobiographical elements.
The distance that separates the protagonists is not all from the imaginative landscape.
This reviewer knows both author Anju and her husband as two individuals who have served in forward areas like Tawang in the far-flung northeastern India. Perhaps this makes the portrayal of pain and isolation more painful than could have been written out of the creative genius of any author. Here the truth may appear bitter - but it is perhaps more candid.
Even in the deepest and most lasting bonds between a husband and wife, human beings would often never open up and speak so openly as someone often does facing a blank screen of a computer and can address an unknown reader.
Here is the power of Anju's literature - a frank portrayal. This seems to be like the best part of this story.
The story line seems simple but yet offers a mixed cocktail of a myriad of human reactions when it comes to love, physical urges and an element of betrayal, especially when lifted from the backyard of the past.
The male protagonist has a past and that comes to haunt his lover and wife.
This book, in the ultimate, may not challenge a reader's views about the existence of love; but it can force you to raise eyebrows about the morality issue in love.
Can ethics and morale only remain psychological issues for individuals? When one has to talk about certain mysteries about a destination called marriage, is it the end goal?
The book is thus worth turning its pages if one is keen to peep inside the territory of young lovers, their small world of "thoughts, love and imagination" - as the phrase is used quite philosophically.
However, can the lovers in this uniquely-narrated story ultimately become the "authors" of their own destiny? Find out from the pages of this tiny volume.
'Udta Punjab': New guidelines for film certification
NEW DELHI, JUNE 8 : Amid the raging controversy over the film 'Udta Punjab', the Information and Broadcasting Ministry on Wednesday sought to make it clear that the government cannot interfere in the certification of a film and any grievance on the issue can be sorted out only by the appropriate tribunal.
Top sources in the I&B ministry also said that in view of frequent complaints about censorship vis-a-vis film certification, the central government will soon consolidate a new set of guidelines "if necessary" on the basic film certification process.
"A set of recommendations submitted by the Shyam Benegal-led committee is being examined and is under consideration of the government," a source told IANS here.
"The Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) is the only appropriate body for all disputes. Unnecessary controversies need not be created by attacking government or any individual," a source in the I&B ministry said here even as the controversy snowballed into a political row.
The FCAT has adequate constitutional sanctity and is headed by a retired high court judge, the source said.
Film co-producer Anurag Kashyap has attacked censor board chairman Pahlaj Nihalani over the 89 cuts ordered in the film, which deals with the drug menace in Punjab. On Wednesday, Nihalani alleged that he had heard that Kashyap had "taken money from AAP" to show Punjab in a bad light through "Udta Punjab".
The Aam Aadmi Party demanded that Nihalani must apologize to Kashyap and said Nihalani's statement makes it clear he has stopped the film's release on BJP's instructions.
The filmmaker has denied that his film portrays Punjab in a poor light.
The political row comes amid the backdrop of assembly elections in Punjab which are scheduled for early next year.
'Udta Punjab' director Abhishek Chaubey has reportedly been asked by the Revising Committee of the Censor Board to remove references to Punjab and to make several cuts.
The Benegal panel, in its report submitted on April 26, urged the government to lay down a "holistic framework for certification of films", The committee took note of best practices in various parts of the world and suggested that "adequate space" must be given for artistic and creative expression, the source said.
Other members of the committee included film actor Kamal Haasan, filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, ad-man Piyush Pandey, film director Goutam Ghose, film critic Bhawana Somaaya and NFDC Managing Director Nina Lath Gupta.
The panel, according to sources, has recommended that a filmmaker or an applicant "must specify the category of certification" being sought and the target audience.
"The objective of these guidelines would be to ensure that children and adults are protected from potentially harmful or unsuitable content and also that artistic expression and creative freedom are not unduly curbed," the source added.
The I&B ministry sources, however, said that previous court orders make it clear that in any dispute the I&B ministry cannot intervene or help resolve the dispute.
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