National
The Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2023
⇒ The Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was passed by the Parliament on 31 July 2023. The historic bill was passed by the Parliament amending the Cinematograph Act after 40 years as the last significant amendments in the Cinematograph Act, 1952 were made in the year 1984.
The landmark bill aims to comprehensively curb the menace of ‘Piracy’ causing losses of Rs 20,000 Crores to the film industry, based on certain estimates. The provisions include strict punishment of minimum 3 months imprisonment and fine of Rs. 3 lakhs which can be extended up to 3 years imprisonment and fine upto 5% of the audited gross production cost.
The Bill seeks to make the process of sanctioning of films for exhibition more effective and in tune with the changed times by including enabling provisions in the Act to check film piracy, introduce age-based categories of certification and remove redundant provisions in the existing Act.
Cinematograph Act Amendment:
» First, the Bill attempts to address the issue of unauthorised recording and exhibition of films and curb the menace of film piracy by transmission of unauthorized copies on the internet.
» Second, the Bill attempts to improve the procedure for certification of films for public exhibition by the Central Board of Film Certification, as well as improve categorisations of the certifications of the films.
» Third, the Bill attempts to harmonise the law with extant executive orders, Supreme Court judgements, and other relevant legislations.
a) Provisions to Check Unauthorised Recording and Exhibition of Films Amounting to Piracy: To check film piracy by way of cam-cording in the theatres; and most importantly also prohibit any unauthorized copying and online transmission & exhibition of a pirated copy of any film, strict penal provisions have been incorporated.
b) Age-Based Certification: Introduction of age-based categories of certification by further sub-dividing the existing UA category into three age-based categories, viz. seven years (UA 7+), thirteen years (UA 13+), and sixteen years (UA 16+), instead of twelve years. These age-based markers would be only recommendatory, meant for the parents or guardians to consider whether their children should view such a film.
c) Aligning with the Supreme Court Judgements: Omission of Revisional Powers of Central Government as per judgment of Supreme Court in the case of KM Shankarappa vs Union of India (2000).
d) Perpetual Validity of Certificates: Removal of the restriction in the Act on validity of certificate for only 10 years for perpetual validity of certificates of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).
e) Change of Category of Film for Television: Recertification of the edited film for Television broadcast, as only Unrestricted Public Exhibition category films can be shown on television.
f) Reference to Jammu and Kashmir: Omission of references to the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir in line with the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.
The Bill became an Act after the assent of the President on August 04, 2023, and is called the Cinematograph (Amendment) Act, 2023. The Cinematograph (Amendment) Act, 2023 is an Act further to amend the Cinematograph Act, 1952.
5th Cycle of Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) of Tiger Reserves in 2022
⇒ A detailed report of the 5th Cycle of Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) of Tiger Reserves 2022 was released by Union MoS Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey in programme organised at the Corbett Tiger Reserve to celebrate the Global Tiger Day.
India is the only nation in the world to have institutionalised and effectively completed five cycles of MEE of Tiger Reserves in the country.
- It has declared a network of 53 Tiger Reserves spread across 18 States covering an area of 75,796.83 sq km.
- Of these, a total of 51 Tiger Reserves have been independently evaluated through the MEE process in the fifth cycle of MEE of Tiger Reserves in 2022.
- Ten Independent Regional Expert Committees (RECs) were constituted and deputed in 10 different clusters of five tiger landscapes to evaluate the 51 Tiger Reserves of the country.
Highlights:
- Results of the fifth cycle of MEE of Tiger Reserves in 2022 indicate an overall mean score of 78.01% (ranging between 50% to 94%) for 51 Tiger Reserves.
- A total of 12 Tiger Reserves have achieved ‘Excellent’’ category, followed by 21 Tiger Reserves in ‘Very Good’ category, 13 Tiger Reserves in ‘Good’ category and 5 Tiger Reserves in ‘Fair’ category.
- ‘Valmiki’ Tiger Reserves of Bihar has been categorized as Very Good.
- The 5th cycle of MEE of Tiger Reserves has provided outstanding qualitative and quantitative insights into the operations of Tiger Reserve Network (TRN) in the country. The TRN possesses multiple ‘Strengths’ that must be maintained and even improved to achieve a higher level of excellence.
Score and Rating of Individual Tiger Reserves (Official Link)
About Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE):
Adopted from the framework of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) World Commission on Protected Areas, Management Effectiveness Evaluation has emerged as the most important tool to assist and improve the management perspectives of Tiger Reserves and their associated landscape connectivity.
» Since its inception in 2006, MEE being jointly conducted by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has paved the path for a successful evaluation of national tiger conservation efforts.
Assessment:
To bring about parity in the analysis of the diverse Tiger Reserves of the country and to guide the evaluators with respect to the assessments to be made, the criteria have been slightly refined since past cycles in the technical manual.
For the assessment of each of the six elements of the MEE Framework, 33 criteria have been developed for the MEE of Tiger Reserves in India. A detailed matrix was developed and included as a part of the assessment to make the scoring more objective after assigning differential weightage to different criteria/indicators.
- The scores of all 33 ‘criteria/indicators’ were pooled together for each of the 51 Tiger Reserves and a percentage rating was calculated for each Tiger Reserve.
This interpretation classified the results into four categories based on the percentage of maximum possible score:
- 50-59% rated as ‘Fair’
- 60-74% rated as ‘Good’
- 75-89% rated as ‘Very Good’
- >= 90% rated as “Excellent”
Slight modification of these categories and the introduction of the category “Excellent” was done to accommodate substantial improvement (higher scores viz. >= 90%) made by the Tiger Reserves during 5th cycle of MEE.
- Care was taken to ensure that these categories are comparable with previous cycles of MEE, i.e., very good category of the previous cycles was split into two categories, viz., very good and excellent categories in this cycle.
Important Day
‘Aviation Security Culture Week’
⇒ The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), under the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), inaugurated ‘Aviation Security Culture Week’ at its headquarters in New Delhi on 31 July 2023.
- ‘Aviation Security Culture Week’ was organised from 31 July to 05 August, 2023.
Theme:
The theme of the ‘Aviation Security Culture Week’ was “See it, Say it, Secure it”.
» Aviation security culture refers to the collective beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of individuals within the aviation industry and among the air passengers related to security practices and procedures inherent in the daily operation of airports and flights.
During ‘Aviation Security Week’, BCAS carried out various activities in the civil aviation including:
- Setting up of information booths and kiosks in the forecourt area and terminal buildings including cargo terminals.
- Placing cards mentioning security awareness contents at different places in the airport environment.
- Insertion of the tagline in the ticket related SMS/mails/WhatsApp from the aircraft operators.
- Short films for displaying at departure hall.
- Pop-up regarding aviation security culture week on their websites.
- Organizing quiz wherein passengers should be encouraged to participate, etc.